$7.00 The offi cial magazine of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada Keep in touch with Bluegrass in Canada with our news, lessons, and more! Volume 13 Issue 4 October 2019 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org The Media IssueJune 19, 20, 21, 2020 ToTTenham ConservaTion area 2 STAGES FEATURING BLUEGRASS BANDS FROM UNITED STATES, & CANADA With Performances by Michael Cleveland and the Flamekeepers, Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass, Rescue Junction, Concession 23 GreaT Fun all week lonG Square Dance - Tuesday June 16 Band Scramble - Thursday June 18 Music Workshops - saturday June 20 Kids Talent Contest - saturday June 20 Family Band Contest - saturday June 20 Bluegrass Super Fan Seating & Special Private Performance Jammin in the Campground All Week & Weekend long Tottenham Bluegrass…It Grows Outdoors! Tottenhmbluegrass.ca | 647 209-2593 | tottenhambluegrassinfo@gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @TottenhamBluegrass ADVANCE Tickets go on Sale Dec 2019 $100 with many more bands to be booked Dan PaisleyConcession 23 Michael Cleveland photo/eric robbins Rescue JunctionTable of Contents An Instrument’s Fate 30 9 14 11 On the cover Columns 5 President Murray Hale’s Message 6 East Coast Bluegrass with Nancy Keddy 7 In the Groove with Tom Mccreight 8 Gloria Jean Hansen’s Pointers 50 Editor Mike Kirley’s Message Lessons 17 Banjo with Dennis LePage 22 Mandolin with Emory Lester Listings 28 Festival Listing 20 Radio on the Air 24 BMAC Organization Listings Canada V o l u m e 13 I s s u e 4 $7.00 The official magazine of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada Keep in touch with Bluegrass in Canada with our news, lessons, and more! Volume 13 Issue 4 October 2019 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org The Media Issue OCTOBER 2019 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS A very special column by Editor Mike Kirley on instruments, their people, and what happens next Run, Festival, Run Linda Thorburn looks back on running over a dozen bluegrass festivals and offers what she’s learned. Interview with Bert An exclusive sit-down with the lead vocalist and guitar player of the Dixie Flyers Norman in the Morning Community radio host Norm McHardy is a success story of bluegrass on the airwaves, and you can be, too.Bluegrass Music Association of Canada BMAC is a non-profi t organization devoted to the preservation and promotion of bluegrass and old-time music in Canada, and supported by the volunteer efforts of its members. BMAC MISSION STATEMENT The BMAC mission statement as enacted in the by-laws: a) Dedicated to the preservation and promotion of bluegrass and old-time music throughout Canada. Goals: b) To support individuals, groups and organizations involved in bluegrass and old-time music. c) To provide leadership and promote education among fans, clubs, bands and artists. Specifi cally: 1) The establishment of bluegrass categories in the Juno Awards; 2) Lobbying with other musical genres for changes in US laws to allow easier access to the US by Canadian musicians; 3) Establishing a national bluegrass awards program not in confl ict with the two existing regional awards events; 4) Sponsoring Canadian Bands to Showcase at IBMA; 5) Supporting Canadian bands efforts to play in other parts of the country; 6) Seeking grant funding to achieve these goals. V o l u m e 13 I s s u e 4 Email: membership@ bluegrasscanada.org Website: bluegrasscanada.org Publisher Gord DeVries Editor Mike Kirley SUBSCRIPTION One Year $25 / Free with Membership The Bluegrass Canada magazine is digitally published quarterly in January, April, July and October, online in the ‘Members Only’ section of the Bluegrass Canada website. For more information email membership@bluegrasscanada.org. • Individual BMAC memberships: $25/y (Includes printed / mailed copy of each issue in grayscale.) • Individual Online membership: $18/y with access to digital online colour version. • Organizational memberships: $50/y All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without the written permission from the Publisher. PRINTED IN CANADA. CANADA POST CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS MAIL SALES PRODUCT AGREEMENT No. 42167060. Send change of addresses and undeliverable notices of Canadian addresses to BMAC, c/o Gord DeVries, 22790 Amiens Road, Komoka, ON N0L 1R0, 519-719-2501 Please send articles, calendar information, photos and letters to: Bluegrass Canada Mike Kirley 831 Rose Street, Cambridge ON N3H-2G2 Email: mikekirley@gmail.com Telephone: 519-653-4975 Deadline for submissions is 60 days preceding the month of publication. BMAC BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Murray Hale mhale@green-vision.ca 705-845-8112 Vice-President Mike Kirley mikekirley@gmail.com 519-653-4975 Secretary-Treasurer Roland Aucoin raucoin72@gmail.com Membership/Website Gord DeVries gord.devries95@gmail.com Social Media Carol Boyer carol.boyer@sympatico.ca General Wilson Moore wmoore@ns.sympatico.ca General Dave Featherstone davefeatherstone58@gmail.com General Lisa Pigeau blue-grass_jam@hotmail.com Contributors Denis LePage Emory Lester Nancy Keddy Linda Thorburn Tom Mccreight Gloria Jean Hansen Joe Rohrer Kristin Cavoukian Advertising Rates & Specs Gord DeVries 519-719-2501 Layout Mother Invention motherinvention.ca James Kerr 705-927-0994 Printing A & B Print Inc., 519-652-0321 4026 Meadowbrook Dr. #135 London ON N6L 1C8 Distribution Strictly Addressing, 519-433-4242 4-1025 Hargrieve Rd. London ON N6E 1P7 Canada BMAC is a non-profi t organization devoted to the preservation and promotion of bluegrass and old-time music in Canada, and supported by the volunteer efforts of its members. BMAC MISSION STATEMENT The BMAC mission statement as enacted in the by-laws: 4 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG MASTHEADPresident’s Report Hello again to bluegrass enthusiasts across this country. This is the issue we get to brag about our festivals/or not! I personally have attended four festivals so far this summer, before August, as I write this message. All have boasted top notch music, been exciting, filled with jamming and a delight to attend. The producers are certainly doing their homework. Your executive has been busy conferencing by email, phone and in person whenever possible. It is great to hear more and more from all across our diverse country. We have been presented with new ideas and had new persons volunteer to help with the many tasks that help make our association viable and useful. Keep the ideas coming everyone and the help! I would like to invite all promoters/ producers who can possibly do so to join us at our annual year end meeting which will occur at Deerhurst in Huntsville Ontario on November 23rd, 2019. Regrettably, this is about the only opportunity in which you will get to present your ideas verbally and voice concerns about current issues. For those of you too far away to do this please contact us now by phone and online anytime with your ideas, concerns and feedback. We are hearing and discussing many issues but can always use your input. Some of the topics discussed this year have been: archiving original music , monitoring and compiling a list of current recorded music by Canadian bluegrass bands, finding out how to establish a bluegrass category in the Juno awards, applying for grants which might help us achieve our goals, brainstorming how we can expand our membership and lastly, discussing the growing need of Canadian bands to purchase a P2 Visa (Green Card) to play out of the country. Please help us keep up the good work toward making the bluegrass scene in Canada the best that we can make it . Oh and don’t forget to pick and sing a few. By Murray HalePresident’s Report for the Summer Mother Invention is passionate about art; that’s why we provide our clients with designs as unique as they are. We offer various solutions for musicians, including: logo and brand development album covers posters packaging and apparel design social media marketing BMAC members get 10% off Email us to learn more: info@motherinvention.ca www.motherinvention.ca OCTOBER 2019 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 5 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Murry Hale, president of the BMAC.Roxeen Roxeen was born in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1971 and has established herself as a successful, musical entrepreneur. She comes from a musical family background of four generations and is a great song writer and musician. She has experience with preparing and producing her own recordings. From 1990 – 98, Roxeen played bass with “The Spinney Brothers & Close Company” band, portraying the sounds of gospel and traditional bluegrass music. During her time with the group, she was nominated and received various awards and recognitions. In 1992 Roxeen was the “People’s Choice Talent Showcase Winner,” held in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. In 1995, Roxeen was nominated for various awards at the Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Music Awards and the band was awarded most promising band, band of the year and recording of the year. Roxeen was awarded “Bass Player of the Year.” The Spinney Brothers & Close Company was the opening band for Ricky Skaggs in 1995 and in 1996 won Pizza Hut International Bluegrass Showdown for Eastern Canada, which led to the opportunity to compete in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA. In 1997 they were selected out of 142 applicants worldwide, as the only band from Canada to showcase at the World of Bluegrass Trade Centre in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA, with excellent evaluations. Roxeen also performed with Marlee Gertridge for five years, forming a bluegrass duet known as “Golden Raven.” The duet has also had many accomplishments, such as a nomination for ECMA (East Coast Music Awards) and in 1997 and 1998 was awarded “Gospel Performance of the Year” at the Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Awards (also, again in 1999 nominated for the “Gospel Performance” Award. They had one recording. Roxeen then worked on her solo music career with original music being written by herself and her family. In 2000, she released her CD, “Tell Me Mister,” and showed she can sing lead and harmony vocals, play the acoustic guitar and stand up and electric bass. She loves that old time sound of traditional country and the great acoustic sound of traditional bluegrass