“Beautiful Dawn” is a Ruth Moody song from the Wailin’ Jennys’ debut album 40 Days. The Jennys came together in Winnipeg in 2002, when Moody, Nicky Mehta, and Cara Luft — three songwriters with separate careers — joined up for what was meant to be a one-off show at a local guitar shop; the blend of their voices turned the booking into a band. 40 Days, produced by David Travers-Smith and issued in the United States by Red House in 2004, won the Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year by a group.
The lyric is a litany of petitions: take me to the breaking of a beautiful dawn, to the place where we come from, where love is not for sale; teach me to forgive and to apologize; show me how to love in the darkest dark. Verse by verse it asks to be led somewhere gentler and braver than the world at hand, which is why the song has traveled so well beyond the record — a favorite of song circles, choirs, and acoustic bands ever since. On the original recording Moody sings lead and plays guitar, with Kevin Breit’s dobro threaded through the trio’s harmony.
