Canadian singer Jimmy Rankin will be coming out to the Mary Winspear Centre next week to sing lots of material from his solo records, along with songs he wrote when he was paet of his family band, The Rankin Family.
Currently residing in Nashville, Rankin was one of 12 kids growing up in his very musical family.
“My parents were very appreciative of music,” he told the PNR in an interview.
Growing up in Nova Scotia, there was a lot of celtic music in his community at the time, and music was constantly around him.
“There was a family band and my mom was a music mom. She would take us around to community concerts all through the summer and into the fall, and eventually I started playing drums for the family band,” said Rankin.
The Rankin Family, as they were known, would play at various functions including wedding, dances and wakes.
Jimmy’s playing and signing continued through his teen years. He learned to play the guitar and wrote songs into his late teens and early 20s.
After attending art college, Jimmy said the Rankins were all at a crossroads. All of his siblings (the five members in the group) decided to go their separate ways.
“But we got together as a band (later on
) and started playing music and making records and I’d been writing songs, so some of my songs got onto the records … and that lasted for 10 years.
“We signed a record deal and toured all over the world and had great success and then we disbanded … and I embarked on a solo career,” said Jimmy.
Jimmy went on to release his first solo record in 2001 and has been pursuing that career ever since.
His most recent album, released a couple years ago, is Back Road Paradise, which takes on the world of country music. He has, however, dabbled with different styles of music throughout his career.
“Living in Nashville, it’s surrounded by country music,” he said.
“I’ve always liked certain kinds of country music and it was just a project I wanted to do.
“Rather than just having a country flavour, I wanted to just make a full on country record and see how it sounded,” he said, adding that he was very pleased with the result.
He’s currently working on his next album, which he plans to have go in another direction than country. It might even go back to his beginnings as a songwriter in roots music.
He plans to have that album released in 2018.
When reflecting back on his career and the good moments he’s had, he said it’s almost been like two careers.
When he started as a solo artist, he said it was something new for him, learning how to be a solo performer, building his own audience.
“I’ve had many accolades throughout The Rankin Family era and in my solo career and met many amazing musicians and worked with many amazing people, and it’s been a really wonderful roller coaster ride,” he said.
The thing that stands out most, he said, was in the early 1990s when The Rankin Family was up for a bunch of Juno Awards.
“It was a very unlikely group to be at the forefront of the Canadian music industry along with that whole wave of Canadian artists that were happening at the time...”
That year they were up for four Junos and won all four, which career wise, he said, was a big highlight.
After leaving The Rankin Family to embark on his solo career, he related his feelings related to a TV actor, quoted as saying it was “terrifyingly exciting.”
“I’ve had great success as a solo artist as well and (I’m) still out there making music, so it’s always a challenge but still very exciting.”
Rankin will perform at Sidney’s Mary Winspear Centre Jan. 30.
For ticket information call 250-656-0275.