Maverick

Jenny is the daughter of Canadian folk-country/blues/jazz musician Chris Whiteley (not to be confused with the late Texas bluesman Chris Whitely). Her first and second albums picked up Best Roots & Traditional Album Junos (the Canadian equivalent to the Grammy). Following a four-year silence, Forgive or Forget her fourth solo release is the third consecutive collection to be produced by Steve Dawson. It's also her third consecutive release on Dawson's Black Hen Music imprint.

Popularised by Buddy Holly and penned by husband and wife team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Jenny launches the album with a gently lilting reading of Raining In My Heart. Whiteley penned the remaining songs, two with guitar/mandolin player Joey Wright and Final Season with old-time musician Chris Coole. The Day Without Words lyric belies the happy-go-lucky melody that supports it, while Kind Mirror is a wonderfully wistful reflection that finds the narrator acknowledge the signs of ageing. The lyric to the uptempo love song Slack is constructed around the old adage: 'pot calling the kettle black.' Drummer John Raham (Be Good Tanyas) and bassist Darren Parris furnish the firm foundation on which this album has been constructed, the other session players being Joey Wright (archtop guitar, mandolin), Chris Gestrin (accordion, pump organ, Wurlitzer, Moog) and album producer Dawson on a legion of instruments. By way of acknowledging her late twentieth century bluegrass roots, that giant of the genre, Tim O'Brien duets with Jenny on Final season and Ripple Effect. Add a dash of blues, a smidgen of pop, and some folk-country licks and you've got the genre rich Forgive or Forget.