Toronto, ON - February 2, 2007 - Massey Hall

Family roots run deep for Rankins - By Greg Quill - Toronto Star

Cape Breton's pioneering Celtic band The Rankin Family, on tour for the first time since the death of founding member and musical mentor John Morris Rankin in a car accident seven years ago, pulled out all the stops last night at the first of two scheduled Toronto shows at Massey Hall.

They perform again tonight, with opening act Dawn Langstroth – the daughter of Canadian songbird Anne Murray and ex-husband, music and TV producer Bill Langstroth – making a quiet but impressive debut on the national concert circuit.

She's not the only progeny of famous musical stock taking bows for the first time on the Rankin Family tour. John Morris' 19-year-old daughter Molly, a songwriter, fiddler and singer who has clearly benefited from the family's musical gifts, is also featured in the show.

What was supposed to have been a last-time-around family reunion album and tour, the brainchild of Calgary concert promoter Jeff Parry, got off to a sad start in early January, days before the opening date in Vancouver. Rankin sister and one-time band member Geraldine died of a brain aneurysm at 50 in her Calgary home, her siblings delaying some dates in order to sing at her funeral.

"It was a blow, unbelievable," Raylene Rankin told the Star in a phone interview from Winnipeg. "It's hard sitting around hotel rooms and concert halls while it weighs on your mind.

"It's better when we hit the stage ... The music is therapy for us."

The Rankins – Jimmy, Raylene, Cookie, Heather and special guest Molly – perform in London, Kitchener and Hamilton tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday, promoting what will likely be their final recording together, the album Reunion. It includes several new songs by family members, as well as previously unheard instrumental material recorded in 1997 by John Morris and recently unearthed in CBC Radio's Halifax studios.

With Jimmy pursuing a solo career, Heather and Raylene concentrating on their families and managing their new acquisition, The Red Shoe pub, in their hometown, Mabou, and Cookie in Nashville with her husband, music producer George Massenburg, it's unlikely the Rankins will find the time to record and tour again together.

"We've had all sorts of offers since we called it quits in 1998, but it's very difficult to co-ordinate four different schedules," Cookie explained.

"I love singing, but I'm not crazy about travelling. When you're on the road in a band you race from one venue to the next ... you see nothing, eat too much. It's all hurry up and wait. The most rewarding part of touring for me is meeting people at shows, but even then, there's never enough time."