© 1996 Toronto Sun
 | Subscribe to the Toronto Sun. |
Derek Andrews, head of Toronto's Harbourfront, asked Sylvia Tyson, Cindy Church, Colleen Peterson and Caitlin Hanford if they fancied a one-off sing-along.
"Sure," they said.
Busy solo schedules were juggled, a few songs were arranged. They sang like angels and enjoyed it so much they made an album. Then came a national tour, several awards and, before they knew it, they had recorded a second album, Work of the Heart.
"I think the thrust of what we are doing is now built around Quartette," says Peterson. "There seems to be a lot of requests for us to go out and play and we're out there doing it. It's so much fun."
Quartette performs at the Horizon Stage in Spruce Grove tonight and at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert tomorrow.
Work of the Heart, like the self-titled debut, is a team effort. This time, though, they've spread their collective wings to include jazz (Inspiration), blues (Just Like a Woman), Tex-Mex (Streets of the Mariachi), glorious, traditional a cappella gospel (When I Read My Titles Clear) and the customary abundance of country-folk.
"I remember when we first started, people said, `You should do more songs that you all sing together, like Cowboys and Rodeos (from their first album).' But we're not that kind of a quartet. We are not an a cappella group and we are definitely not the Nylons. Our blend is what we work on, and we can step back into the choir when someone's singing lead. We certainly don't want to lose our individualism."
There's little chance of that with the diverse experience these four women have mustered over the years. Tyson, of course, started her career in 1959 as half of the legendary duo Ian and Sylvia. Peterson began singing in Ottawa in a trio with Bruce Cockburn and enjoyed minor solo success in Nashville before returning to Toronto. Hanford has an extensive bluegrass background. And Church sang with Ian Tyson before co-founding the Great Western Orchestra.
All but Church live in Toronto, which made the song selections for Work of the Heart tricky.
"We made tapes up for each other, of our ideas, and then the four of us would sit around when we're all together, of course. With Cindy being in the West (Longview), it's not always easy. But we listened to each other's songs and we were brutal, to put it mildly. But once the songs fell into place, it seemed like it had a direction."
And now they plan to record a Christmas album. And who knows what else. One thing is sure, though. One of Quartette's finest moments was singing The Circle Game with Joni Mitchell at the close of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 1993.
"The organizers came to us and asked, `Would you girls be open to singing with her. She doesn't know the song all that well any more and doesn't play it. She says she wants to sing it with other people.'
"Of course our eyes just opened wide ... I knew the song because I had performed it for quite a few years. And so I played guitar on a song she was singing. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience."