The combo perform a mix of traditional folk tunes, pop standards and original material by the participants.
Two of the songs, "Gentle Annie" and "Skip Rope Song", were recorded separately with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris in Tucson, Arizona. The sisters had been invited down to Arizona in order to participate on Harris and Ronstadt's 1999 album 'Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions'. Kate & Anna accepted the offer to feature on the album, but asked Harris and Ronstadt feature on their next album in exchange. Harris later also recorded several songs for the album during the normal recording sessions in Montreal.
A DVD of a live show featured most of The McGarrigle Hour was released a year after the album. Some of the songs were accompanied by video interviews of Kate & Anna McGarrigle discussing the songs. The DVD also contained two 'Music Videos' of the songs recorded in Tucson - neither Harris nor Ronstadt was present at the live show - and a handful of songs from a 1980 concert at Teatro Expo in Montreal.[1]