Moving day has come for musician Tif Ginn. As the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist moved into a new home she was finishing up recording her new solo album. Aptly named Moving Day, the 10-song collection reveals a new direction and dimension of creativity to her talents. Out now, Moving Day features four self-penned songs and six which Ginn co-wrote with musical collaborator and husband, Fred Eaglesmith.
An award-winning singer-songwriter in his own right, Eaglesmith has released 18 albums and been called “one of roots-music’s most gifted lyricists and wildly entertaining performers” (Los Angeles Times). Their collaboration has also impacted his career, notes the Maryville Daily Times: “There’s plenty of nuance to his career, but none more vibrant than his latest incarnation – that of a songwriter married to a soulmate who brings out the better angels of his nature, with whom he’s able to stretch the boundaries of both his lyrics and the way his songs are composed.”
For their work on Moving Day, an act-of-nature transformed what started out as a completely different body of music. A fully recorded album was wiped out by a lightening strike during a storm that knocked out power to their home studio. After futilely trying for months to recover the lost files from the computer that had not been backed up, they began rebuilding their work using the previous musical journey as a blueprint for bigger ideas.
“I was devastated but it was the best thing that could have happened,” Ginn reflects. “We started over knowing that we couldn’t do what we’d done before, not even if we tried. It turned out to be a refreshing and fun experience. And the new recording created is the record I always wanted to make.”
What resulted was a whole new musical direction. Ginn picked up new instruments that allowed her to execute ideas that she was not able to do before, and the melodies and chord structures were modified. It was a natural progression within a dramatic shift that brought about a newfound enthusiasm and passion to the songs. With Eaglesmith lending acoustic guitar work, Ginn is featured on vocals, electric guitar, drums and percussion, organ, piano, accordion, clarinet, stand up bass, melodica, and three different ukuleles – concert, tenor, and electric.
“I started with the bass and just got to work. It was pretty clear from the get go that the songs were taking their own shape. Everything came very clearly in the studio without being forced. We knew that we wanted everything to have an element of beauty and the different ukeleles are quite beautiful, very warm.”
The opening track “Gone” begins with a solo bass line and opens into a sultry story about loss but with a resolute attitude. Starting with the lyric “I bet you’re driving in your car,” it is the first of many songs (“Getaway Car,” “Rocketship,” Houston,” “Stones”) that deals with physically moving, with someone coming or going. Other songs signify moving forward emotionally and intellectually. The rhythmically syncopated “Saw You Again” narrates a story of getting over something and then being put face-to-face with the thing you’re grieving. The bossa nova driven “Pay For It,” highlights Ginn’s ability to put beautiful music to lyrics that have a bit of an edge. The ethereal and dramatic “Stay,” which was written in an equally ethereal and dramatic setting of an all window and marble floor railway station showcases her soaring vocals.
A south-central Texas native, Ginn has become a resident of Canada. As a working musician, she tours throughout both countries and around the world performing with Eaglesmith. Born into a family band who sang folk and gospel music, she formed a solid musical foundation early on. Her first performance at age 4 was announced by her 3-year-old sister, Brit, who informed the church congregation, “Everybody be quiet, my sister is gonna sing!”
She went on to study piano, guitar, voice, dance and theatre from childhood through college, and cut her teeth hosting open mic nights at the prestigious Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas. As adults, Tif and Brit formed The Fabulous Ginn Sisters and released three critically acclaimed albums. The duo toured for nearly a decade, when an impromptu collaboration at Texas’ Old Settler’s Music Festival presented them the opportunity to sing backup for Eaglesmith and garnered them an invitation to join the band as well as perform as the opening act. With their dog and Tif’s 4-month-old baby, the sisters bought an old RV and headed out.
In 2012, Tif became a solo artist and released a self-titled debut album that she also co-wrote with Eaglesmith. A few years later, Ginn began picking up every instrument she could and Tif and Fred became a touring duo. They married and continue to write, create, record, and tour together. During the year-long making of Moving Day, Ginn’s papers to become a Canadian resident were processed, which brought on a 1,565 mile move. And the last three months of recording, Ginn, her son, and Eaglesmith were actually boxing up one house (and recording studio) to move to another.
“We were carrying boxes and I was talking to my 9-year-old son. I asked him, ‘What should we call the record?’ and he said, ‘Moving Day.'”
Tif Ginn on tour with Fred Eaglesmith
Feb 1 The Old School Theater Water Valley, MS
Feb 6 Bluebird Cafe Nashville, TN
Feb 7 Red Clay Music Foundry Duluth, GA
Feb 9 Standard Deluxe Waverly, AL
Feb 15 The Original Cafe Eleven St Augustine Beach, FL
Feb 16 Mudville Music Room Jacksonville, FL
Feb 17 Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center Sarasota, FL
Mar 2 The Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
Mar 6 Valley Smokehouse Staunton, VA
Mar 7 City Winery Wine Garden Washington, DC
Mar 10 Willoughby Township Niagara Fallas, ONT
Mar 15 Old Town Hall Pelham, ONT
Mar 16 Royal CNDN Legion – BR 229 Elora, ONT
Mar 24 Busch Garden Tampa Bay Tampa, FL
Mar 30 Foldens Hall Ingersoll, ONT
Apr 5 Market Hall Performing Arts Centre Peterborough, ONT
Apr 6 Batstone’s Northern Ramble Renfrew, ONT
Apr 7 Doghouse Studios Napanee, ONT
Apr 13 Eden Mills Community Club Hall Eden Mills, ONT
Apr 26 Periscope Playhouse Port Burwell, ONT
Apr 27 Port Stanley Legion Port Stanley, ONT
July 19 Kemptville Live Music Festival Kemptville, ONT
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