The Janzen Boys make first New England visit
While anchored by steady acoustic bass, joyful strumming and finger-picked flourishes, the not-so-secret sauce of folk trio The Janzen Boys is their gorgeous harmonizing. The Canadian band — guitarist John “JJ” Janzen and his sons Mick (mandolin and drums) and Simon (bass) — delivers utterly transcendent vocals.
A stellar example is “Flight To JFK,” a single released early in the year. Their blending on the Theo Kandel cover evokes memories of hearing Crosby, Stills and Nash first sing together in Cass Elliot’s Laurel Canyon home in 1968. When it happened initially for The Janzen Boys, JJ was just as stunned by their blood harmony.
“I would cry like a baby the first few times,” he said in a recent Zoom meeting that included Mick. “They’re like, ‘Dad, why are you crying?’ and I’d say, ‘It’s OK … I’m just happy, and sometimes the happy comes out of my face like that.’ Because it sounded so good, and I couldn’t believe it.”
That it happened at all was a product of coercion, albeit gentle.
After living in Japan for most of their lives, the Janzen family moved back to Ottawa in the early 2010s. At the time, they were taking a break from music.
“My marriage was kind of falling apart,” JJ explained. When a busking gig opened up in 2012, Simon wanted to restart the band. This bothered Mick, who felt the initial idea to form a group was his.
However, Mick played drums because, JJ explained, “He hated being at the front of the stage,” and he also didn’t sing. “I saw an opportunity … I said, ‘OK, you can be in, but only if you sing and play, because Simon sings and plays and I sing and play. You have to sing too.’ And then he said, ‘OK, fine.’”
With that, three voices became a breathtaking chorus. Fourteen years later, The Janzen Boys are a mainstay in their home country and recently began touring in the U.S. They’re also readying their first visit to the U.K. later this year. Critics liken them to a male version of The Wailin’ Jennys, as well as fellow Canadians Neil Young and Barenaked Ladies.
A sad truth of the modern music business is that talent isn’t everything. Fortunately, they’ve found novel ways to succeed. Mick is their social media maven, posting compelling mini-clips of the band’s music on social media to drive ticket sales. A recent a cappella version of the Scottish traditional song “The Parting Glass” on Instagram is a good example.
JJ does booking and a few years back found a unique and quite lucrative approach to it that finds them performing in a lot of places that are new to hosting live music. Two such venues are part of their upcoming area run — Bradford’s Town Hall on May 24, and a May 22 date at Peterborough’s Community Theatre that’s already sold out.
Their self-promotion strategy “is not brand new, and we didn’t invent it, but there are not a lot of bands doing it,” JJ said, “but it’s becoming more popular mainly because it can make music possible and profitable in a time where it’s been pretty challenging. We just find a community hall with a stage that rents for a reasonable price, and lets you set up chairs.”
Ultimately, the music carries them, sometimes in unexpected ways. Like the fan in Kentucky who wanted the band to play her daughter’s wedding enough to spend thousands of dollars to clear a months-long visa roadblock, because she believed their harmony could settle down two politically fractious families.
“She actually said, ‘I want you to come sing some peace into the situation,’” JJ recalled. The gathering became an anchor for their first Stateside tour in 2024. “She said, ‘I’m dreading how this wedding could possibly go. Your music makes me feel calm and peaceful, so I want you to come and sing.’”
It’s soothing music, agreed Mick. “A friend of mine said to me, ‘Harmonies are a drug, and you guys are smoking it.’”
All Your Friends
Featured photo: All Your Friends. Courtesy photo.