The Rankin Family, hailing from Canada, began their musical path performing songs and dances in their native community of Mabou on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. John Morris contributed piano and fiddle, Jimmy played guitar and sang, and Raylene, Carol Jean (known as Cookie), and Heather supplied the vocals, forging a distinctive synthesis of Celtic traditionalism alongside contemporary folk and pop that centered on the sisters’ fluid harmonies. The group self-released its debut recording in 1989 and promoted the project across Eastern Canada through appearances at folk festivals and comparable venues. Fare Thee Well Love followed as their second album the next year. EMI signed the act in 1992 and reissued the first two recordings; North Country arrived twelve months later and offered the clearest illustration to date of their blend of folk songs with traditional Gaelic arrangements. Endless Seasons emerged after the 1995 EP Grey Dusk of Eve. John Jennings, noted for his productions with Mary Chapin Carpenter, oversaw the sessions, yielding a more refined sound that incorporated a substantial share of original material. Uprooted appeared in 1998. Recorded mainly in Nashville, the album mixed country shading with forays into expanded instrumentation and spoken word. The Rankin Family stopped performing together as a unit in September 1999. Cookie launched a solo career, Heather tried acting, and Jimmy continued songwriting, later issuing Song Dog in 2001. John Morris died in a traffic accident in Sydney, Nova Scotia, just a few months after that announcement; he was 40.
