Ennis-The-Fortunate-Ones
For celtic music fans in Canada the name Ennis is a familiar one as this musical family has been in the business of making music for several decades now. They’ve won a Juno award, a SOCAN award, multiple ECMA and Music NL awards and nominations, and have performed in Australia, The Middle East, Europe, America and Canada, accumulating 3 gold records along the way and sharing the stage with such widely respected artists as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Mary Black, Jann Arden and the Chieftains. The sister’s, Maureen and Karen, are currently traveling across Canada to promote their latest album, The Fortunate Ones. Produced by Maureen, The Fortunate Ones is an 11 song set featuring an original ballad from the internationally acclaimed Ron Hynes; Great Big Sea’s, Alan Doyle produced a rousing pub-style song that he co-wrote with Oscar winner, Russell Crowe; there’s a song by the iconic, Bob Dylan, a couple of traditional tunes including a set of tunes produced by Billy Sutton, featuring Karen on whistle, and 6 new tunes from the pen of Maureen and long time collaborator, Mark Murphy.
The duo brings their show to the Joshua Bates Centre in Athens, Ontario tonight, one of 3 remaining Ontario stops on this leg of their tour before they return to Newfoundland. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Karen about the group, the family and their music.
20 Questions with Ennis
#1: Over the course of your career you’ve had the chance to perform all over the world in venues big and small. Out of all the places you’ve been do you have a favorite? How about venues, is there one (or two) that stands out from the rest?
KE: I would say Ireland has been top on the list. Our ancestors are from there and Ireland has a strong cultural and historical connection to Newfoundland. It feels like home.
We’ve played so many venues over the years, big and small, but some of our favorite venues would have to be the beautiful churches we play during our Christmas Tour of NL.
Ennis
#2: Every artist I’ve spoken to has a story about how / when they decided to purse music as a career. Describe the moment that you knew that music was the path for you and what inspired you to take that path.
KE: We like to think this career chose us. We grew up in a very musical family and were always encouraged to sing and play from the time we can remember. In our early teenage years, people would ask us to play at fundraising type events, and for weddings and funerals. Then we started to get invited to play at some of the local festivals. People would always ask if we had any cds. So we begged our father to help fund one. We released our first CD in 1997 and the rest if history. I would say our commitment to pursuing music full time coincided with the release of our first CD.
#3: You’ve collaborated with artists like Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea in the past, among others. Name any three artists, you haven’t already collaborated with, that you would like to work with?
KE: Shaun Colvin, Emmylou Harris, and Alison Krauss.
#4: Celtic music is usually fun and upbeat and in many cases gives the uncontrollable urge to start dancing (even for those of us who can’t dance), what can fans expect to see from your live show when they catch you on tour this fall and winter?
KE: We love entertaining people. We like to make sure there’s variety to our stage show, whether through the dynamic of a song, or irish step dancing, or storytelling. The audience can expect to hear beautiful 3 part harmonies, songs and stories about our wonderful province, and comedic exchanges between sisters.
Ennis
#5: You have a lot of accolades in your career to date, what would you pick as the defining moment…so far?
KE: Winning a JUNO was one of the most memorable moments of our career. They were held in St John’s that year so our family and friends were able to share in that amazing moment with us. Shortly after that JUNO win for best New Country Group, we moved to Nashville. I would say that our move to Nashville was a defining moment in our careers. It was there that we rediscovered our love of folk/traditional music and decided we had to move back home and return to our celtic roots.
#6: What’s your all-time favorite movie?
KE: The Sound of Music
#7: Your ideal brain food?
KE: Sudoku and fresh Atlantic Salmon
#8: Favourite Restaurant (anywhere in the world)?
KE: Mallard Cottage in St John’s
Ennis
#9: Favourite TV show (all-time)?
KE: Golden Girls and Republic of Doyle
#10: If you could see any artist in concert, who would you see (living or dead)?
KE: The Rankin Family
#11: iPhone, Android or Blackberry?
KE: iPhone
#12: Can you talk about a fan encounter that completely took you by surprise?
KE: Just to brighten our day, a fan of ours bought us a gift certificate to our favorite restaurant, Mallard Cottage.
#13: Celtic music is rarely first generation, it’s usually passed down. What are the musical roots in your family and how deep do they run?
KE: We’ve traced our roots back 7 generations. William Ennis at 16 years old came to Newfoundland from Ireland. He brought the songs and stories of Ireland and past them on to future generations of Ennis’. We play and sing songs that we heard our father and grandfather play.
#14: Name a fictional character most like you?
Maureen Karen
KE: Maureen would be a combination of Monica from Friends and Sheldon Cooper from the BIg Bang Theory and Karen would be a combination of Phoebe from Friends and and Rose Nylon from the Golden Girls.
#15: In “Ennis, Story of Us” – The Movie, who would play Maureen and who would play Karen (to keep it interesting Karen can pick for Maureen and Maureen for Karen?
For Maureen: Kate Hudson
For Karen: Kristen Wiig
#16: Star Trek or Star Wars?
KE: Star Trek
#17: Stress management: hit man, spa vacation or Prozac?
KE: Spa vacation
#18: What is the best advice you’ve been given?
KE: “You’re never given more than you can handle.”
#19: Music and charity go hand in hand, is there a charity that’s close to your hearts that you would like to gain more attention for?
KE: Hands down Mental Health
#20: It’s been about 2 years now since “Fortunate Ones” was released, what’s next for Ennis? Any talk of album #8 yet?
KE: We’re about to release another Ennis Sisters album this month with our sister Teresa. Shortly after the release, we’ll be heading across Newfoundland on a 22 dates Christmas tour. In the New Year, we’ll be writing and recording another Ennis project, hopefully in time for a Spring release.
Special thanks to Karen for agreeing to answer our questions on short notice and to Teresa for helping set up the interview. For more information about Ennis and their music visit www.ennismusic.com. For more information on the Joshua Bates Centre visit www.joshuabatescentre.com, there are still tickets available for the performance.
Here is a taste of what you’ll hear when you see Ennis in concert. Maureen and Karen performing “Newfoundland” Live on their Newfoundland Christmas Tour in a beautiful church in Clarenville, NL. This song was written by Maureen Ennis and Mark Murphy about their Newfoundland home.