A Collection (2000-2012)

Fans of The Be Good Tanyas trio have certainly enjoyed fine dining on small portions - the Canadian band released only three albums between their formation in 1999 and this 2012 anthology.

The Be Good Tanyas were formed in Vancouver and there are rosy tales of them having met at tree planting camps in British Columbia. Trish Klein and Frazey Ford actually met at an open mic in Nelson and later hooked up with Samantha Parton. This 16-song retrospective (featuring four previously unreleased tracks) is a delight. The band are as adept at cover versions as they are at their original material.

Their music - call it a mix of folk, country, bluegrass - is a marvellous blend and the singing, musicianship and orchestration is simply top notch. There are songs of heartbreak (Scattered Leaves) and songs of hope (The Littlest Birds) and the Collection includes their wonderfully tuneful yet dark rendition of Townes Van Zandt's Waiting Around to Die. They do traditional well, shown in a lovely version of Stephen Foster's minstrel song Oh! Susanna.

The band had to temporarily halt a tour to support the album because Sam Parton was in a car accident (best wishes to her as she recovers in Vancouver) where fans could have heard them perform their two new songs. Little Black Bear and Gospel Song fit soundly within the Tanyas repertoire. And if you want classy and mournful, then a standout song on the album is the haunting The Junkie Song.

Their scant output over the years has been down to their busy work on other solo and band projects but a new album is in the pipeline. For now, we can enjoy this retrospective CD, which features a great cover picture by Eric Stanfield. It shows the Vancouver-based trio looking like a serious 1950s gospel trio, with Trish Klein carrying her banjo like a shovel.

The band's name, incidentally, comes from a song by Obo Martin about a young gypsy girl who hated school and wanted only to play music. If it was music as good as this, then you can understand why.
-Martin Chilton, The Telegraph