The Be Good Tanyas
About
The Be Good Tanyas
Their music has been described as beguiling, haunting, rustic, ambient, hobo-erotica, and goth-folk. They are Frazey Ford, Trish Klein, and Samantha Parton.They first met in the mountains of BC, at tree-planting camps and open-stages. After traveling separately they met again one particularly dark rainy, dismal winter in Vancouver. At Trish's Chinatown house they would get together to share songs and stories over red-wine and Chinese tea. Here they were joined by fellow-traveler, singer/fiddler, Texas-born minstrel Jolie Holland. Jolie introduced them to the songs of another mad traveler Obo Martin from whose song Be Good Tanya their name was culled. Bonded by their passion for old-tyme music and their love of vintage clothes they soon began performing everywhere they could from thrift stores,cafes, galleries and bars to the streets of East Vancouver, front porches and house parties.
In the spring of 2000 they set out on the road to tour across America in Sam's 1977 Dodge Van. Braving fires, ice storms, bad road food, and laundry they gigged their way through the heartland of the south and down to New Orleans. When they made it back alive they hunkered down to record their debut album Blue Horse in the small studio/shack of their friend Futcher. Around this time Jolie left to return to San Francisco, but not before recording on a number of tracks most notably her stirring vocals on Lakes of Ponchartrain and her vocals on the Littlest Birds which she co-wrote with Sam Parton.
After the release of Blue Horse, they continued to tour constantly around North America, over to the UK and once around Australia. They have graced the stages of numerous festivals and also played in many a stinky dive, but everywhere they have been received with enthusiasm and genuine approval. Throughout all this madness they managed to find time to record their second album; Chinatown. It's a good bunch of songs, old-tymey and new-tymey, lush harmonies, and raw soul delivery. Trumpet chops provided by the legendary Olu Dara.
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