Rankin’s Christmases live on

Check out this great article in Halifax’s Chronicle Herald about Tinsel Town!

WHEN Jimmy Rankin was a boy, his siblings would all come home from university to spend Christmas at their mother’s home in Mabou.

“Before we made CDs, we’d play at dances in Cape Breton,” recalls the singer-songwriter, speaking by phone from Mabou Mines, where he lives for part of the year when he’s not in Nashville.

“I played the drums. Every Boxing Day, there’d be a Christmas dance in Mabou and we’d sing Christmas songs at the community hall and then play for the dance till the wee hours of the morning.”

Some of those songs, like Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and Let It Snow, have made their way onto Tinsel Town, Rankin’s first Christmas CD.

It’s the fifth solo album for the three-time Canadian Country Music Awards roots artist of the year and it includes eight standards and four originals.

“There’s a high bar when you write for Christmas,” says Rankin, who began penning tunes for the album last December. “There’s some terrific Christmas songs out there, and all the Christmas standards and carols have such specific memories for people.”

For example, take Christmas for Cowboys, a John Denver song from his album Rocky Mountain Christmas.

“One of my sisters brought home the record from college and we’d all sing songs from it,” Rankin says. “I have fond memories of the song, and it was one of my first choices when I started making a song list.”

There’s a family connection of a different type on White Christmas “” Rankin’s daughter Chloe, 5, and son James, 7, sing the opening line.

“I asked them if they wanted to sing and they were really excited, very serious and really cute. I’m really glad I put them on.”

Rankin firmly believes Christmas is about children, and Tinsel Town, the title track that he wrote with fellow Canadian Patricia Conroy, who also lives in Nashville, draws from his childhood memories.

“It’s the quintessential Christmas tune I’ve written,” he says.

December, another original written with Conroy, “is a winter song, the only non-Christmas song on the album. It’s about the month of December, walking down snowy back roads, reflecting on the beautiful backcountry.”

At the same writing session, he and Conroy quickly wrote Boogie Woogie Christmas, laughing the whole time.

“It’s about Christmas fun, visiting friends, Christmas parties. It was fun to record,” he says.

Don’t Wanna Say Goodbye to Christmas “has a very country flavour. It’s about a tough guy who doesn’t want to say goodbye to Christmas.”

Rankin, one of 12 children, seems to be one of those Christmas lovers who can’t wait to welcome the season and hates to bid it adieu.

“I have terrific memories growing up “” Christmas Day, the week that follows, festive meals, friends visiting, family returning there was always Christmas music in the background,” he says.

“Now it’s taken on a whole different meaning (with the kids), the whole buildup to Christmas, the gifts and the anticipation, but it’s still about celebrating with family.”

Rankin will be back in Nashville for Christmas, though Cape Breton, where his roots are, “will always be home.”

His wife, Mia Nishi Rankin, is a terrific cook, he says, and they’ll have a turkey.

Before they had kids, the couple instituted a Christmas Eve seafood feast with oysters, clams, crabs and lobsters, and they still keep up the tradition.

“They have beautiful oysters in Mabou, I’ve become an oyster person,” Rankin says.

He is looking forward to singing uptempo tunes from Tinsel Town and songs from his other albums when he embarks on a Nova Scotia tour on Tuesday, performing at the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre in Sydney.

He plays Strathspey Place in Mabou on Wednesday, joins Symphony Nova Scotia for shows at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax on Friday and Saturday and is at the deCoste Centre in Pictou on Dec. 2 before heading to Alberta and Ontario, where he wraps up the tour in Coburg on Dec. 22.

For the concerts in Membertou and with the symphony, he’ll be backed by a band: Jamie Robinson on guitar, Stephen Muise on keyboards, Ed Woodsworth on bass and Brian Talbot on drums. Robinson alone will accompany him for the rest of the shows.

Fans can also catch Rankin on a holiday TV special produced by the CBC, CMT and the Canadian Country Music Association. Other performers include Lady Antebellum, Johnny Reid, Gord Bamford, Dean Brody, Paul Brandt and Terri Clark. It airs Dec. 20 on CBC and Dec. 21-22 on CMT.

(anemetz@herald.ca)

WIN A CD

We have two copies of Tinsel Town, Jimmy Rankin’s first Christmas album, to give away.

For a chance to win, email your name, address and daytime phone number to contest@herald.ca. Please type Rankin in the subject line.

Entries can also be dropped off at The Chronicle Herald building, 2717 Joseph Howe Dr., Halifax, or mailed to Rankin, c/o The Chronicle Herald, P.O. Box 938, Halifax B3J 3S5.

Contest deadline is 9 a.m. Dec. 3. Winners will be announced on the Arts pages Dec 4.

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