Grassmarket

There is something heart warming about the term family band. It conjures so many images and memories; a powerful female voice harmonizing with a grittier male counterpoint over fiddles, banjo and a plucked stand up bass. Normally those family bands are ones I stumble upon in old record bins, not the product of two young Capers and a girl from Northern Ontario.

Grassmarket, while definitely influenced by artists long since gone, writes songs that are purely their own. The music may pay homage to the days past, but the lyrics are portals into their lives. The EP opens with a beautiful banjo laden track, Easy Choice. Penelope Jackson takes the vocal lead as she ponders the choice between a new city with a new love and the town where she grew up, asking herself which is her real home now? Her voice is crystal clear and when the harmonies kick in you are taken to another time. Scott's plucked bass line and Dan's frantic banjo really compliment her lyrics about the affinity for the things she loves and the turmoil she faced moving from Ontario to Nova Scotia.

The band slows things down on Waiting, a song written as Penelope and Dan wait for the arrival of their new child. You can almost picture them lying on the couch, playing with her ever expanding belly as they sing to the baby. Sure they have concerns, but the joy of starting a family resonates throughout the summery song. Even the guitar solo they add seems to be an expression of joy.

Never Enough is a song about a man giving up his demons - drinking and drugs - for his true love. If you didn't know this band was so young, you'd think it was an old time folk song. The bass work on the track really keeps the song moving and lets the guitar jangle along finding interesting creases and crevasses in the song, but again the star of the show is the amazing harmonies. Grassmarket's harmonies are light and effortless, but somehow still manage to pack a big punch.

The EP takes a turn towards the South on bluegrass heavy When I Get Time and Appalachian folk instrumental The Caboose. The frantic banjo work on When I Get Time makes you want to dance around the room and the mandolin and acoustic guitar on The Caboose really mesh well. The brief retreat from the vocal harmonies really works well as an primer for the Cape Breton fiddle heavy Where Did Your Heart Go.

Country and folk is nothing without pining over lost loves, and Penelope voice sounds so pure that you wonder how any man could leave her. I like what the band did with the last two songs, because just as you are siding with Penelope the EP drifts into the final track, Life of Better Days, and it almost plays like an apology. Dan wishes he could have been a better man and that he could have changed to make things work. He wanted to, but couldn't and it's a great way to help the vocalists really find a home with the listeners.

This band isn't going to find a home with most of the indie brethren, but they have more talent than the majority of the dance-punking/post rocking outfits people flip their lids over. It's tough to want to blast the bluegrass folk tracks when winter gets it's chilling grip on you, but this EP is well worth a listen and will warm up nicely for you when the seasons change. - herohill.com

In no way connected to the district of Edinburgh in Scotland, Grassmarket is a trio of folk musicians from Nova Scotia, Canada. Following the seven track EP "Waiting," "Port City" is the band’s first full-length recording combining pop tunes with banjo, guitar and violin driven North American roots. Penelope Jackson, Dan MacCormack and David Bradshaw all share vocal duty and instruments throughout the Jackson / MacCormack compositions; songs that transcend the years, connecting the old with the new, blending fresh ideas with traditional sounds and textures.

Opener 'Endless Summer' is a gliding ballad building slowly to a soft harmonious chorus keeping the consistent feel right to the wordless ending - a perfectly controlled four minutes. Jackson takes lead vocal for the sublime 'This Is The Life,' her voice bringing together elements of Thea Gilmore, Elana James (Hot Club of Cowtown) and Rebecca Taylor (Slow Club) to create a magically evocative voice of clear quality and depth. After a short guitar solo she is joined by the guys for a brief time before they hand her the last word. 'Miles And Miles' is different again, underpinned with a frantic jolly banjo that gives the song an odd urgency, for the vocals are slower and measured, bringing in the trio of voices for the chorus. In to the last minute is the world’s smallest guitar solo. Lyrically, the themes wander into “I’ll trade mine for the life of a Yeti, I’ll be my own disguise. Running free on the frozen Serengeti…”.

