Halifax, NS - Feb 10, 2007 - Halifax Metro Centre

Rankins Have a Rousing Good Time - By Stephen Cooke - Chronicle Herald

Metro Centre family reunion harmonious and heartfelt.

It’s a little hard to believe it’s been nearly two decades since the music of Mabou’s Rankin Family first began travelling in earnest across the Canso Causeway, and my own career practically begins around the same time theirs did, around the time of the self-titled debut album and a stage show called The Mabou Jig.

While it’s hard to say if the Rankins’ current Reunion CD and tour will carry any further ramifications for the group, or be put to rest when it wraps up in Newfoundland next week, Saturday night’s Halifax Metro Centre show proved that the musical legacy they began in 1989 remains a powerful and beloved one.

Jimmy Rankin and sisters Cookie, Raylene and Heather were in good spirits on Saturday, due in no small part to the vigorous response of the audience. The crowd greeted the group with an instant standing ovation for the opening bars of Jimmy’s Roving Gypsy Boy, while Heather’s lead on North Country set the mood for an evening of Cape Breton melodies and memories.

"We’re so proud to be back here," said Cookie. "In our early days it was so different when we started traveling in England and Scotland, and the only accent we could understand was our own.

"We’d have to decipher requests like, ‘Cuckah, sayng burdahs en tam!’ So that’s what we’re going to do; sing Borders and Time."

The heartache of Cookie’s solo gave way to the gentle nostalgia of Raylene’s Gillis Mountain, given a sparkling treatment with Clarence Deveau on banjo, Bruce Jacobs’ stand-up bass and fiddler Howie MacDonald switching to mandolin. There were plenty of opportunities for MacDonald to shine on his signature instrument, like a solo in a rollicking treatment of David Francey’s Sunday Morning and a pair of lively duets with Molly, daughter of the Rankins’ late brother John Morris. One set had them shift gears from a strathspey to a jig and then finally a reel with the full band blazing away, driven by drummer Brian Talbot (Slainte Mhath).

The memory of both John Morris and older sister Geraldine, who died suddenly at the outset of the tour, was honoured with a performance of Bishop MacDonald by pianist Mac Morin. It was a touching tribute, leading into Raylene’s beautiful Lambs in Spring, sung with Heather and Cookie, full of reminiscences of youth.

Pointing towards the future were Jimmy’s Slipping Away, from the forthcoming solo CD Edge of Day, about a man in self-imposed exile, looking for that inspiration at the end of the road, and Molly’s Sunset, a highlight of the Reunion CD. The younger Rankin’s voice has an aching, willowy quality inspired by modern singer-songwriters like Sarah Harmer and Kathleen Edwards, while her lyrics about a love affair’s dying days seem to carry wisdom beyond her 19 years.

Rankins’ favourites like Orangedale Whistle and Cookie’s impassioned Fare Thee Well Love were each met with jubilant audience approval, while the Irish folk tune Tell My Ma had fans on their feet instantly and dancing in the aisles.

As singers, the sisters showed no sign of being absent from full-time performing for the past eight years, with each handling their solo vocals with aplomb and those familiar sweet harmonies maintaining all their reed-like qualities. Heather generated roars with a spirited Fisherman’s Son, while Raylene’s rendition of Leon Dubinsky’s Rise Again remains an ovation-earning showstopper that can’t help but generate chills.

But the show closer remains Jimmy’s epic Mull River Shuffle, a dramatic recreation of a Saturday night party 50 years ago, with the singer-songwriter seemingly channelling The Doors Jim Morrison doing Weird Scenes Inside the Mabou Coal Mines.

"Let’s tear the roof off this place," Jimmy implored, and the crowd complied, leading to a foot-stomping finale with some virtuoso fiddle work from MacDonald and an infectious feeling of joy filling the arena.

The Rankins’ concert also provided a welcome opportunity for modern British folk artist Seth Lakeman to make his premiere Halifax appearance. Backed by brother Sean on guitar and double bassist Ben Nichols, the Devonshire singer proved multi-talented on tenor guitar and solo fiddle, as well as an expert spinner of tales of the sea and doomed lovers.

His brief set makes one hope for a future appearance on these shores, perhaps at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival or Celtic Colours.