Jimmy Rankin insists he didn't want to make "a straight-ahead country" record with his recently released fourth solo album, Forget About the World, which is really equal parts country, pop and roots.
"I don't think I can (make a country album) -- I just have too many eclectic influences," said Rankin, 46, best known as a member of the beloved '90s folk-country East Coast group The Rankin Family, who split up in 1999 before reuniting in 2007.
Yet Rankin divides his time between Cape Breton, N.S., and the unofficial home of country music, Nashville, where he has an apartment.
"It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, just be in that part of the world, because it's all about music -- it's a music mecca," said Rankin, seated in a Toronto restaurant.
"It's one of the last meccas anywhere where kids get off the bus every day with a bag of songs and a guitar and a dream. And it's all about music. There are no bells and whistles. There's every kind of music, not just country music."
Rankin had visited Nashville since the mid-'90s, first to make records with his siblings, then as a solo artist.
He has recruited no less a country star than Keith Urban to play a guitar solo on the first Forget About the World single, Here in My Heart. The two musicians famously met at the 2002 Canadian Country Music Awards in Calgary, when someone slipped a copy of Rankin's 2001 solo debut, Song Dog, onto Urban's bus. That led to an all-night jam session in the Palacer hotel lobby until 5 a.m.
"We ended doing what's become this famous jam in CCMA lore," said Rankin, who wound up touring with Urban and Canadian Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
Rankin then ran into Urban repeatedly over the years that followed, until having a fateful meeting with him in spring 2010, which was shortly after he'd moved to Nashville.
"It was so weird," said Rankin, who will launch his latest Canadian solo tour on Thursday night in Wakefield, Que. "We had driven to Nashville with my wife and kids (ages four and six) in a van for four days, so we checked into a hotel, we were haggard, and went to a restaurant and walked up to the sushi bar -- and there's Keith and his lovely wife (actress Nicole Kidman)."
The two exchanged phone numbers. Later, when Rankin was in North Ontario listening to the bed tracks for Forget About the World, he happened to catch Urban on TV, performing on a CMT taping in Toronto. That's when he thought of asking Urban to play the solo on the new album's first single.
"I was like, 'OK, why not call Keith?' You never know. He's a busy guy, he's got a huge life ... So he texted me back that day and said, 'Sure, mate, I'd love to play on your song.' Eventually, we were in Nashville again and got in touch and it was basically shortly after his baby was born, so you can imagine how tired these guys were. So he came into the studio -- what a great guy -- and just played this amazing solo. He was fantastic. He's awesome. I owe him one. To take the time out for me means everything to me."
Forget About the World was recorded in Toronto, L.A. and Nashville with producer-guitarist-mixer Bill Bell (Jason Mraz, Tom Cochrane and Justin Nozuka). The album's other prominent guest musician is rising blues-country rocker Serena Ryder, who sings a duet with Rankin on Walk That Way.
The two didn't know each other previously, but Rankin saw Ryder singing on a TV with just a guitar and liked what he heard. The two later met up at a bar in Halifax, where they were both doing gigs.
"I haven't done a duet since I recorded Fare Thee Well Love with my sister Cookie back in the day, like early '90s, so I thought it might be a nice little surprise on the record," Rankin said. "So I called her up and she said she'd love to. So she came into the studio and, of course, she could sing the telephone book as far as I'm concerned and would sound great. She nailed it in a couple of takes. I've never sung with her before and I just had a gut feeling that she was going to be great for the song."
Rankin still joins the family on tour
Jimmy Rankin is now four albums deep into his solo career -- including the recently released Forget About the World. But he still tours with The Rankin Family, who disbanded in 1999 but reunited in 2007.
"I've been doing my solo thing just as long, or longer, as I did the Rankin thing," he said. "But about four years ago we got back together and did a run across the country, so now ... I think we've done three tours since then.
"My sisters (Cookie, Raylene and Heather) do a Christmas concert every year or two, and then whenever we can we get together and do a Rankin thing, because people still want to hear that music. So it's like a brand name, which is lovely. We didn't know what to expect after eight years of not doing it, and people came out in droves right across the country."
The fifth family band member, his older brother John Morris, died in a car accident in 2000 at age 40.
Does Rankin ever miss singing with his sisters?
"Well, for one thing there are four vocalists, so I get to sing five songs a night and sing harmonies and play guitar, so it's not all me and I get to have three beautiful background singers, so I miss that part of it," he said. "But then again, we're not doing it fulltime anymore, so when we get together to do it, it's fun. And we're not under the record company pressure to get something out and tour it. We just go out because we want to. And then my solo thing. It's kind of the best of both worlds."
Jimmy Rankin tour dates:
Apr 28 - Wakefield, QC - The Blacksheep Inn
Apr 29 - Burnstown, ON - Neat Coffee Shop
Apr 30 - Blyth, ON - Blyth Art Centre
May 1 - St. Thomas, ON - Princess Ave. Playhouse
May 4 - Toronto, ON - Hugh's Room
May 5 - Hamilton, ON - Studio Theatre
May 6 - Chatham, ON - Mary Webb Centre
May 7 - Stratford, ON - Library
May 8 - Alliston, ON - Gibson Centre
May 13 - Calgary, AB - Ironwood
May 14 - Red Deer, AB - Elks Lodge
May 17 - Fort MacMurray, AB - Keyano Theatre
May 19 - Chipman, AB - Chipman Hall
May 20-21 Fort St John, AB - Lido
May 22 - Prince George, BC - Artspace
May 24 - Langley, BC - Cascades Casino Summit Theatre
May 27 - Halifax, NS - Casino Nova Scotia
May 28 - Fredericton, NB - The Charlotte Street Arts Centre
May 29 - Saint John, NB - Bourbon Quarter
May 31 - Truro, NS - Marigold
Jun 1 - Pictou, NS - Decoste
Jun 2 - Georgetown, PE - King's Playhouse
Jun 3 - Sydney, NS - Membertou
Jun 4 - Mabou, NS - Strathspey Place
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