The Be Good Tanyas

The Be Good Tanyas

The Be Good Tanyas are a Canadian folk group from Vancouver, British Columbia, active from 1999. They perform acoustic music shaped by folk and Americana, combining original songs with traditional material and using close vocal harmonies as a defining part of their sound.

Line-up and background

The group features Frazey Ford on guitar and vocals, Samantha Parton on guitar, mandolin, banjo and vocals, and Trish Klein on electric guitar, banjo and harmony vocals. Jolie Holland is a former member and also appears as a frequent guest.

The group forms out of a meeting between Ford and Parton at a tree planters’ camp in the Kootenay Mountains outside British Columbia in the early to mid-1990s. At that time, both live a travelling lifestyle and work as tree planters and in other short-term jobs. They later go in separate directions before Ford and Klein meet while attending music school in Nelson, British Columbia. The three eventually come back together in Vancouver in 1999.

Pre-band activity

Before the group settles, the members spend time in different places and projects. Ford goes to Montreal and then Guatemala, and also plays in a trip hop band in Montreal. Klein later forms the soul/folk group Saltwater June in Vancouver with Ford. Parton travels through America with her dog Sherpa and settles in New Orleans. She also tours with spoken-word punk poet Chris Chandler and has a country duo side project called The Illegitimate Daughters of Johnny Cash.

Albums and recognition

The Be Good Tanyas release their debut album Blue Horse, which is named one of Q magazine’s Top 50 albums of 2002. They follow it with Chinatown in 2003 and Hello Love in 2006. The group takes a break from touring and recording in 2008. Ford later releases her solo debut, Obadiah, in 2010.