Hamilton, ON - Feb. 6, 2007 - Hamilton Place

Rankin Family - A Whole Bigger Than the Parts - By Jeff Mahoney - The Hamilton Spectator

The Rankin Family brought their Cape Breton charm and, it sometimes seemed, half the island, into Hamilton Place last night, suffusing the hall with their distinctive maritime sounds.

The show was part of the family reunion tour. Raylene, Jimmy, Cookie and Heather mingled the old with the new, the ballads with the jigs and the anthems. And the crowd, almost capacity, mingled their voices with those coming from the stage, sometimes singing along and sometimes just shouting out encouragements and cries of recognition.

The strengths of the show, and they were ample, tended to center around the siblings' beautifully interwoven harmonies and expressive vocal balance, with their different tonalities not only complementing each other but stoking each other, resulting in a whole bigger than the parts.

Picture courtesy of The Hamilton Spectator

The cohesive flow of the singing might not seem so remarkable in a group of individuals who have performed together since they were children. But it does when you consider they haven't shared a stage since they retired from touring and recording in 1999, to spend time with their families and to pursue more personal interest.

They've lost none of the wonderful Rankin intuition around braiding their separate threads, on each song, into a rich and textured shape.

What they have lost a little, I think, is the more frenetic energy and abandon of the earlier days. Their repertoire last night often had an anthemic quality to it, with swelling organs, large chords and gradual builds sometimes reminiscent of Rita McNeil; not so many jigs and reels and boot scuffers. When they did the latter, especially those songs featuring rousing fiddle solos, the crowd lit up.

But what they have sacrificed to the passage of time, they have made up for in depth. And the anthems, the ballads and mid-tempo songs were deftly handled. Songs like Fare Thee Well and Slipping Away, a new one by Jimmy Rankin, were often stirring. But it would have been nice to have heard a few more with a little more zip, after the manner of the Fisherman Song and Tell My Ma.

Of course, the family is missing a key member. John Morries Rankin died in a car accident in 2000. His daughter Molly Rankin came on stage to sing the lovely Sunset and played some raucous fiddle on several other tunes.

Opening act Dawn Langstroth was a real discovery. Her voice has a resinous fluid beauty and reach that set off her original compositions (strong on their own, both lyrically and melodically) like jewels on velvet.

Her voice and material brought to mind several possible influences from Sheryl Crow to Joni Mitchell. Oh, and a hint, just a hint, in the voice, of Anne Murray, who happens to be Langstroth's mother.

Click Here for a link to a short video of the Rankin Family performing in Hamilton.