By Jay Scott Kanes

STANLEY BRIDGE, PEI, Canada – Promises, promises! One of Atlantic Canada’s liveliest bands made a lot of those during its shows last summer.

Anticipating a first CD, four brothers and sisters in the Ross Family Band pushed for advance sales at their popular ceilidhs each Monday and Wednesday at the Stanley Bridge WI Hall.

At every show (I attended more than one), keyboard player Jonathan Ross, the senior band member, told the audiences: “In return for an advance payment, we’ll give you our Ross Family handshake and a solemn promise that the CD will be mailed to you the moment it’s available.”

My calendar pages turned: July became August, then September, next October, and still no CD. Evidently, finishing such a project and getting it out to the public can take longer than planned.

But those Ross Family handshakes proved golden. Finally, a large envelope filled my mailbox. A glance at the return address quickened my pulse. “The Ross Family”, it said.

Like a child on Christmas Day, I grabbed and ripped at the exterior paper, eager for the contents. I knew they’d be great.

Titled Island Feet, the CD inside met my expectations. Its 15 tracks, some instrumental, some with English lyrics, some with French, came straight from the Ross Family’s summer shows. No one who attended would have wanted otherwise.

His Dad’s potatoes kept this country fed
Before the bottom fell out.
There was a time he sold more than he grew.
Those days seem gone for good….

The John Deere no more will dig the land.
His Dad’s soil may as well be sand.
To this farmer’s son whose future here seems bland
The boglands in Alberta can look so damn grand.
From “Island Feet”, The Ross Family Band, 2007

The Ross Family Band plays in a lively style -- lively with a capital L. If the handshakes proved golden, ditto for the music. The best song may be one called “PEI Rail Ran Away”.

A lot of time has slipped away
Since steel and wood ties ruled the day.
Yes, it was before my time.
This I know,
But walkin’ down the trail in a dream
I swear I heard the pounding steam
Roarin’ like a ghost on the wind
Longing for its home….

It would take a day to ride,
Elmira to the northwest side.
Stoppin’ every mile or two,
A twisty, narrow track leadin’ the way
For potatoes, people and mail.
Oh, the PEI rail ran away.
From “PEI Rail Ran Away”, The Ross Family Band, 2007

The bilingual (English-French) band members blend a traditional, fast-paced sound with intricate step-dances. Jonathan, in his mid 20s, is the oldest. The youngest, Stephanie (guitar, voice, dance), is in her mid teens. In between stand Danielle (vocals, fiddle, dance) and Alex (drums, dance).

Another key person, Dorothy Arsenault-Ross, climbs onstage only sometimes. She’s a step-dance instructor and the energetic musicians’ manager and mother. Previously with the singing-dancing Arsenault Sisters, Dorothy joined her own siblings, Norma and Marie, on a 2002 album, Making Memories.

But here’s the best news. Enclosed with my copy of Island Feet, I found a note from Jonathan. “The Ross Family ceilidhs will be back in Stanley Bridge for the summer of 2008,” he wrote.

I don’t need a handshake to know that I’ll want to be there too, ideally in the front row. Already, my eardrums quiver in anticipation.

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