Fifteen

For their first new album in six years, The Wailin’ Jennys celebrate a 15-year-long relationship with a nine-track collection of interpretations and adaptations of songs composed mostly by renowned artists such as Tom Petty, Dolly Parton, Paul Simon and Warren Zevon. Also included is a traditional English hymn, ‘Old Churchyard’, and ‘The Valley’, penned by Canadian singer-songwriter Jane Siberry. At this point, the Jennys — Nicky Mehta (mezzo), Ruth Moody (soprano) and Heather Masse (alto) — have honed their harmony-based singing technique to diamond-like, multifaceted perfection. Listening to their voices converging, diverging and entwining together with effortless virtuosic artistry on ‘Boulder to Birmingham’, it's difficult to imagine a more wrenchingly beautiful rendering of Emmylou Harris’ tribute to Gram Parsons, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 1973 just when Harris and Parsons were hitting their stride as a performing duo. The inclusion of Hank Williams’ ‘Weary Blues from Waitin’’ pays due respect both to the country music legend and the auspicious evening in 2002 when three female musicians showed up separately to perform at a local music shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and The Wailin’ Jennys were born.