Bob Bossin<br>The Rose on Annie's Table

Bob Bossin
The Rose on Annie's Table
2005 Nick11 CD

Bob Bossin's CD The Rose on Annie's Table

It took 12 years to grow The Roses on Annie's Table, but it was worth the wait. With art song diva Veda Hille in the producer's chair, Bob is joined by a dozen of the west coast's best musicians, including cellist Peggy Lee, Rene Worst on string bass, Keith Bennett on harmonica, a barbershop quartet, a brass band, Grammy winner (and Stringband alumnus) Ben Mink, and Bob's daughter Madelyn. Includes Gingerbread, Shirley Ann, Nanaimo, Gary Davis.

Bossin's Roses powerful and complex

By Gary Cristall

The Roses on Annie's Table is Bob Bossin's first new CD in a dozen years. Like the Bossin of old, he asked his lengthy mailing list for contributions to the project and contribute they did, to the tune of $25,000. Unlike the Bossin of old, Bob put the production in the hands of a young whippersnapper, Veda Hille, a national songwriting treasure in her own right. It was a nice party - some of Bob's friends, some of Veda's. There is a brass band and a barbershop quartet, Bob's old Stringband fiddling associate (and more recently k.d. laing's co-writer and producer) Ben Mink, and some of the hottest players from Vancouver's contemporary music scene.

The result is a wonderful and diverse collection of songs. There is Bob's tribute to American banjo visionary John Hartford. There is a tongue-in-cheek denunciation of Nanaimo, BC. There is a song about a not-so-young mother confronting "love like a Jehovah's witness, banging on the door again." There's a sensitive celebration of adultery; a revisionist rendering of Hansel and Gretel sung by Bob's daughter, Madelyn; and an epic history of the folk music revival, featuring Ben Mink's bravura performance of Jean Carignan's Hangman's Reel. There are some songs by other writers too, like the Yukon's Kim Barlow and Edmonton's Maria Dunn - pieces that show how much contemporary songwriting owes to Bob and others who paved the way three or four decades ago.

And there is The Roses on Annie's Table, the title track, in which Bob takes his daughter to a lecture by David Suzuki. While listening to the environmentalist's dire predictions, Bob meditates on the delights of a love affair. The piece is, at once, a beautiful love ballad and a chilling warning of environmental apocalypse. You've got to have been around for a while before you can write something this powerful and complex. Bossin is one of the few songwriters who could, and, unquestionably, the only one who would. This is one of the country's finest songwriters at the top of his game.

The Players

Bob Bossin, vocals, guitar, banjo
Veda Hille, piano, organs, accordion, vocals, glockenspiel, jingle bells
Ben Mink, fiddle, mandolin, mandocello, additional percussion, lead guitar on Shirley Ann
Rene Worst, upright bass
Peggy Lee, cello
AK Coope, clarinet
Barry Mirochnick, drums
Martin Walton, electric bass
Keith Bennett, harmonica
Shaun Brodie, trumpet, euphonium, recorders
Ron Samworth, electric guitar
Brad Muirhead, tuba
Pietro Sammarco, trombone
Patsy Klein, vocals
Madelyn Bossin and Davy Bossin, vocals on Gingerbread
The Canadian Quartet, vocals on Nanaimo