Biography
For an illustration of how challenging it has grown to sort and classify the many varieties of music grouped under the heading of "folk," the husband-and-wife team of Al and Emily Cantrell offers a clear case. Since uniting their lives in the early 1980s, the pair has fashioned an arresting combination of bluegrass, swing, jazz, and old-time styles that attracted listeners nationwide, among them figures in Hollywood.
Raised in Nankipoo, TN, a short distance north of her Memphis birthplace, Emily Cantrell took up piano at age four and spent much of her youth making music alongside her brother Jim. Her strong soprano soon drew notice, its clear, ringing tone prompting later comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell once she reached adulthood. She also began composing her own material, revealing skill with words and imagery. After relocating to Boulder, CO, in 1980, she encountered Tim O'Brien, then fronting the influential neo-traditionalist bluegrass outfit Hot Rize. Impressed by her vocals, O'Brien asked her to contribute harmony to "Queen of Hearts" on his 1984 solo album Hard Year Blues for Flying Fish. In 1981 she established her own bluegrass group, the Tractors (distinct from the 1990s retro-country act sharing that name).
Born Al Ehlers in Corvallis, OR, Al Cantrell grew up along Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle at Three Tree Point. Music filled his household from the start; his father served as a church organist, and Al maintained that the Bach fugues he heard in utero constituted his first exposure. He studied violin in grade school before shifting to rock and electric bass. Interest in country and its offshoots arose after hearing Merle Haggard songs covered by prominent rock acts such as the Grateful Dead. Returning to the fiddle in the early 1980s, he became the protégé of noted Idaho fiddler Teddy Jones while absorbing techniques from bluegrass and swing players including Vassar Clements and Johnny Gimble. Following European tours, he arrived in Boulder in 1983 and auditioned for the Tractors. He joined, and after the group disbanded several years later, Al and Emily stayed together both personally and professionally, with Al adopting her surname Cantrell, meaning "Little Singer."
The Cantrells relocated to Nashville in 1988 and recorded a demo that became their debut album, Under a Southern Moon, issued on Sombrero Records. The set mixed swing and big-band standards such as "Slow Boat to China" in an acoustic, bluegrass-rooted approach. Though none of the selections were Emily’s compositions, the project showcased her vocal range, and Al’s restrained fiddle-and-mandolin support helped produce a compelling first release. Their 1991 follow-up, A New Language on Turquoise Records, incorporated some of Emily’s writing, yet it was the 1995 Sombrero album Dancing with the Miller’s Daughter that marked their full stride, seven of its ten tracks consisting of original Cantrell songs. That record stood out for its spare yet forceful sound, relying solely on Emily’s voice and guitar alongside Al’s fiddle and mandolin without additional studio players.
While preparing to produce and direct A River Runs Through It (released in 1992), Robert Redford met the Cantrells at a party in the early 1990s. Captivated by their music, he placed selections on the film’s soundtrack and cast Al and Emily as extras in the church-social sequence, where they appear as the musicians. After shifting from Nashville to Ohio in the late 1990s, the Cantrells kept touring and performing nationwide, gaining fresh audiences with their polished acoustic style.
Raised in Nankipoo, TN, a short distance north of her Memphis birthplace, Emily Cantrell took up piano at age four and spent much of her youth making music alongside her brother Jim. Her strong soprano soon drew notice, its clear, ringing tone prompting later comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell once she reached adulthood. She also began composing her own material, revealing skill with words and imagery. After relocating to Boulder, CO, in 1980, she encountered Tim O'Brien, then fronting the influential neo-traditionalist bluegrass outfit Hot Rize. Impressed by her vocals, O'Brien asked her to contribute harmony to "Queen of Hearts" on his 1984 solo album Hard Year Blues for Flying Fish. In 1981 she established her own bluegrass group, the Tractors (distinct from the 1990s retro-country act sharing that name).
Born Al Ehlers in Corvallis, OR, Al Cantrell grew up along Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle at Three Tree Point. Music filled his household from the start; his father served as a church organist, and Al maintained that the Bach fugues he heard in utero constituted his first exposure. He studied violin in grade school before shifting to rock and electric bass. Interest in country and its offshoots arose after hearing Merle Haggard songs covered by prominent rock acts such as the Grateful Dead. Returning to the fiddle in the early 1980s, he became the protégé of noted Idaho fiddler Teddy Jones while absorbing techniques from bluegrass and swing players including Vassar Clements and Johnny Gimble. Following European tours, he arrived in Boulder in 1983 and auditioned for the Tractors. He joined, and after the group disbanded several years later, Al and Emily stayed together both personally and professionally, with Al adopting her surname Cantrell, meaning "Little Singer."
The Cantrells relocated to Nashville in 1988 and recorded a demo that became their debut album, Under a Southern Moon, issued on Sombrero Records. The set mixed swing and big-band standards such as "Slow Boat to China" in an acoustic, bluegrass-rooted approach. Though none of the selections were Emily’s compositions, the project showcased her vocal range, and Al’s restrained fiddle-and-mandolin support helped produce a compelling first release. Their 1991 follow-up, A New Language on Turquoise Records, incorporated some of Emily’s writing, yet it was the 1995 Sombrero album Dancing with the Miller’s Daughter that marked their full stride, seven of its ten tracks consisting of original Cantrell songs. That record stood out for its spare yet forceful sound, relying solely on Emily’s voice and guitar alongside Al’s fiddle and mandolin without additional studio players.
While preparing to produce and direct A River Runs Through It (released in 1992), Robert Redford met the Cantrells at a party in the early 1990s. Captivated by their music, he placed selections on the film’s soundtrack and cast Al and Emily as extras in the church-social sequence, where they appear as the musicians. After shifting from Nashville to Ohio in the late 1990s, the Cantrells kept touring and performing nationwide, gaining fresh audiences with their polished acoustic style.
Albums
