Lori Yates reluctantly and regretfully introduces you to 3 Sisters on her latest single — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Normally, when an artist writes a song about the sudden death of her mother and titles it 3 Sisters, you can logically assume she’s paying tribute to the bereaved children left behind. But Canadian roots icon Yates is up to something more metaphorical on her new single: The sisters she’s referencing here are the feelings of danger, heartache and sorrow that swoop down like vultures in the wake of life’s greatest losses. And her message to them — delivered one by one and with equal vehemence — is that she’d really like them to go:
“Oh danger, don’t you call out my name
Cause I won’t answer like I did
When I was just a skinny kid …
Oh, heartache, don’t you weigh in on me
Cause you keep knock knocking at my door
but you’re not welcome here anymore …
Oh, sorrow, it’s time you set me free
I’m not strong enough to sing the blues
I’ve suffered enough; haven’t I paid my dues?”
3 Sisters is the latest release from Yates’ eighth and most recent album Matador, and it’s of a piece with that record’s theme of working through grief. The album was written and recorded at a time when Yates was reeling from the death of not only her mother but also her stepfather. And to rub salt into the wound, the project was also haunted by the passing of two guitarists she had cherished: Brian Griffith and David Gavan Baxter (who appears on Matador in what may have been his final recorded performances).
The album’s nine songs reflect that period of anguish, albeit with a palpable undercurrent of hope and perseverance. Tracks like Alive, Cowboy and Magdalena rub shoulders with the nostalgic title track, a fond farewell to the Toronto after-hours club that was a haven for Yates and fellow musos. There’s also a re-recording of Time After Time, a co-write with songsmith Guy Clark that originally appeared on her 1988 album Can’t Stop The Girl.
All told, Matador shows why Yates is such a beloved pioneer of Canadian alt-country. You could call her the nation’s answer to Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris and Patti Griffith — although the thrust of her material equally marks her as an attitudinal hybrid of Johnny Cash, Joan Jett and Lucille Ball. Any way you parse it, it comes out sounding great.
And it’s steeped in the culture of Toronto, where Yates finally moved full-time in 2023 after two decades in Hamilton. Co-produced by Rheostatics’ Tim Vesely, Matador was recorded at Blue Rodeo’s Woodshed, with a cast of players that reads like a who’s who: Bazil Donovan, Jimmy Bowskill, Michelle Josef and of course the now-departed Baxter. The heavy presence of piano and organ by Steve O’Connor lends an exciting new dimension to her trademark sound.
This is Yates’ fifth independent recording after stints on major labels; her brief attempt at making her name in Nashville, she admits, just wasn’t a good fit. But that interlude is just a blip in a pedigreed career that’s included tenures in bands like The Last Resorts and Rang Tango (and more recently, the roots supergroup Hey Stella), in addition to her sterling solo forays. Over the years, Yates has shared stages and studios with the likes of Roky Erickson, Rick Danko, Colin Linden and Jim Cuddy, and performed duets with Tom Wilson and Greg Allman. She’s been nominated for a Juno and a CCMA, been long-listed for the Polaris Prize, earned two lifetime achievement awards and taken home Alternative Country Recording of the Year and Songwriter of the Year from the Hamilton Music Awards. And in the kind of honour that truly stands the test of time, the lyrics to her song Angels With Bloody Knees are permanently enshrined in Hamilton’s Gore Park.
Hear 3 Sisters above, sample more from Lori Yates below, and meet her on her website, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
