Second helping of harmonious Maritime Appalachian folk from New Brunswick-based trio.
Wood & Wire, the 2024 debut release from the New Brunswick-based trio of Bill Preeper, Jessica Rhaye and Sandy MacKay, was favourably reviewed by AUK’s Andrew Raw (here). These three Canadian musicians have also recorded together, along with others, as Jessica Rhaye and The Ramshackle Parade, whose EP Foolish Hearts was released in March of this year. This included a cover of I Was Made For Lovin’ You, a 1979 single by the rock band KISS, an unlikely choice given the ensemble’s folk leanings. No such curveballs are to be found on Preeper Rhaye MacKay’s Blackberry Lane, the trio’s sophomore release, which serves straight-up traditional folk trio fare, with a spirit of togetherness exemplified by shared songwriting and lead vocal duties. Various combinations of Preeper’s guitars, mandolin, and accordion; Rhaye’s guitars; and MacKay’s bass, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, and banjo provide the instrumentation, along with contributions from fellow Ramshackle Parade member Dale Murray on guitar and pedal steel.
The album opener, Fare Thee Well (Dink’s song), is a Greenwich Village music-scene staple that has been recorded by many. It was the Marcus Mumford and Oscar Isaac version of the song from the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers’ movie Inside Llewyn Davis that caught the attention of Rhaye. This traditional song was apparently coaxed out of Dink on a riverbank near Houston back in the 1900s by the ethnomusicologist John Lomax. The titular African-American woman had been singing whilst washing her levee-building husband’s clothes by the river. Although apparently initially reluctant to perform for Lomax, the songcatcher had his ways and means, lowering Dink’s guard with a supply of gin.
Arcadian escape is the theme of Wild Flowers, a new take on a song originally recorded for Rhaye’s sophomore solo album, Short Stories (2006). Its unhurried three-part harmonies set the tone for the rest of the album. Next up, the MacKay song Escúchame, which features Dale Murray on pedal steel, offers advice regarding the romantic reliability of string musicians. Every Bit Of Love is performed in tribute to its writer, the late Ken Tobias; Rhaye played the song with Tobias at her wedding, and Preeper Rhaye MacKay performed their trio arrangement at the celebration of Tobias’s life in 2024. The bucolic reflection of Preeper’s Sky So Blue closes side 1.
The title track of Jessica Rhaye and The Ramshackle Parade’s 2023 album Sunshine Baby loses its piano and gets the trio treatment as side 2 slips into the same groove, with an offer of spiritual support. Banjo and pedal steel enrich the mix as self-help drives MacKay’s I Thought of You, with its focus on positive reminiscence rather than rumination in the wake of a relationship breakdown. Next, in Preeper’s sombre The Needle and The Knife, a bad year is encapsulated by a flurry of windswept leaves as they evoke the swish of a dearly departed retriever’s tail. Winding up the second side, a twenty-year-old demo finally gets to see the light of day in There You Are, a recollection of Rhaye’s grandparents co-written with Nova Scotian musician Dave Gunning.
A Bandcamp quote reads, “This group gets compared to a modern Peter Paul & Mary, creating an intricate vocal blend”. Whilst Preeper, Rhaye and MacKay’s planets may be in musical alignment, with tight harmonies and simple but soothing arrangements, no risks are taken here, and no new ground is broken. Clocking in at 38 minutes and thin on original material, Blackberry Lane may find a welcome home on the shelves of aficionados of humble Maritime Appalachian folk music, but is unlikely to expand the trio’s fan base.
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