Last night’s Wailin Jennys show at the Birchmere was not at all a bad way to spend a Monday evening when I’d be otherwise just be unsuccessfully trying to get to sleep in a new hotel room.

First off, suppose I ought to go about describing this band, since you’ve likely never heard of them. They’re kind of hard to describe; the best I can come up with is “kinda like the Dixie Chicks, but way more Canadian and a lot less commercial”.

And none of them are actually named “Jenny” (but that’s okay.  You get the joke, right?).

They play a mix of traditional folk, country, americana, celtic, blues, jazz, bluegrass, etc. They’re disgustingly talented multi-instrumentalists, playing guitar, uke, banjo, accordion, bhodrain (an irish tuned drum), harmonica, drums, upright bass, mandolin, and violin during the course of the show.  The real draw, however, are the voices – beautiful, skillfully arranged harmonies.

I first heard of them listening to Prairie Home Companion one morning, enjoyed the music and the punny name, and then ran to the computer and bought both records almost immediately.

It’s good stuff, if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

In any case…my friend Bill and I rolled into the Birchmere (which is really only about five minutes from our hotels…a fact that makes us both mourn the fact that we didn’t know this place was here until recently) around 6pm, right as they were calling line numbers to fill the music hall. We managed to grab some good seats (just to the side of the spot Mary and I had for Coulton), affording us a good view of the stage. We wrapped up our dinner (the food’s pretty good, if not spectacular) just as things got rolling a little after seven.

The show opened with a short set from singer/songwriter/fiddler Laura Cortese with Aoife O’Donovan backing her up on guitar, Wurlitzer, glockenspiel, and harmony vocals. I don’t think anybody in the room had heard of them, but they really won the crowd over with enthusiasm and talent, and a Feist cover.

After a very short intermission, the Jennys came out, and played two sets, covering most of the good stuff on both their studio records (except for “Devil’s Paintbrush Road”, for some reason…damnit), and a good mixture of some new stuff, much of it written by the “new girl” Heather Masse (who’s been with the band about a year); who was a definite highlight, playing bass and filling out the “bottom end” (well, alto) of the Jennys sound, and bringing in some jazzier elements to the band’s traditional sound.

Oh, they also sang “Happy Birthday”, a capella in three-part harmony, to a little girl in the crowd; completely made her day.

It was a nice way to spend a Monday night – and we were out the door by 10pm, so I wasn’t quite so very tired Tuesday morning!

In any case, I enjoyed the show immensely; if the Jennys come to your area, I highly recommend checking them out.