The band’s recent CD is Bright Morning Stars and the title track is the only non-original song on the new Wailin’Jennys CD. If there is a theme to the disc, it might be love and loss. Bright Morning Stars is their first release since 2009. And their new CD hit the top of the Billboard magazine Bluegrass chart two weeks after its release.

 

The Wailin’Jennys was founded in 2002, when a guitar shop in Winnipeg brought three soloists - Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft - together for a joint performance. The show was well received, the guitar shop owner then “offered that they might go on tour and calls themselves the Wailin' Jennys." The group's name is a pun on the country singer Waylon Jennings.

 

The Wailin’ Jennys are serious about making good music. Their first CD, 2004’s 40 Days, won them a Juno Award,the Grammy award in Canada, while also winning great acclaim in the United States. But in 2007, Cara Luft left the group and was replaced by Heather Masse, the lone U.S. native. She brings with herself a background of jazz and contributed four tracks to Bright Morning Stars .

 

The other members are Nicky Mehta, who is described as a “trained dancer raised on classical music.” and Ruth Moody, a classically trained pianist. Bright Morning Stars is built around The Wailin’ Jennys three part harmonies. Most of the songs are murmuring the loss and love and bring us courage and hope.