Kate & Anna McGarrigle

International acclaim first reached the Montreal-born songwriting sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle in 1974, when Linda Ronstadt placed Anna’s “Heart Like a Wheel” as the title track on one of her albums. Warner Bros. promptly signed the pair, who then delivered their self-titled debut, a collection of deeply felt, occasionally deeply funny songs framed by homey, eclectic folk instrumentation and propelled by tart, striking vocals; the record drew broad critical praise. The two albums that followed felt hastily assembled, even though they held several worthwhile songs.

After parting with Warner, the sisters recorded French Record for Joe Boyd’s Hannibal label in 1981, an effort that radiated considerable charm. Love Over and Over, issued in 1982, leaned toward rock and pleased longtime followers, yet it proved to be their final studio album for nearly a decade.

In the intervening years they devoted themselves to raising families—Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III being the parents of Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright—while stepping out for occasional concerts, especially in the Northeast, that were greeted with rapturous response. During one such appearance in the late ’80s they mentioned working on a musical with producer Roma Baran; the project never materialized. The sisters reentered the release schedule in 1990 with Heartbeats Accelerating, followed by The McGarrigle Hour in 1998 and The McGarrigle Christmas Hour in 2005.

Their last joint appearance took place at a Christmas-season concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall on December 9, 2009; proceeds supported the McGill University Health Center’s Kate McGarrigle Fund, established to advance cancer care and research programs in Montreal. Kate McGarrigle, diagnosed with cancer in 2006, died at her home in Montreal on January 18, 2010, six weeks after the Royal Albert Hall performance, at the age of 63. Nonesuch Records issued Tell My Sister in 2011, a three-disc tribute that paired remastered versions of the sisters’ 1976 self-titled debut and its 1977 follow-up, Dancer with Bruised Knees, with a third disc of previously unreleased recordings, among them several solo and duo demos.