The best song on the first half of "Port City" is the beautiful 'It’ll Be Dark,' again sung by Jackson and a gorgeous melody allowed to glide across the sparse music. Into 'Good Man', and some of the best music on the album and a much more traditional feel. “As you come across the prairies, leave your trouble in every town, and the next time you climb Kelly’s mountain, you’ll be light enough to float back down…” is more wonderful song writing. 'Heartful' is a sweet minute and a half blast to complete the Jackson trilogy. It should be twice as long but races through it’s brief lifetime, from frenetic verse: “My boy smells of grass and clover, chase a rock and turns it over, intrepid and unsteady rover. Little boy, a heart full of joy…” to a clever chorus of glorious vocal sparing.

A Canadian roots album would not be the same without one song about the country. 'Bearkill At Quajon Fiord' (a coastal area in Nunavut, the largest and newest federal territory in Canada) rattles through its instrumental two and a bit minutes like the soundtrack to a silent movie or a cool episode of Wacky Races. Brilliantly played and thoroughly enjoyable. 'Road Often Travelled' brings back the lyrics, the life story of family life and leaving your friends. More sultry vocals are combined with stark harmonica. Another short track, the tongue-in-cheek 'I’m Gonna Make A Great Fossil' follows with more great lyrics “…my footprint in the rock. I‘m gonna be the subject of future Archaeological talks…” then dueling vocals right to the end. But the best is left until last; The whimsical title track closes things in style, changing pace and slowly building the instrumentation into the last minute before a harmonious finale.

"Port City" delivers exactly what it promises. The musical threesome combine harmonies and instrumentation with talent and charm, juxtaposing the quick and the slow, the old and the new, and different lyrical and vocal styles. A constant joy, this is music to get lost in. If there is a criticism, "Port City" is just a bit too short. At just shy of half an hour, it is over too quickly but great while it lasts. This music will never change the world. But it will preserve a small, yet celebrated part of it for future proud generations.
- Altsounds

Like its name implies, acoustic trio Grassmarket has hints of bluegrass in its sound, but goes far beyond that on Port City with a modern folk atmosphere that embraces town and country in equal measure.

Penelope Jackson, Dan MacCormack and David Bradshaw approach their songs with joy and enthusiasm, lifting spirits with soaring harmonies on Heartful and picking up a storm on Bearkill at Quajon Fiord. And you can’t beat a song like I’m Gonna Make a Great Fossil for sheer optimism.
- Chronicle Herald

Grassmarket’s family way

The folksy trio leaves traditional bluegrass in the past, but their new album, Port City, still captures the same down-home warmth and charm.

by Mike Landry


While most Halifax musicians are heading out at 9:30pm on Saturday, Penelope Jackson and Dan MacCormack are getting ready for bed. They know their two-year-old son Clem has a 4am wake-up call in store for them.

With that schedule, it's no wonder it's taken a year-and-a-half working with bandmate David Bradshaw for Grassmarket to release the follow-up to its acclaimed EP Waiting..., released in 2007. Evolving from traditional banjo/mandolin music, the new distinct folk-pop tracks on Port City capture the spirit of traditional music while fitting snug next to Feist or Joel Plaskett.

"We don't set out to play traditional and bluegrass music anymore," says Jackson. "We're writing really poppy songs now and feel daredevil-ish for using an electric guitar."

You won't even find "bluegrass" in Grassmarket's bio. While it's a bluegrass tradition to have "grass" in your name, they don't have the right rhythms or harmonies and are one member short to fit the genre's rigid definition.

"Any real bluegrass band would be scandalized if we called ourselves bluegrass," says MacCormack. "I always felt fraudulent when people called us bluegrass."

Besides, it was pop music from the beginning for Jackson and MacCormack. They first met at a party, playing music together all night long, starting with Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire."

Jackson and MacCormack haven't let their marriage get in the way of their music. If things get heated with the group, it's because their lives are tense and difficult at home, like last winter when they were both sick and Clem threw up for a week straight. But since she's a book editor by day, Jackson admits her criticism can be ruthless.

MacCormack takes this in stride. Jackson never played much live music before they met, and so being much more driven and goal-oriented MacCormack gave her a 150-year-old banjo, and pushed her into working on songs and playing a weekly gig interpreting traditional music at Ginger's Tavern. It wasn't long after they started playing traditional music that they started sneaking in their own songs.

