"You can say it was love at first height!" 

With a laugh, Canadian-born and –bred bassist/vocalist/songwriter Michele Law, whom some in a certain part of America would describe as "a tall drink of water," characterizes the moment near the end of August, 1996, when she and her husband of seven years, John Law, crossed paths at a mutual friend’s party. "I took him home, and that was that," she says in summary of that memorable night long ago. 

Cut to 2007, and John and Michele are not only husband and wife but are also partners in music, performing as The Laws and getting ready to make a strong move for greater recognition in the Americana ranks in this country behind a typically ambitious touring schedule (200-plus nights a year on the road) and a stirring new album for their own label, JML Music, titled Ride It Out. The duo’s fifth long player, Ride It Out is noticeably lacking any false notes in its compelling original songs, empathetic musicianship and emotionally charged vocal performances. 

Recorded in Nashville with producer/writer Regie Hamm, and co-written with some of Music City’s top tunesmiths, Ride It Out showcases all the Laws’ strengths. Stylistically its songs range far and wide within a roots framework. Smooth country folk powers the album opening "Am I Still the One"; "Put Some Love Into It" is a jazz-tinged frolic keyed by Michele’s saucy vocal; the guitar-mandolin instrumental "Texacadia" is a Nickel Creek-style display of assured, hot pickin’; the classic country-tinged "Too Lonesome to Cry" features lyrics as simple, direct and devastating as the Steve Earle of "Valentine’s Day" and "Hometown Blues"; and, to close things out, "Getting Over You" is a bopping little folk-flavored ditty that evinces an ironic, Steve Goodman-like sense of the absurd in its account of someone doing everything but getting over a lost love. Vocally, Michele ranges from a soothing, plaintive, Emmylou Harris-like harmony ("Am I Still the One") to assertive, Martina McBride-style belting ("Getting Over You"), whereas John’s rich, nasally tenor bears some semblance to that of the estimable Texas craftsman and New Traditionalist pioneer Radney Foster. And despite the presence of a few other players on the album, Ride It Out has the intimate feel of a Laws stage show, where the only sounds come from the duo’s voices and instruments. 

"That’s exactly what we were going for," Michele says. "Our first album was as an acoustic duo; then we felt like rockin' out more, so we had drums and some electric stuff, but we didn't feel it went over as well. So we wanted people to hear on this CD what we can pretty much do on stage together."

"People always say, ‘Give me something that sounds like what I just saw,’" John adds. "There are five CDs on the table and people want to know which one sounds like what they just saw. I've heard that a hundred times. So that's what we tried to give them on this album." 

The Laws are nothing if not attuned to fans’ sensibilities. Since they started performing together in 2000, they’ve played across the breadth and depth of their native country, and in 2003 they headed south, into the U.S. market, and specifically to Texas, where they had a life-changing moment at an open mic night. 

Michele: "We went to a Sunday open stage, it was sponsored by a beer company and someone said, ‘You guys gotta go to this,’ so we went. And it was rowdy, like a honky tonk--and we're on the list, and we're like, ‘Oh, no, they're gonna hate us.’ We were just getting on stage and the host said, ‘Don't play any cover songs.’ So we played and sang an a cappella, did three or four songs, and everybody stops talking, they sit down, they listen, they love the music and then they line up to buy CDs. The host gave us all the money they had gathered. It was just the most incredible experience. And we realized these people were really, really into original music down here. It changed our lives. Amazing." 

Nothing has changed either Michele or John’s life, though, as much as meeting each other and striking up a musical partnership as an added component of their life partnership. Neither saw it coming, nor was either one particularly pointing towards the path both find themselves on now. 

Born in Kingston, Ontario, Michele, though growing up doing "a lot of harmony singing" with her sisters at home, was about as far from music as she could get when she met John at that fateful party—she was working in a hospital, and she played no instruments at all. 

For his part, Chatham, Ontario-born John had a lifelong interest in music, but his exposure to it as a child was limited. His father had a Roger Miller greatest hits album, and a Johnny Cash album, and that was all. But John learned every nuance of both records, and he became infatuated with the guitar after being inspired by his sixth grade teacher, who often entertained the class with Bob Dylan tunes played on "a big ol’ electric Gretsch guitar," according to John. "That did it for me; that hooked me. I just wanted to play guitar after that." 

