Classic Clips: Cry Cry Cry “I Know Why The River Runs” – Radio Heartland, 2018

So-called ‘supergroups’ in this genre aren’t a new thing. Think the Pistol Annies, or I’m with Her. Only this year, Mary Chapin Carpenter joined forces with Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart for the excellent “Looking For The Thread” album. Back in 1998, Dar Williams had a vision of an album that would cover the back roads of the USA and Canada, with all the gems by folk artists who started touring in the 80s and 90s and whose work had been influenced by everything from traditional folk music to post-modern literature. Cry Cry Cry, comprising Williams, Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky, described at the time as a ‘folk supergroup‘, was the result of that vision.

At the time, Williams and Shindell were frequent collaborators, and when on the road together, they would often sing cover songs of their friends during soundchecks. Williams recalls: “We thought we would put on a tape recorder and just record those, but our manager at the time said, “Why don’t you just make it a thing and really go out and find the best songs that you can by the people you know in the songwriting community?” So, it became a way to sing harmony, and we added Lucy (Kaplansky). It became a way to make music together and also find songs that are contemporary, and that was really another dynamic piece of the project”.

The album featured songs by the likes of Michael Stipe, Buddy Mondlock, Ron Sexsmith, Robert Earl Keen, and Julie Miller and was extremely well-received in the folk community at the time. Twenty years later, the trio were enticed back together to perform at a festival, and that reunion turned into a tour and the digital release of “Live @ The Freight”, a recording of the last gig on that tour. All profits from that release benefited Live Music Society, a non-profit organisation providing grants to small, independent music venues. It was the group’s way of trying to help these venues get through the pandemic.

From that release comes Julie Miller’s ‘I Know Why The River Runs’. It was the three-part harmonies that were often picked out as the highlight of the trio’s collaboration, but equally key to the project’s success was determining who best to lead the vocals on each song. Here, in the studios of the Midwest, Radio Heartland, in the midst of that reunion tour, it is Kaplansky with the honour.