PLAIN FOLK

by Les Pearson
Cara Luft—All Grown Up with Places to Go!

Many in the folk world were shocked when Cara Luft decided to leave the Wailin’ Jennys after a four year rocket ride that exploded after the award winning 40 Days CD. I was devastated.

Ordinarily, I’m not a hypocrite. But when I e-mailed Cara to wish her the best for a solo career, my heart was insincere. I wanted more of the Jennys’ great harmonies. More songs like Ruth Moody’s One Voice. There was no reply.

When the Wailin’ Jennys performed in Medicine Hat, Cara was the “big personality” who joked with concert organizers. I was flattered when she called me “big brother.” We connected on a comfortable, superficial, level.

It was a surprise, then, that our “family reunion” at the Winnipeg Folk Festival began with Cara’s apology for not responding to the e-mail. This, and the fact that she even remembered who I was. Our conversation revealed an artist who has undergone serious personal transformation.

Cara Luft is all grown up...and wiser. Maybe the break-up was inevitable. Cara knew this when she stopped writing songs. From the beginning, the Jennys were all heading in “different creative directions.”

Cara’s brow wrinkles. This is still difficult for her. “The songs I was writing didn’t fit with the image of the band.” She explains that when three very different creative people come together, something has to direct their effort. That “thing” is the group itself.

At first, the Wailin’ Jennys was fun. Members introduced themselves individually. Later, Cara reflects, “Nobody actually knew your name any more. It was just the group.”

I tell Cara that some folks believe that she is “just too big” to perform in a group.” I’m talking about talent and stage presence. Cara snorts, “She started eating way too much!”

We shift directions. Last year Cara “…spent the winter crying, chopping wood, and shovelling snow. For me, it was the end of a relationship. I never really experienced a break-up before…instigated by myself.” This is a telling remark. Many of Cara’s songs focus on lost loves.

Then she confides. In the year preceding the split, eight people in her life had died. Leaving the Jennys gave Cara time to grieve, to write poetry—she’d never done it before! —to journal, run in the woods, eat good food, and share doughnuts and coffee with friends in Wilcox and Cochrane.
In the week after she left the group, Cara wrote five songs. Before that, she had written a song a year. This was an affirmation. She had made the right decision.

Coming back into the music community and performing was a struggle. She started with a private birthday party in January and then some Spring gigs before recording a thirteen-song demo. Her first CD will be released this Fall.

It will feature the new songs and some traditionals.

Our reunion ends. My best wishes are sincere. We all change. But the really gifted ones grow.