Lambs in Spring is Raylene Rankin's first solo album.

* The album was recorded at Inception Sound by acclaimed producer, Chad Irschick. Irschick produced the first four albums for The Rankin Family. Lambs in Spring was recorded in Toronto and Cape Breton.

* With Lambs in Spring, Rankin highlights her power as a singer in everything from the touching ballad, "Scent of Roses", written by George Antoniak, to the lilting Gaelic tones of "Cape Breton Lullaby", to the more pop-inspired, "Highwire", written by David Francey.

* The album's title song, "Lambs in Spring" was written by Rankin's late brother, John Morris Rankin. "Alasdair Beag" is a lullaby written by Raylene Rankin, set to a traditional Gaelic tune. Rankin wrote "Alasdair Beag" for her young son, Alexander.



* Raylene Rankin will embark on a Canada-wide tour to promote her album in the spring of 2004. Leading up to that time, Rankin will join her sisters for a series of Christmas performances in Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

* Some of Raylene Rankin's recent solo projects include appearances at the prestigious Festival D'Ete in Quebec City, and at Cape Breton's renowned music festival, Celtic Colors.

* In comparing the experience of making Lambs in Spring to the hectic schedule of her days touring and recording with The Rankin Family, Rankin says, "I think there's space, now, to really see what I'm doing, and enjoy it."

Bio - Raylene Rankin

For more than ten years, Raylene Rankin's sweet, pure voice joined those of her brothers and sisters as part of the internationally acclaimed Canadian recording act, The Rankin Family. At the height of their popularity, the group toured the world and sold more than two million albums.


Raylene is "the voice" of the Rankin Family's hit song, "Rise Again". She is also the author of "Gillis Mountain", a song that achieved top five status on radio in Canada, and became a hit in the United Kingdom

Raylene left her family's band in 1998 to devote her time to raising her young son. However, she's never really stopped performing.

In the fall of 1999, pop superstar Carly Simon invited Raylene and her sisters to her home studio in Martha's Vineyard to add their special harmonies to her CD Bedroom Tapes. The trio appears on five tracks of the album, released by Arista Records.

From 1999-2001, Raylene and her sisters embarked on a Christmas tour with symphony orchestras coast to coast. Raylene's Christmas performances with her sisters continued in 2002, this time performing with their own band on a tour of Ontario. This year will see The Rankin Sisters bring their show to Ontario and, for the first time, to Atlantic Canada with a three week tour.
As for her solo work, the past few years have seen Raylene featured at the prestigious Festival D'Ete in Quebec City, as well as Cape Breton's famed festival, Celtic Colors. Additionally, Raylene frequently performs as a solo artist at private functions and conventions.

The years following the breakup of The Rankin Family have held personal challenges for Raylene Rankin. She faced the loss of her mother, her brother, John Morris, and battled breast cancer. Rankin says the difficulties she faced made her even more determined to release her album. She says, "It was like looking at the rubble of your life, and picking what was important from that rubble. It was deciding to move on with a new journey, and just leaving the other things behind."

Lambs in Spring is Raylene Rankin's first solo album. She expects to begin a Canada-wide tour in 2004. When she's not on the road, Raylene lives in Halifax with her husband, Colin, and her son, Alexander.