Introducing...Frazey Ford, one third of Vancouver trio The Be Good Tanyas.

  • The Be Good Tanyas are Frazey Ford, guitar and vocals; Sam Parton, acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano and vocals; Trish Klein, guitar, banjo, harmony vocals.
  • They began by singing out in the woods, and their pine-fresh songs marry traditional mountain music to modern concerns.
  • Following on from 2000's debut album Blue Horse and Chinatown in 2003, they continue their three-yearly cycle with this autumn's release of Hello Love.
  • As the trio arrives in York to play the Grand Opera House tonight, CHARLES HUTCHINSON discovers the art of Being Good from Frazey Ford.

How did The Be Good Tanyas come together?

"I met Sam Parton years ago when we used to work in the mountains, basically hard labour in British Columbia, planting trees on the mountainside.

"I used to sing all day when I was working, because you're pretty far from anyone else, and I wanted to learn to sing and work at the same time, and to learn to survive too.

"There's a culture of staying up late and singing round the campfire, and that's what Sam and I used to do."

When did Trish come on board?

"I ended up meeting Trish on a jazz music programme in Nelson, which was more about the community, where a lot of musicians and songwriters lived."

From the start, your music has been individual and not tainted by commercial gloss. How have you maintained that independence?

"I think you have to maintain what's important to you, and your sense of connection of what is important in music, and I don't think any of us is after a polished sound. We tend to be moved by the voice.

"I think we've always been really lucky in that we signed to a label that had no experience of the music we were doing, so they really left us alone and there was no interference in what we were doing."

How do you judge The Be Good Tanyas' progress over three albums?

"It's hard to say. I've never really listen to Blue Horse or Chinatown; I only hear them when I'm at other people's houses!

"But for this album, I had a lot more experience in terms of the sound I was looking for and I've learned how to get a take that's the most real - and I've learned more about rhythm and backbeat and how to use the band more.

"I also think that our songwriting and personality has changed.

When The Be Good Tanyas came together, we were focused on what was rootsy and country, and we're still interested in that, as we're still archivists of old music, but we feel more free with out lyrics and musically."

The most surprising song on the new album is the hidden extra, a cover of Prince's When Doves Cry. What led you to Prince?

"It was completely an accident!

We wanted to record with J T & The Clouds, who have this amazing rhythm section, and we were having such a great time with them that, just for fun, we did three takes of When Doves Cry after we worked it out.

"We had no intention of putting it out, but once we told our record company, they were very interested of course, though we felt it just didn't fit in anywhere as it's such an abrupt change.

"I thought it would have to go on another album or maybe an EP in that direction, but then there was a compromise to have it as a hidden track."

You wrote the title track. Hello Love must be very personal to you?

"I think that song kind of summed up the period when we wrote the record. Last year, I went through a break-up and separated from my partner, but we're quite happy living three blocks apart with our son going back and forth and we're both in new relationships now.

"Every time I sing that song it has a different tinge to it, with a sad, romantic beginning and end to it, but it's also about Spring, which is so beautiful it can make you sad."

The Be Good Tanyas, supported by Kathryn Williams, Grand Opera House, York, November 17, 7.30pm.

Tickets: £17.50 on 0870 606 3595.