Just Us Folk

When people talk about “The Great American Songbook", they’re referring to songs like ‘Stardust’, ‘Don’t Get Around Much Anymore’, ‘Georgia’ and hundreds of other songs written between the 1920s and the 1960s. These “standards” were the creation of songwriters like George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer and more. While mostly associated with the singers of that era, these songs had a renewed profile over the years when recorded by Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Michael Bublé and others.

But when you go to Quebec, there’s a different collection of “standards” called “Le répertoire de La Bonne Chanson''. These songs represent the classics of French and French-Canadian culture. From the 1930s until the 1950s, 550 of these songs were published by Father Charles-Émile Gadbois into 11 songbooks. Many homes in the province had at least one songbook stored in the piano bench, ready to bring out at family gatherings and celebrations.

It’s these songs that form the basis for Prairie Comeau’s latest album, L’emprunt(e).

The married couple are Anique Granger, who grew up in a Saskatchewan French community, and Benoît Archambault who grew up in Quebec. Before forming the duo, they had solo careers for over 20 years.

In trying to find repertoire they could do together around the kitchen table, they focused on music written before 1960, which they’d reinterpret in a soft folkie way.

“Francophones grew up on a lot of these songs, but we picked some lesser-known songs so they don’t become lost," said Anique.

These songs were written decades ago when times and music were vastly different from today. So the challenge for Anique and Benoît was to present them in a modern musical and lyrical form.

“It becomes such a part of the creative process to change and re-work these songs and look at them through another lens.”

But sometimes the issues confronted in some of the songs are still relevant to today’s world. The song ‘Le couteau’ deals with a beggar who comes to someone’s door looking for table scraps to eat. Instead of turning him away, the homeowner invites the beggar in to have a meal.

“Right now we’re in this housing crisis so things haven’t changed all that much.”

L’emprunt(e) was produced by Nicolas Boulerice of the band Le Vent du Nord, one of Quebec’s premier traditional bands. Benoît and Nicolas have known each other since their school days.

“When I first talked to him about this project his eyes just lit up, so I knew we were on to something," said Benoît.

Prairie Comeau relied heavily on Nicolas for guidance in the creation of the new album, which brings together two previously-released EPs. His vast knowledge of traditional Quebecois music was invaluable as a sounding board when they tried out new ideas.

L’emprunt(e) is Nicolas’ first foray into production outside of his work on Le Vent du Nord albums.

“The recording sessions were magical. He was working hard to make his contributions to the record along with us," Benoit said.

Being a solo artist since the early 2000s, Anique sees the duo Prairie Comeau as a welcome change of pace.

“It’s like the place where I can sing very softly," she said. “And singing with Benoît makes me a better singer.”

Benoît’s career before Praire Comeau was as part of the very successful band Mes Aïeux, whose albums were certified Gold and Platinum. They also won numerous Adisq “Félix” awards throughout their career.

“But you know…I’m growing old, as we all do,” he said. “So singing with Anique is so much fun. So is singing in front of smaller audiences who really listen. I have a feeling I’m doing better work now.”

It’s a fascinating realization for both Anique and Benoît that you can still improve at your craft after all these years. Going forward the plan for Prairie Comeau is to release another album of songs from the Bonne Chanson collection. But the hope is for it to be a live recording.

For more on Prairie Comeau and L’emprunt(e), go to https://ciedunord.com/en/artists/prairie-comeau.