by Ernie Thomas  Perhaps the most important group in rock history, at least when it comes to having balanced the scales of the sexes, the Washington state Wilson sisters proved girls with guitars could hold their own with the boys.
Prior to Heart’s debut in 1976 with the landmark album, Dreamboat Annie, women in rock were largely regulated to the role of singer and tambourine shaker. No disrespect to Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane or Janis Joplin of Big Brother & The Holding Company, but they were strictly the mouthpieces for male-driven bands. It can be argued that artists like Suzy Quatro, Fanny and The Runaways came along during the mid-1970s as well, but they were underground cult figures at best. The Wilson sisters – Ann and Nancy – were the first female band leaders to actually strap on guitars and successfully pioneer mainstream chart success when they landed in the national Top 10 with their first three singles – “Magic Man”, “Crazy On You”, and their first album’s title track, “Dreamboat Annie.” But that is enough about history. After climbing the mountain and earning their respected place in the annals of rock ‘n’ roll, Heart left the musical landscape for nearly a decade, as it’s sibling dynamos ventured into solo excursions. Aside from a tasty vanity project with hometown composer friends that they dubbed, The Lovemongers, the 1990s found Ann dabbling in live musical theatre, while Nancy scored music for a trio of movies (“Jerry Maguire”, “Almost Famous” and “Vanilla Sky”), helmed by her Oscar-winning filmmaker husband, Cameron Crowe. Well, the Wilsons are back to rocking as HEART, which features a talented young band of players who rival any past incarnation of the group. Keeping the rhythm going on the new album, Jupiter’s Darling, and on the tour dates supporting this latest addition to the proud Heart cannon, are bassist Mike Inez and drummer Ben Smith. Fleshing out the sound and working in tandem with Nancy’s stellar lead guitar playing is keyboardist Darian Sahanaja and multi-instrumentalist, Craig Bartok, who also shares co-producution credits for the new CD with Nancy Wilson. Jupiter’s Darling is Heart’s first studio album of all new material since1993’s Desire Walks On. “We just got an urge,” says Nancy of the impetus for Jupiter’s Darling. “We’ve been thinking about going back into the studio as Heart for a long time. When we finally decided to go for it, we asked ourselves a simple question: ‘What would a dream album be for our fans?’ To answer that, we went back tour own roots, the dream we had of giving Led Zeppelin a run for their money.” Ann explained that they felt the time was as right as rain for Heart to return. “The climate for music has changed,” she said. “There is a real hunger out there for authentic rock and that was all the encouragement we need.” Although we haven’t been in the studio as Heart since 1993, we haven’t been exactly taking it easy,” adds Ann. “We were involved with The Lovemongers. Nancy has been working on her husband’s films and we did the acoustic tour last a couple of years ago that was a lot of fun.” The Wilsons also set the stage for this Heart comeback with their 2003 double-CD and DVD release, “Alive In Seattle,” which featured the sisters and their new top-notch backing band kicking out a slew of their old school hits and four new cuts that made it to Jupiter’s Darling. As for the new album, it rocks! The Wilsons enjoyed the process of making this 16 song slab of sound. “Having access to all the latest technology gave us freedom to try new things,” explained Ann. “At the same time, we wanted to keep it real. Since we were working with our touring band [in the studio], we were able to put some studio spin on our live sound. [On this album] what you hear is what you get: no machine music, no pitch correction.” A few latter day Seattle music icons -- Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains) and Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) – stopped by the studio to pay homage to Heart’s influence and impact on their hometown music scene and make guest appearances on the Jupiter’s Darling. While the first single, “The Perfect Goodbye”, is a little soft-edged like latter day Heart hits, the band has some blistering hard rocking moments on the disc as well with tracks like “Vainglorious.” “We went for songs that were simple, powerful and at times slightly political, but always emotionally honest,” concluded Ann. “We think our fans, no matter how young or old, are smart, passionate people. They’ve stayed loyal because we’ve never underestimated them.” “We may have the same goals and ideals we started with, but we’re always finding new ways of expressing them,” chimed in Nancy. “We’ll never be a jukebox band, content to just recycle our hits.” A horde of females have come rocking through the gate that the Wilson sisters kicked open for them nearly 30 years ago, but they have nothing on these strong-willed and dedicated “Little Queenies” of rock. These sisters are still doing it for themselves! HEART perform at Chicago’s House of Blues on Sunday, August 15
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