July 2, 2025
-by Beverley Phillips
Picture this
It’s 50 years ago
on a small country farm
Johnny McMasters place
And it’s Friday night
If you are from Cape Breton, or have spent much time here, you might have read that with a particular cadence, recited the next line, and possibly thought about getting up to dance, or had a memory of doing so.
Those words, of course, belong to “The Mull River Shuffle” by the Rankin Family, a Cape Breton standard. Their music is ingrained in those who grew up listening to Cape Breton music, and they were honoured and entered into the Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame on June 19th at Centre 200 in Sydney.
They received the honour alongside Donnie Campbell and the late Bruce Gouthro. They joined previous inductees, who include Rita MacNeil, Matt Minglewood, the Men of the Deeps, and John Allan Cameron.
The siblings, Heather, Cookie, Jimmy, the late John Morris, and the late Raylene, came from a musical family and were five of 11 children of Kaye and Buddy Rankin of Mabou. They honed their skills at ceilidhs and dances, and in 1989, they independently produced and released their first album, The Rankin Family, made with money borrowed from an older sister.
Its success led to the album Fare Thee Well Love in 1990, but it was following an appearance on Wayne Rostad’s On the Road Again that brought them national attention, and they secured a deal with EMI Canada.
Fare Thee Well Love was re-released by EMI and went quintuple platinum by 1996. The debut album was also re-released and went platinum by 1995. North Country came out in 1993 and went quadruple platinum by 1995. Endless Seasons (1995) went double platinum, and their final album before they disbanded in 1999, Uprooted, went Gold.
Their appeal clearly went beyond Cape Breton. Their harmonies, high-energy live performances, and their traditional yet fresh sound, a blend of Celtic, folk, country, and rock, brought them international acclaim and took them around the world, touring across Canada, the US, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.
Their popularity was also evident in the number of awards they won. In 1991, they received three East Coast Music Awards – Best Live Act, Best Roots and Traditional artist, and Best Recording Band. But that was just the beginning, as they would go on to win 12 more ECMAs.
Their award-winning was not limited to the East Coast; they also won six Juno awards. In 1994, they went four for four, winning Single of the Year for “Fare Thee Well Love”, Group of the Year, Country Duo or Group of the Year, and Canadian Entertainer of the Year. They won Country Group or Duo of the year in 1997 and Best Country Group or Duo in 2000. They also won four SOCAN awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards, and two Big Country awards.
For 10 years, the Rankin Family were instrumental in introducing the world to Celtic music. They opened doors for future generations of not just Cape Breton artists, but East Coast artists as a whole. While we have known it all along, they now have an official permanent place in Cape Breton music history.
