Multi-platinum Canadian Folk Artist Loreena McKennitt and Canadian Folk group The Bookends built on a live performance relationship that resulted in 2022’s seasonal album Under a Winter’s Moon, by teaming up again for a series of live performances at four Southern Ontario Folk festivals in the summer of 2023. They were joined by McKennitt’s longtime bandmate, Cellist Caroline Lavelle. These performances were recorded and a selection is now being released as The Road Back Home, arriving on March 8, 2024.
The title and the idea behind the album reflect McKennitt’s own roots playing and attending Folk festivals in her early musical career, and some of the songs in question hail from McKennitt’s past, carrying sentimental value for her. For instance, there are songs that she learned in her first Celtic musical gatherings in Canada and tunes that she played countless times as a busker in Dublin and London.
Brought to life in a festival setting, these tracks not only have a live quality, but an adaptive approach that brings a tremendous energy to the listening experience. They have been presented in a way that works in an outdoor setting, with instruments clearly pronounced and with vocal lines carefully picked out for drama and emotion in the storytelling. Of course, what that also comes down to is an excellent quality of sound recording and production that brings out the potential of these performances to the greatest effect.
The sound quality makes you feel as if you are having a festival experience, and even seated close to the stage. This adds to the idea behind the album which, for McKennitt, is about reaffirming the role of local communities and musical gatherings. The track listing we find on The Road Back Home also closely follows that of a live show; encouraging audiences to listen to it in full and connect with the musical arc of the entire show.
The songs “Searching for Lambs” and “Mary & The Solider” which open the performance have a reflective quality, and an occasionally hushed feeling, establishing the role of instruments as part of the storytelling and suggesting the anticipatory feeling of setting out on a journey. Coincidentally, or perhaps purposefully, these are also tracks that relate to McKennitt’s earlier days as a performer and have emotional significance for her.
Moving into “On a Bright May Morning” and “As I Roved Out,” the versions of these songs that we encounter are hardly predictable. “As I Roved Out,” particularly, is a quick and energetic interpretation, taking us into the center of storytelling and building dramatic action for the show. The mid-section of the album starts to bring in even stronger emotions, as in the favorite track “Bonny Portmore,” and the instrumental “Greystones.”
The movement into “The Star of County Down” and “Salvation Contradiction” rises with a sense of increased energy and there is a complexity to the vocals and to the instruments that reminds us of the storminess of life’s demands and possibilities. This build-up also has a warmth and positivity to it that seems to resolve some of the more dramatic contrasts in earlier tracks. The double ending to the performance coincides with McKennitt’s own experiences, where “Wild Mountain Thyme” harks back to her days attending Folk festivals when this finale would bring performers together on stage and audiences into the musical experience by singing together. This highlights the role of music in bringing people together to truly create a sense of ‘home.’
Loreena McKennitt was embarking on these performances in the time leading up to her The Visit Revisited Tour, which crossed North America later that autumn, and is currently underway in Europe. This less formal set selection was no doubt invigorating for McKennitt and makes for a riveting listening experience. Built on carefully curated material, highly adaptive performances, and excellent sound recording, Cryptic Rock gives The Road Back Home receives 5 out of 5 stars.
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