The Wailin Jennys Tickets

A Canadian folk trio from Winnipeg, Manitoba and New York, the Wailin Jennys comprises of soprano Ruth Moody, mezzo Nicky Mehta, and alto Heather Masse. The group's name is a pun on the country singer Waylon Jennings.

The Wailin' Jennys have released several albums, and tour regularly through North America and Europe. They are featured regularly on Garrison Keillor's show, A Prairie Home Companion. Also, all of the members of the Wailin Jennys maintain solo careers in addition to their efforts with the group.

Wailin Jennys was formed in 2002 when a guitar shop in Winnipeg called Sled Dog Music brought three soloists together for a joint performance. These soloists were Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft. The show was well received, and the owner scheduled a follow-up which again turned out to be a great success.

The Sled Dogs owner then offered that the trio might go on tour and called them the Wailin' Jennys. With three extraordinary voices included two founding singer-songwriters and one singular vision, the group continues to evolve into far more than the melodious sum of their individual talents. In 2004, Cara Luft quit Wailin Jenneys to pursue her solo career.

Luft was quickly replaced by Annabelle Chvostek from Montreal. The following in 2005, the band got off to win a Juno award for their 2004 CD 40 Days in the category of best roots/traditional album (group). Wailin Jennys were nominated for two awards at the North American Folk Alliance: one for contemporary artist of the year and for best contemporary release, Firecracker the next year.

In 2007, they received a Juno nomination for Firecracker in the category of Roots & Traditional Album Of The Year: Group. Also, the bands producer David Travers-Smith was nominated as Recording Engineer of the Year for his work on The Devil's Paintbrush Road and Prairie Town.

The Canadian folk trio also plays instruments like acoustic guitar, electric upright bass, mandolin, banjo, accordion, bodhran, drums, harmonica, and violin. The year 2006 saw the Wailin Jennys touring with fiddler and mandolinist Jeremy Penner as well as their album Firecracker making it to number two spot on the Billboard Bluegrass charts.

Followed to the release of Firecracker was a long tour. Encouraged by a growing fan base that swoons at their intuitive harmonies and revels in their engaging stage presence and uplifting repertoire, the band set out on a giddy blur of activity.

Numerous head-turning reviews greeted a recording produced by David Travers-Smith. The album also featured a crew of ace musicians led by guitarist Kevin Breit. The trio garnered progressively larger audiences throughout North America while also making successful forays to Australia, the U.K. and continental Europe.

The Jennys were once again nominated for Juno Award in Canada, the continuation of a much-cherished relationship with A Prairie Home Companion and a memorable date alongside Rosanne Cash at the prestigious Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.

The following year in 2007, Chvostek left to pursue her solo career and was replaced by Heather Masse. Masse is a Maine-born singer with a background in jazz and blues as well as folk. She also fronts the Brooklyn-based Heather & the Barbarians. One Voice, was a live staple and highlight of the Jennys' Juno- winning debut album 40 Days. Launching what fans are fondly calling version 3.0 of the Jennys, Heather is a New York-based singer and stand-up bass player. She finds the middle ground between contemporary bluegrass and jazz vocals.

Wailin Jennys Heather gelled immediately with Ruth and Nicky during an impromptu audition in a bathroom backstage in Philadelphia. The three women sang raw versions of Amazing Grace and an old Hank Williams song and quickly nailed the essence of the Jennys' exquisite sound. This hinted at exciting new possibilities that will flower in the months of touring and studio sessions that lie ahead. After Cara left the band, the duo started taking auditions to fill up that void. Ruth first learned of Heather from their mutual friend, Crooked Still's Aoife O'Donovan.

Since the group found a perfect vocal blend the first time with Cara, then they captured it in a different way with Annabelle. They naturally were thinking if it can really happen again. But they stumbled on such a rich treasure whose voice is just so round and warm.

Nicky commented that Heather fits in astonishingly well with us as she has got a smoky, enveloping kind of style. Adding to it, Ruth said that people, after hearing her, will go nuts. Ruth Moody grew up in an accomplished musical family singing with two sisters. She then spent five years fronting Winnipeg's Scuj MacDuhk. She has long understood the power of three.

When the popular Celtic/roots road warriors rose to prominence in 2001, Ruth Moody again craved what she calls the sense of completeness and wholeness that can only come with three female voices. The Wailin Jennys provided a sense of continuity that threat through her entire life. The third jenny, Nicky Mehta, was on track for post-graduate studies in communications.

By this time, Nicky had released a buzzworthy solo debut CD and, not long after, signed on as a first-generation Jenny. Currently the three are holding he pillars of Wailin Jennys firmly. Through their music, the jennys presented their individual visions in a larger collective.

Wailin Jennys have constantly been playing catch up ever since and whats great is that nothing has been premeditated. They keep being surprised in the most creative, interesting ways. In her one interview, Ruth said that they have closed another chapter in the Jennys' story and opened a new one.

The three are thrilled to be writing it with Heather who is a kindred spirit. In September 2008, the Wailin Jennys announced that they are currently taking an 'extended breather' from time on the road. In order to rest, they are going to write and start planning the new album but will return in a few months at full strength.