Rawlins Cross is a Celtic band that formed in 1988 in

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. With members from

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Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

and

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, the band took its name from an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their ...

in St. John's,

Formation and early history

Rawlins Cross was formed in St. John's in the late 1980s by songwriting brothers Dave Panting (guitar and mandolin), Geoff Panting (keyboards and accordion) and Ian McKinnon (highland pipes and tin whistle). They then added drummer Pamela Paton and bassist Lorne Taylor to the band. The band started in the East Coast recording scene in late 1989 with its first independently released recording, ''A Turn of the Wheel''; a video for the single "Colleen" was released the same year. After its release, "Colleen" had a top ten radio slot on Toronto's CFNY station. In 1991, Lorne Taylor left the band, with Derek Pelley briefly replacing Taylor on bass. Prior to the recording of their sophomore album, ''Crossing The Border'', Pamela Paton left in late 1991, to be replaced by Tom Roach. Bassist Derek Pelley left in early 1992, and was replaced by Brian Bourne.

Popularity and mainstream success

In 1992, the band released ''Crossing The Border'', which further developed the fusion of highland bagpipes, mandolin and accordion with a rhythm section. A year later, after Rawlins Cross brought in drummer Howie Southwood, the band recorded ''Reel 'n' Roll'', which would be its best-selling album and launch a national radio hit with the title track. Prior to the recording of ''Reel 'n' Roll'', Prince Edward Island singer, Joey Kitson, joined the band as the new lead singer. Prior to Kitson joining the band, guitarist Dave Panting sang lead vocals for the band on the albums, ''A Turn of the Wheel'' and ''Crossing The Border''. Rawlins Cross released ''Living River'' in 1996, which garnered two Juno Award nominations. The band toured Canada three times that year and signed a licensing deal for its music in Europe. Rawlins Cross performed live on the nationally televised East Coast Music Awards and performed at the ninth annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration Festival in Germany and also represented Canada at the Expo Cumbre de las Americas in Santiago, Chile. Two more albums followed: ''Celtic Instrumentals'' in 1997, a retrospective collection, and the 1998 studio album ''Make It On Time'', which would prove to be the band's last album for more than a decade. Following a six-year hiatus, Rawlins Cross reunited in the fall of 2008 and released its seventh recording, ''Anthology''. In November 2010, they released their eighth album, ''Heart Head Hands''. Their next recording, ''Rock Steady'', was recorded at Codapop Studios (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) and released in December 2017 with the single, "Hold You Tonight".

Style

Rawlins Cross mixed Scottish, Irish, Celtic, and rock 'n' roll elements. Their style ranged from Celtic-instrumental to blues to folk, always with a strong rhythmic feeling, and combined contemporary song stylings with traditional instrumentation and story elements. The principal songwriters were brothers Dave and Geoff Panting. After vocalist Joey Kitson joined the band in 1993, a number of songs on the first two CDs, including "Turn Of the Wheel", "MacPherson's Lament", "Colleen" and "Open Road" were recorded again with Kitson singing lead, and released on subsequent recordings.

Band members

* Joey Kitson — lead vocals,

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

(1993–present) *Dave Panting —

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, harmonica,

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

, background vocals, songwriting (1988–present), lead vocals (1988–1993) *Geoff Panting —

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

, background vocals, songwriting (1988–present) *Ian McKinnon —

bagpipe Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

tin whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

, bodhran,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

(1988–present) *Brian Bourne — Chapman Stick,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, background vocals (1992–present) *Howie Southwood —

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1993–present)

Former band members

*Pamela Paton — drums (1988–1991) *Lorne Taylor —

(1988–1991) *Derek Pelley — bass (1991–1992) *Tom Roach — drums (1991–1993)

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

* 1997

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

s ** Nominations *** Best Roots/Traditional Album - '' Living River'' *** Best Album Design - ''Living River'' * 1999

East Coast Music Award The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) is a non-profit association purposed towards supporting the Music of Canada's Maritimes, music industry in the Canada, Canadian east coast, i.e., Atlantic Canada. The ECMA hosts the annual East Coast Music ...

s ** Winner *** Best Roots/Traditional ** Nominations *** Entertainer of the Year *** Best Group of the Year

References

External links

Rawlins Cross
Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlins Cross Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Musical groups reestablished in 2008 Musical groups from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian folk rock groups Canadian celtic rock groups 1988 establishments in Newfoundland and Labrador