麻豆视频

James Hill and Anne Janelle didn鈥檛 expect to get together. He played fiddle, she played the cello. He was studying folk music, she was studying classical cello. But in what Hill described as a series of 鈥渉appy accidents,鈥� they got together, both musically and romantically.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really kept us on our toes all these, and we always have a good time, and there鈥檚 always something unexpected that happens.鈥�

It took them a while to actually perform and record together, Hill explained.

鈥淎t first, it wasn鈥檛 really a match. We didn鈥檛 play music together at all. Gradually, we found our way to it. It seems very obvious to us now, but our first album together was ten years ago, so it didn鈥檛 seem obvious at the time.鈥�

While recording and performing together ever since, they had mostly worked and contributed to each other鈥檚 solo albums 鈥� there was only one record that they actually recorded as a duo.

鈥淧eople would be coming up to us after the show and ask us, which CD sounds like the concert we just heard? That was the comment we heard all the time. Which CD sounds like the two of you playing in our living room? We had to admit we didn鈥檛 have a CD like that,鈥� said Hill.

They have that album now, described as 鈥淛ames and Ann, pure and simple,鈥� recorded with one album off the floor. While it鈥檚 not actually out yet, their Saskatchewan tour will be the debut of the album, and it will be available in Yorkton at the show.

鈥淵ou finally get to put the performance in your pocket.鈥�

The goal was to make an album together, to reflect that they are together. The new album, Many a Moon, brings the reality of their lives together on an album, Hill explained.

鈥淥ur lives together are not separate. We share a home together, and everything, we have a son. To pretend our work is separate is just not true. We wanted to bring a bit of that to the material that released and the recordings that we make. Our lives are not separate from our work, and they鈥檙e not separate from our art, and you can say they never really are. If you make that distinction between your life and your art, it鈥檚 hard to justify that.鈥�

Being a couple, recording the album did have a small complication, the couple鈥檚 son. Hill jokes that as soon as he went down for a nap they would run up to the studio and record. But he鈥檚 grateful that he鈥檚 there, and the family has the chance to tour and make music together. He describes it as home-grown, with the songs recorded live on the floor.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e capturing a moment, and it鈥檚 the real thing.鈥�

While he jokes they had to wait for him to nap to get recording, he鈥檚 grateful that he鈥檚 there.

鈥淭his little guy is always helping out, in ways he can鈥檛 even imagine and ways I never anticipated.鈥�

Hill acknowledges that he鈥檚 lucky, both to have found the perfect partner, both in music and in life, and to be able to tour and record together.

鈥淭he fact that we can live out this dream of being musicians and put out something beautiful, that鈥檚 nothing to sneeze at.鈥�

They are also grateful for the Saskatchewan tour, and the chance to go to venues they鈥檝e never visited before and playing for audiences they have yet to meet. The goal is to do something special on stage, and he鈥檚 grateful to arts councils for programming live music and giving a chance for musicians like themselves to do these tours.

鈥淭his is really helping to keep live music alive. If you could just sit at home and put on the CD, I think everybody would do that. But what we鈥檙e looking for is an experience that will never happen again, that鈥檚 special. We put ourselves out there every night, and we open ourselves up to what everybody brings. We love to have things happen that we wouldn鈥檛 expect, that could happen in Yorkton, and we don鈥檛 know what that鈥檚 going to be.鈥�

James Hill and Anne Janelle will be in Yorkton at the Anne Portnuff Theatre on April 4 as part of the Yorkton Arts Council鈥檚 Stars for Saskatchewan series. Tickets are available at www.yorktonarts.ca.