Vancouver folk festival fans love the Wailin’ Jennys for their harmonies, but now they’re moving in different directions.

For many Vancouver Folk Music Festival veterans, the 2004 debut of the Wailin' Jennys remains a vivid memory–both for what happened on-stage and for the off-stage frenzy that followed. Sonically, the Winnipeg threesome of Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta, and Cara Luft enthralled with its vibrant blend of voices and rough-hewn string-band instrumentation; Moody's "One Voice" laid out their goal of "singing together in harmony" and became an instant anthem. And the three women scored on the commercial level as well: once their set was over, hundreds of new fans poured off the Jericho Beach Park fields and into the merch tent; by the end of the weekend, they'd sold several hundred copies of their debut, 40 Days.

The Jennys seemed assured of a glorious future–but Luft soon left in pursuit of a solo career. Saddened but undeterred, Moody and Mehta drafted Montreal indie-rocker Annabelle Chvostek, and in 2006 they released Firecracker, which lacked some of the sweetness of the debut but featured increasingly sophisticated songwriting from all three contributors and beautiful music from band and guests alike. Once again, things looked bright–and once again the two remaining founders faced an unwanted defection.

Late last year, Chvostek decided that she, too, was not cut out for the collective process and returned to her solo work. Less determined musicians than Mehta and Moody might have called it a day, but the pair had worked too hard to see their band–and their growing international fame–slip away. And besides, they were too busy to stop.

"If you have too much time to think about something like that, it might seem too daunting," says Mehta, reached at home in the Manitoba capital. "It is a big thing to lose a founding member, and so when Cara left we had to figure out how we were going to keep going–but we did. We just didn't really think about it too much at the time; we just kept moving. But we did take very seriously the fact that the key ingredient of this band is the vocal blend, and when we found Annabelle that was very heartening, because we realized that it was possible to”¦not replicate it, because you can't create the same thing, but that it was possible to get a blend and also be presented with something that was really fresh."

Looking on the bright side, the singer-guitarist adds that the Jennys' changing membership has provided built-in creative stimulus.

"With some bands, the problem is how to stay fresh and interesting and try new things, but we've had that without even trying," she notes. "It's been a challenge, but at the same time it's forced us to really grow and try new things and be open to trying new sounds and taking new directions."

New directions are exactly what the latest Jenny, Heather Masse, offers. The first band member to hail from south of the border, the New York City–based musician is rooted in bluegrass and trained in jazz. And, like her Canadian colleagues, she's not afraid of taking on extra responsibilities–such as becoming the Jennys' first bass player.

"That's something we had not anticipated when she auditioned," says Mehta with evident relish. "At the time, she was playing a bit of guitar and some violin, but it just somehow came up that she'd always been really interested in playing bass. And musically she's just such a natural that we figured 'Okay, let's see what happens.' We ended up trying it out, and she's amazing. I mean, getting up on-stage at some serious shows in the States, after playing upright bass for a month? She blew our minds! We completely lucked out with that one."

With the addition of "male Jenny" Jeremy Penner on fiddle and mandolin, and Mehta working hard on her trap-drum chops, the new lineup is capable of everything from intimate acoustic folk to roots-rock rave-ups. But the first thing that the four did was contribute a pair of lullabies to a new and as-yet-untitled anthology spearheaded by the Jennies' U.S. label, Red House.

"We're really happy 'cause we got to do a mostly unknown Neil Young song, 'Barefoot Floors'," Mehta explains. "We've only ever heard a cover of it, so we sort of learned it from the cover; nobody could seem to track down a recording of him doing it. We also did a song by Gord Downie called 'Trick Rider'. It was a great opportunity to arrange new songs that were sort of put in our lap."

It may be some time before a third Jennys CD materializes, Mehta cautions, adding that the group plans to release some on-line teasers before starting work on a new full-length. But she's definitely excited about what the future could hold.

"It sort of feels like the sky's the limit, in some ways, because we haven't really defined what exactly we're doing," she says. "I mean, we have, but there are enough unknowns that I hope to be very pleasantly surprised. Having this new instrumentation opens up a lot of possibilities–but right now we're still trying to figure out what this new ensemble is about."

Wailin' Jennys 3.0 might be a work in progress, but with Masse and Penner joining Mehta and Moody, a firm foundation is already in place.

The Wailin' Jennys play the Vancouver Folk Music Festival main stage on Saturday (July 14).