The Be Good Tanyas | |
|---|---|
 The Be Good Tanyas in 2006 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Vancouver, Canada |
| Genres | Folk |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Nettwerk, Birthday Cake |
| Members |
|
| Past members | Jolie Holland |
| Website | begoodtanyas |
The Be Good Tanyas are a Canadian folk music group formed in Vancouver in 1999. [1] Their influences include folk, country, and bluegrass. The style of music they perform can be referred to as alt-country or Americana.
The Be Good Tanyas formed in 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Samantha Parton had been living on the road as a tree planter and wandering and making music, when she met Jolie Holland. The two began playing songs, including one called "Be Good Tanya", which had been written by a friend of Holland's. When the duo launched the Be Good Tanyas when they were joined by a mutual friend, Trish Klein. [2] Frazey Ford, who had been planting trees with Parton, joined the trio, and they went on their first tour, opening for Bill Bourne. [3] Holland left the group in 2000 but returned to contribute to their first album, Blue Horse . [2]
In 2000, the Be Good Tanyas embarked on a North American tour that ran from Vancouver to New Orleans, before returning to BC to record Blue Horse, which was released in 2001. [4] The record, described as a "simple yet provocative and enchanting collection of tunes", is said, in the same article, to have been recorded in a "run down shack on the outskirts of Vancouver...[which]...provided the perfect home for the Tanyas to spin their charming tales into songs". [5]
The group's second album, Chinatown , followed in 2003. Times Colonist noted in a review that the album represented the group's "well-earned...unblemished reputation for interpreting traditional folk songs and penning moving originals". [6] Their third album, Hello Love , was released on October 10, 2006, with one critic noting that "Ford's curiously breathy and intimate singing creates an immediate connection with the listener...[and]...all the music has a kitchen-porch feel punctuated by the meditative plunk of the mandolin and banjo". [7]
The Tanyas gained US exposure when the Showtime series The L Word selected one of their songs, "In Spite of All the Damage", for inclusion on its soundtrack. A live version of "In My Time of Dying" was also included in the third episode of the third season, in which Ford was featured as a nun and played the song in the opening sequence. The track "The Littlest Birds" was played during the first season of the Showtime series Weeds and was included on the soundtrack. The band's music has also featured in the CTV series The Eleventh Hour and in the film Because of Winn-Dixie . Their cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Waiting Around to Die" was also used in "Bit by a Dead Bee", an episode of AMC's Breaking Bad . Their rendition of "What Are They Doing in Heaven?" was played on the episode "Searchers" of the AMC series Hell on Wheels . [8]
After the release of the first two Be Good Tanyas albums, Klein collaborated with Alison Russell under the band name Po' Girl. [9] The Be Good Tanyas took a break from touring and recording in 2008. [10]
In 2010, Frazey Ford released her debut solo album, Obadiah , which featured Klein on guitar. Ford said making the recording allowed her to explore soul music more than she had with the Be Good Tanyas. She also noted that some of the songs reflected her role as a new parent, [and she had enjoyed] "exploring the concepts that are relevant to my life in terms of motherhood and generations". [11]
In 2011, it was announced that the Be Good Tanyas would return to performing, beginning with an appearance at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. [12] [13] [14] Following this, the band released a retrospective of their work, A Collection (2012), which featured selections from previous albums and two new songs. [15] This release saw them touring throughout North America and Europe, including an appearance in San Francisco at the Outside Lands festival. [16] While there, the band was invited to Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir's studio, Tri Studios, where they recorded three songs. [17]
In September 2012, Parton suffered a concussion as a vehicle in which she was a passenger was struck from behind by a pickup truck. [18] Medical procedures on her head during her convalescence revealed an aneurysm behind her left eye as well as a benign tumor. Parton took a leave of absence as the band continued touring North America and Europe in 2013, with fellow Vancouver musician and visual artist Caroline Ballhorn filling in. [19]
In 2014, Ford released her second solo album, Indian Ocean. It was recorded at the Hi Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, with various members of Al Green's original backing band, the Hi Rhythm Section, and Trish Klein contributing electric guitar on two tracks. Indian Ocean is described by one reviewer as [striking]..."a fine balance between light and dark, between elegiac, soul-lifting musicality and confessional, soul-baring lyricism". [20] Ford toured worldwide in support of Indian Ocean, and in 2019, she announced her third album, U Kin B the Sun, released the following year to critical acclaim. [21] [22]
In 2016, Parton resumed touring, [23] accompanied by former band member Jolie Holland, and in September 2017, they released their long-awaited album Wildflower Blues, on Cinquefoil Records. [24] [25]
Current
Past
Albums
Singles
| Year | Single | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "The Littlest Birds" | Blue Horse |
| 2003 | "It's Not Happening" | Chinatown |
| 2006 | "Scattered Leaves" | Hello Love |
Official music videos
Other contributions
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily for her decades-long career in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I'm Dolly, which led to success during the remainder of the 1960s, before her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Some of Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records.
Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing.
Jolie Holland is an American singer and performer who combines elements of folk, traditional, experimental, and rock.
Dayna Manning is a Canadian folk and pop singer-songwriter, as well as a producer and sound engineer. As a teenager she released her first album, Volume 1, on EMI and Nettwerk, with featured musicians including Sean Lennon and Melanie Doane. A single from the album reached No. 15 on the MuchMusic top hits chart in Canada, and she was nominated for the 1998 Juno Award for Best New Artist.
The Vancouver Folk Music Festival (VFMF), founded in 1978, is an outdoor multistage music festival, located at Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia. It takes place annually, on the third weekend of July.
Geoff Berner is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician from Vancouver.
Catalpa is Jolie Holland's debut album from 2003. The tracks were recorded in the living room of one of the band members with the intention of distributing the recordings among their friends. Inevitably, copies of the recordings were passed from person to person and demand increased for a commercial release of the album. Catalpa was initially released on the Anti Records label and distributed through CDbaby.com. In 2003, the San Francisco Chronicle chose Catalpa as one of the 10 best albums of that year.
Po' Girl is a Canadian music group whose style derives from folk, country and jazz. The band evolved from a series of jam sessions, in 2000, between Trish Klein of The Be Good Tanyas and Allison Russell, then of Fear of Drinking. The two met up again in 2003 and named themselves Po' Girl. Klein said at the time that the new group offered her the opportunity to write and perform her own songs. Po' Girl recorded their last album in 2010, but the members' musical careers have continued to develop, either as soloists or in other bands. Once based in Vancouver, Po' Girl is now back in the Eastern cities of Toronto and Montreal. The current band lineup is Allison Russell (singer/multi-instrumentalist), Awna Teixeira (singer/multi-instrumentalist), Benny Sidelinger (multi-instrumentalist) and Mikey "Lightning" August.
Ana G. Egge is a Canadian/American musician and songwriter.
The Hermit is a Canadian electronica group started by Hamish Thomson. Based in Vancouver, the group initially consisted solely of Thomson but has come to include other musicians, notably singer Allison Shevernoha. The Hermit is known for its uplifting sound and down-to-earth drum beats.
Reid Jamieson is a Canadian singer-songwriter. He was a regular member of the CBC's The Vinyl Cafe and won the grand prize for Folk in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for the song RAIL.
Gilbert John Landry, also known by the stage name of Frank Lemon, is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is a former member of Old Crow Medicine Show and a founding member of the Kitchen Syncopators. In March 2015 he released his third album, the self-titled Gill Landry, and in October 2017 came Love Rides a Dark Horse released by ATO Records and Loose Music.
Farrell Spence is a Canadian Roots/Americana singer and songwriter from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Chinatown is the second album by The Be Good Tanyas, released in 2003.
Blue Horse is the debut album by The Be Good Tanyas. It was released in 2000 in Canada, and in 2001 in the U.S.
Po'Girl is the self-titled debut album by the Canadian group Po' Girl. It was released June 10, 2003. It was released in the United States on August 28, on HighTone Records, and in Europe on January 26, 2004 on Cadiz Music. Po' Girl on this album was Trish Klein and Allison Russell.
Maybe This Christmas Too? is a holiday compilation album released in October 2003 through Nettwerk Records featuring contemporary musicians performing both classic and original Christmas songs. The compilation served as a sequel to Maybe This Christmas (2002) and preceded Maybe This Christmas Tree (2004). A portion of the proceeds from the album went to Toys for Tots, a charity supported by the United States Marine Corps. Critical reception of the compilation, which failed to chart in any nation, was mixed.
The Living and the Dead is Jolie Holland's fourth studio album. It was released on October 7, 2008, through Anti Records. The album was mixed and engineered by Joel Hamilton.
Frazey Obadiah Ford is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She joined the Be Good Tanyas in their first year. Her solo debut Obadiah was released on Nettwerk on July 20, 2010.
Obadiah is the 2010 debut album by Canadian musician Frazey Ford, who is also a member of the Be Good Tanyas.
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