John honed his instrumental skills over the next few years, a turning point coming when he was injured in a motorcycle accident at age 16. "That’s when I really got into guitar and started putting bands together because I couldn't do much else. I just played in rock 'n' roll bands, '70s rock 'n' roll style stuff. Neil Young was a big influence and I always played harmonica and guitar at parties, with friends. But the band was mostly rock 'n' roll." Songwriting, he adds, was an afterthought: "There's a couple of guys who did write original stuff, but I was always the guitar player or thinking of a bridge or something, a new direction--not really getting credit for writing bridges, but I didn't know you could! I was always the guitar picker to put on a little sweetener to their songs. That was about it." 

John then moved to Toronto to play the street and eventually put together a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover band that toured throughout Canada for seven years. During that time he was also getting into American roots music through recordings by Doc Watson and Tony Rice, among others. 

When John and Michele got together they moved across Canada to British Columbia where John started playing guitar and mandolin with roots country songwriter, Joe Charron. 

"John and I decided together that music was such a big part of his life that I wanted to be part of that too," Michele explains. "We had a five-year plan, and he taught me to play guitar, how to play bass--we'd have friends over to jam and it was all guitar players. So I said, ‘Maybe you should teach me how to play bass.’ Then I found out that I'm the third chick bass player in my family. Isn't that freaky?" 

On the side, for kicks, he and Michele and a couple of their musician friends put together a casual bluegrass ensemble known as One Track Mind and cut a homemade CD, Beyond the Kitchen Table. More to the point, he had taught Michele the fundamentals of the bass, and a plan began to take shape. 

Michele had barely begun to learn her instrument when she filled in onstage for the Joe Charron Band’s absent bassist, at which point she also began providing harmony vocals. It was a trial by fire, but Michele proved to be a real trouper. "I got pushed into it," she says, "but John plays at such a high level that I had to really step up to the plate." 

"We had some great opportunities in British Columbia while we were there," Michele notes. "With this trio we were opening for some great acts, and people just kept encouraging the two of us to do our own writing. We had something special on stage. We didn't know; we were both shy and having fun working with someone else as the front man. But we certainly listened. One day we got up and wrote two songs and just kind of got the bug. And the first time you do your own music on stage and people actually clap and like it, you realize, Yeah, this isn't bad at all. This could be fun." 

John and Michele continued to write and began performing as a duo throughout British Columbia. Their recording career began with their debut, Estimated Time of Revival, recorded at Randy Bachman’s studio, in 2000. 

From that point the Laws worked Canada tirelessly, coast to coast, heeding the advice of musician friends who told them, "Stay in Canada and really work on your stage performance," as Michele recalls. At the same time, they were building a repertoire of original songs to comprise the bulk of their live set. For three years they worked Canada and Australia, then made their fateful 2003 trip to Texas. By that time they had a second album (Two) out, which was followed in 2005 by two more long players, Another Road, a studio effort, and a live album recorded in Crockett, Texas, Live @ The Camp St. Café. 

After a successful showcase at Canada’s Country Music Week in 2004, The Laws met and began a long-term relationship with Nashville producer Mark Bright, who loved their songs and performance. John and Michele started making frequent trips to Nashville to co-write with some of Bright’s writers. "That’s when we met Regie Hamm, who produced Ride it Out. When we met Regie we really hit it off. We wrote three songs together and talked about having him record our next CD." John relates. "Regie really connected with our music and our sound and it really comes across on the CD." 

John and Michele, who have become accustomed to living in their van (in fact, their personal possessions are in storage in Canada; they are, in essence, homeless), have made a commitment of sorts by putting down roots in Nashville, where they have rented an apartment and have signed a publishing deal with Born to Write, Inc. 

Not least of the Laws’ selling points is their acumen in the kitchen. They published a cookbook and have appeared on numerous cooking shows through the years, generating almost as much press for their culinary skills as for their music. They also offer shows that are part cooking workshop, part musical performance. This sprang from their determination to eat healthy while touring constantly. 

Cooking or music? Music or cooking? At one point that might have been a tossup. Now, however, with the assured, resonant performances on exhibit on Ride It Out, it appears the Laws are really ready to start cooking. But not in the kitchen. 

"John and Michele Law's songs seem to be the lost essence of bluegrass and country music which has now become so commercial and formulaic sounding."  -- Randy Bachman