The reunited Be Good Tanyas play the Springs in tour for new album
November 06, 2012 11:10 AM
Special to The Gazette
The Be Good Tanyas
With: Edith Makes a Paper Chain
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Armstrong Hall, Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Tickets: $25, $20 KRCC members, $30 day of show, $50 VIP; 1-800-748-2727, ticketfly.com, or KRCC studios, 912 N. Weber St.
Frazey Ford didn’t intend to make a music career her bread and butter, but listening to her unfurl the tapestry of her life, it’s clear she never stood a chance to avoid it.
“I did all kinds of stuff,” she says. “I thought of becoming a midwife, I did pottery, I was sort of dabbling but kept coming back to music. I knew I wanted to make my life in such a way that It would allow me to do creative stuff.”
And that she did. She is one third of the indie folk band The Be Good Tanyas, which formed in 1999, went on hiatus in 2008 and reunited to tour last year. Ford plays guitar and leads the band with her most particular way of singing: an odd phrasing and an admitted lack of pronunciation, something album reviews mention more often than not. Trish Klein and Samantha Parton round out the Vancouver-based band.
They’ll perform at Armstrong Hall at Colorado College Friday. (Parton was in a car accident over the Labor Day weekend, and hasn’t been on tour since then. It is unknown if she will be well enough to make the performance or any future ones.)
The Tanyas have released only three albums during their nine years together, including “Blue Horse,” “Chinatown” and “Hello Love,” before taking a break to pursue other projects. Their latest, “A Collection (2000-2012),” was released in July and includes two new songs.
They seemed to be around at just the right time to ride the increasingly popular wave of Americana music. Ford has seen a clear resurgence in the past six years, she says, with bands like Bon Iver and Iron and Wine finding a strong following, and isn’t surprised by the strong appeal of the “plaintive, honest music.”
“I think people are drawn to real honesty and vulnerability. People look to music for all types of things,” she says. “I think it’s in some ways a form of almost spirituality for a lot of people. Honest storytelling is grounding and soulful and people can relate to it. There’s no front to it.”
Ford grew up in a house filled with music, much of it provided by her mother who sang all the time, she says, and played in a few bands. With four kids to raise, her mother never pursued it professionally, but she did give the gift of melody to her daughter, teaching Ford to sing lead so she could sing the harmony. In fact, Ford’s mom recently joined the Tanyas on tour, filling in for Parton on vocals. It was those early vocal lessons that unconsciously directed the young Ford into Americana music, which prominently features those close harmonies.
“It’s the type of music that moves me the most,” she says. And it’s the type that eventually knit the Tanyas together as a group. After dabbling in multiple bands since her late teens, at age 26, Ford finally found herself in one that would stick -- with Klein and Parton, who were also drawn to folk and bluegrass sounds. They spent long periods of time digging through old music and connecting with songwriters from the 1920s and 1970s.
“People thought it was all from Americana, but it drew on what we heard. It came from how I grew up, and it came out that way from the way my mom sounded,” Ford says. “When it came time to write songs, they came out most naturally in that folky, storytelling way. I feel that’s the most healing style of music. You can express the stories of life. It’s timeless. That’s the Americana aspect of it. People need to tell stories and hear stories and make sense of their own life through the images of poetry and sound.”
She isn’t sure what the future holds for the band. She calls them all “gypsies,” searching for the next interesting project and way to express themselves. She released a solo album, “Obadiah,” in 2010, which featured Klein on electric guitar, and is currently working on a second one with Al Green’s old rhythm section.
Whatever direction she goes, it will naturally be some sort of musical storytelling.
“In my life, (songwriting) is something I need to do to make sense of my world.”
“I did all kinds of stuff,” she says. “I thought of becoming a midwife, I did pottery, I was sort of dabbling but kept coming back to music. I knew I wanted to make my life in such a way that It would allow me to do creative stuff.”
And that she did. She is one third of the indie folk band The Be Good Tanyas, which formed in 1999, went on hiatus in 2008 and reunited to tour last year. Ford plays guitar and leads the band with her most particular way of singing: an odd phrasing and an admitted lack of pronunciation, something album reviews mention more often than not. Trish Klein and Samantha Parton round out the Vancouver-based band.
They’ll perform at Armstrong Hall at Colorado College Friday. (Parton was in a car accident over the Labor Day weekend, and hasn’t been on tour since then. It is unknown if she will be well enough to make the performance or any future ones.)
The Tanyas have released only three albums during their nine years together, including “Blue Horse,” “Chinatown” and “Hello Love,” before taking a break to pursue other projects. Their latest, “A Collection (2000-2012),” was released in July and includes two new songs.
They seemed to be around at just the right time to ride the increasingly popular wave of Americana music. Ford has seen a clear resurgence in the past six years, she says, with bands like Bon Iver and Iron and Wine finding a strong following, and isn’t surprised by the strong appeal of the “plaintive, honest music.”
“I think people are drawn to real honesty and vulnerability. People look to music for all types of things,” she says. “I think it’s in some ways a form of almost spirituality for a lot of people. Honest storytelling is grounding and soulful and people can relate to it. There’s no front to it.”
Ford grew up in a house filled with music, much of it provided by her mother who sang all the time, she says, and played in a few bands. With four kids to raise, her mother never pursued it professionally, but she did give the gift of melody to her daughter, teaching Ford to sing lead so she could sing the harmony. In fact, Ford’s mom recently joined the Tanyas on tour, filling in for Parton on vocals. It was those early vocal lessons that unconsciously directed the young Ford into Americana music, which prominently features those close harmonies.
“It’s the type of music that moves me the most,” she says. And it’s the type that eventually knit the Tanyas together as a group. After dabbling in multiple bands since her late teens, at age 26, Ford finally found herself in one that would stick -- with Klein and Parton, who were also drawn to folk and bluegrass sounds. They spent long periods of time digging through old music and connecting with songwriters from the 1920s and 1970s.
“People thought it was all from Americana, but it drew on what we heard. It came from how I grew up, and it came out that way from the way my mom sounded,” Ford says. “When it came time to write songs, they came out most naturally in that folky, storytelling way. I feel that’s the most healing style of music. You can express the stories of life. It’s timeless. That’s the Americana aspect of it. People need to tell stories and hear stories and make sense of their own life through the images of poetry and sound.”
She isn’t sure what the future holds for the band. She calls them all “gypsies,” searching for the next interesting project and way to express themselves. She released a solo album, “Obadiah,” in 2010, which featured Klein on electric guitar, and is currently working on a second one with Al Green’s old rhythm section.
Whatever direction she goes, it will naturally be some sort of musical storytelling.
“In my life, (songwriting) is something I need to do to make sense of my world.”