Rachel Mackie
After the Dance
Rocky Records – 401
P. O. Box 518
Tofield, Alberta
T0B 4J0 Canada
good luck finding it!
This Canadian from Nova Scotia grew up in a musical family that embraced all the music of the region. It is a region with a very strong Celtic influence; this is the country from which the Acadians, who when forcibly transplanted to Louisiana, became known as Cajuns. The ties to this Acadian culture, its values, and its music is very strong in her tunes, it is however tempered by the years of living in Alberta. This is where her other major stimulus comes from. The long stretches of wind swept prairies and their wide open spaces and the country music the wind carries with it. This disc is more dominated by the Acadian side of her, and she even does a song that talks about just this called, “Cajun
Cousins.” A short, most of her songs clock in at about 3 minutes, tune which talks about the similarities of the two cultures. She has a good strong voice that fits her material, and she wrote the 10 songs on the disc (too bad it is only slightly longer than 30 minutes). The band plays well with her and it would be fun to hear what she does with this start. One very strong tune just stands out on the disc and that is “Dance of Life.”