The story of hard-workin’ country posse The Jane Waynes begins, as most good cowboy yarns do, with a chance meeting in a seedy saloon where the beers are cheap and the ladies are wily, hidden somewhere in the mean streets of Toronto. On that fateful day, way back in 2001, a guitar-slinging lone rider by the name of Tucker stumbled across Travis, a mysterious cowgirl, in a downtown bar. After some coy chitchat and a couple of pints, the two traded numbers and rode their separate ways into the sunset. Little did they know they’d each met their musical match. The next time their paths crossed, Tucker mustered the courage to broach the big question: "Wanna be a band?" The duo donned their ten-gallon hats, hitched up their guitars, and discovered they had that kind of crazy country music chemistry that comes along once in a blue moon – together, the two strummed tunes that could make even the most hardened cowpoke weep. The Jane Waynes were ready to ride. Over the course of a year, the honky-tonk twosome collected new members like tumbleweeds in an Arizona desert, beefing up their country-and-western crew with washboard-scraper and cornet wailer Hank (also of Toronto jazz outfit Les Singes Bleus), dobro dynamo Percy, and low-end man Buck, who’s also done bass duty in bands like Moxy Fruvous and Great Big Sea. Since then, the dapper cowboy ensemble’s perfected their sweet sound, cranking out sepia-toned down-home country ditties with a postmodern gender-bending twist. With tunes that range from galloping instrumentals that seem like soundtracks for imaginary Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, mournful bluegrass ballads and rollicking covers, the Jane Waynes make their 21st century originals sound like old-timey country classics and give old faithfuls like Mississippi John Hurt an updated edge. If you combined the gritty heartbreak of Lucinda Williams, the thoughtful roots/rock songwriting of Oh Susanna, the street smarts of Bruce Springsteen, the breezy fun of sprawling newgrass orchestra the Silver Hearts and the goofy charm of Lyle Lovett, you might come close to figuring out the Jane Waynes’ equation. Add in a couple cowboy hats and some snazzy shirts, and you’re on your way. Now, factor in the wistful harmonies of singing co-songwriters Travis and Tucker, some killer blues harmonica riffs and some mean fingerpickin’, and it’s easy to understand why the band’s already shared stages with the likes of Luke Doucet, White Cowbell Oklahoma and Ember Swift, snagged some great reviews in local publications like NOW Magazine and Xtra, and rustled up a mighty fine following in Toronto and beyond. With the Man In Black’s lamented death last year, it’s high time for some new rough-and-tumble country folk to swagger onto the scene. Luckily, these cowpokes will unleash their widely anticipated debut album in July of 2004 at local drinking hole the Gladstone Hotel.