Now, beyond Jackson's clawhammer banjo and Bradshaw's howling harmonica, the traditional elements are most felt in the songwriting's autobiographical nature. Jackson and MacCormack revel in the bald emotion of traditional songs. Because of this, Port City is a sort of scrapbook, chronicling the past two years and especially Clem.

"Before having a kid I didn't understand the depth of that emotion and the legacy of what every parent ever that wasn't psychotic has felt---this enormous love in their child," says Jackson.

But Grassmarket is much more than the Jackson and MacCormack show. Bradshaw plays an integral part on Port City. His folk-influenced fiddle, mandolin, guitar and harmonica provide Grassmarket with down-home warmth, and the three-part harmonies reflect the family life of the lyrics.

Even with Bradshaw, things aren't getting easier for Grassmarket. Clem is battling the terrible twos with a fiddle and construction hat. There are their full-time jobs and MacCormack's masters' degree to finish. But the pair won't stop.

"It's been a joy," says Jackson, "and such an enormous part of our relationship and our lives, that even though I daydream which chunks of our life we could amputate I really can't imagine what it would be like to not have this going on." - The Coast

The debut full-length release from Grassmarket. This short album (that clocks in at just under 30 minutes) presents some mighty smooth and intricate soft pop tunes with slight hints of country, folk, and bluegrass. These folks aren't going the easy route with their music. Instead of clobbering listeners over their heads with volume and/or originality, the three musicians in this band seem to be driven by pure inspiration. And you can definitely hear plenty of inspiration on these ten tracks. Extremely strong melodies and superb vocals abound here...as this trio casually lets their music flow in the most natural way possible. The more we spin this one...the better these tracks sound. Impressive compositions include "Endless Summer," "This is the Life," "Heartful," "Road Often Traveled," and "I'm Gonna Make a Great Fossil." This one's bound to catch on instantly with a lot of listeners... (Rating: 5+) - Babysue

Though Grassmarket draws from traditional bluegrass and country, the trio cannot be slotted firmly into either category. Though the playing is itself technically marvelous—these are some of Halifax's string savants—it's the songs' content that really gives this band its weight, shifting from intimate soul-scrapers to historical artifact with precision, conviction, and most importantly, heart. There's no one else in town making this music. - Tara Thorne (CBC Radio, The Coast)

The winner at Folk Fiesta 2007 was Grassmarket, a charming trio from Halifax. The Pearl Theatre was full of hooting and whistling after their clear-hearted renditions of Hank Williams, Appalachian instrumentals and original tunes. Penelope Jackson provides creamy vocals, guitar and banjo, and her husband Dan macCormack sings harmony and plays mandolin, three-finger banjo, guitar and fiddle. Dan's brother Scott plays bass....I predict Grassmarket will have lots of devoted new fans by the end of their Lunenburg weekend. - Chronicle Herald

How does a trio of 20-something musicians find themselves playing century-old Appalachian folk songs? Here's a hint: it has nothing to do with a certain Coen brothers film.
"I love that, when you say you play bluegass music and people are like, 'have you seen O Brother, Where Art Thou?'" Jokes Penelope Jackson, banjo player for local bluegrass band Grassmarket.

Jackson was introduced to artists like Hank Williams and Doc Watson through her husband Dan MacCormack and his brother Scott. Their father, "a music nut," has a massive record collection and the boys were always around the music growing up. "I think the songs are so pure," she says. "For the emotion to still ring true in them, it's pretty phenomenal."


Much has been made of the recent folk music revival, and while there are a number of artists like Devendra Banhart and Old Man Luedecke who are truly pushing the boundaries of the genre, Jackson sees the interest in any kind of movement as fleeting. "A lot of it just has to do with fashion. Things comes around. Everyone was also into swing music a little while ago, and ska music."

Grassmarket shows are typically heavy on old standards, the product of a Wednesday-night residency at Ginger's Tavern that Jackson and Dan ran last summer. But the trio also pens their own tunes, seven of which will be released on the group's debut EP Waiting, this Saturday at Ginger's Tavern.

"I think that they really complement the traditional material we play," says Jackson of Grassmarket's original songs. "Because we play so much old music our own songs can kind of get forgotten if we don't make a conscious effort to play them. We wanted to record them and keep them around for a bit" - The Coast