and bluegrass gospel music. Other albums that Roxeen has recorded on include: Golden Raven, Red Handed, The Magic of a Gift, Family Tradition Album, Blue Tie Affair, and numerous Spinney Brother albums. Roxeen has performed with her own band “Kickin’ Krew,” “Janet McGarry & Wildwood” and “Blue Tie Affair” led by Ryan Roberts and is presently performing as a duet, “Roxeen & Dalrymple” with Gary Dalrymple (mandolinist with the former band, Spinney Brothers). Roxeen & Dalrymple have had a busy 2019 to date, with performances at the Florida Bluegrass Classic Festival, Yeehaw Junction Festival, Western Caribbean Bluegrass Cruise, tours of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee & Massachusetts, lots of regional dates and exciting upcoming local & away dates, including the Bridgewater Exhibition, The Hank Snow Tribute Festival and the Bluegrass & Old Time Country Festival in Danby, VT, as well as a tour of Ontario in October and most recently performed at the 48th Nova Scotia Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Festival, held in Bible Hill, NS held the last weekend of July. On January 20- 24, 2020 they are booked for the EMS Music Cruise, leaving Cape Canaveral, Florida For information and booking contact: Gary @ 902-222-3845 “In 1997 they were selected out of 142 applicants worldwide, as the only band from Canada” The busy life of a four-generation musician Nancy Keddy is the host of “Bluegrass Atlantic”, a 2-hour showcase of regional, national, and international bluegrass artists. It airs every Tuesday evening at 8pm on CIOE 97.5 FM, with a repeat broadcast airing Thursday mornings at 1am. The show is also available to listen online at communityradio.ca. By Nancy Keddy Roxeen with Gary Dalrymple 6 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG EAST COAST BLUEGRASSThe first thing that strikes the eye is, of course, the very attractive cover. Just looking at the cover design, the facial expressions, and the instruments, you somehow get a sense of what’s in store. The second thing that caught my eye is that the recording was done in Nashville, Tennesee at JMI Studio. I wasn’t really aware that BOOT had a Nashville connection. Denis LePage and Jim Rooney are listed as the producers. More about Jim later. At this point the band consisted of Denis LePage – banjo; Bill Hill – guitar, mandolin, and lead vocal; Paul Howell – stand-up bass, tenor and lead vocal; Roly LaPierre – fiddle, guitar, and baritone vocal. Although a drummer, Jim Isbell, is listed, even after listening to this record numerous times, I could not hear the drum. Denis said the snare was used in the studio mainly to help keep the timing steady. It seems to have disappeared in the mixing process. The songs presented here are not the bluegrass standards that you might expect from a recording now nearly forty years old, although the performance is entirely straight ahead rock solid bluegrass. There is a nice variation in tempos from a relatively slow, sad, love song – This Lonesome Feeling – by Willie P. Bennett; an engaging bouncy beat on Mickey Newberry’s Why You Been Gone So Long; fast, hard driving versions of Simple Feelings, I Know What It’s Like To Be Lonesome, and the J.D. Crowe instrumental Black Jack. Band members Paul Howell and Roly LaPierre each contributed an original cut. Howell’s, Song For Woodland (All For The Memories) is a tender memory of a deceased loved one. LaPierre’s - Roly On The Turnpike, is a fast dynamic instrumental which showcases the band’s expertise on fiddle, banjo, and mandolin. Throughout the whole album Howell’s solid bass playing provides the requisite support for the other instruments and vocals. The mix puts the bass right where you’d like to have it in a live performance. Other songs featured are Guy Massey’s The Prisoner’s Song; Catfish John from Allen Reynolds & Bob McDill; Lovesick and Sorrow (F. Brown Jr.); My Uncle (Graham Parsons & Chris Hillman); and You Don’t Need To Move a Mountain (Jim Rushing & Wayland Holyfield). Jim Rooney, co-producer, has been a significant force in the music industry for many years, and is well known for his work with Nanci Griffith, John Prine, Peter Rowan, Hal Ketchum and Tom Paxton. He received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2016. Jack Clement co-founded the J-M-I Record Company and recording studio. He is a singer, a record and film producer, and a songwriter. He worked at SUN Records for Sam Phillips where he recorded future stars such as Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. He moved to Nashville in 1959 and became a force in the Nashville music industry. He recorded Charley Pride and Ray Stevens, and produced albums for Waylon Jennings, and Townes Van Zandt. Denis, Bill, Roly, and Paul must have been thrilled to be in such high profile company. By Tom Mccreight At The Cowboy Arms Hotel BOOT Records #6009 – 1980 It’s in the Eyes Tom “the Old Coot” McCreight, a renound Toronto baseplayer of “Bluegrass Revival”, festival volunteer, merchant, newsletter publisher, promoter, emcee, author, active member of the Toronto Area Bluegrass Committee (TABC), winner of the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards for Bass Player and also Entertainer of the Year, and a song writer. OCTOBER 2019 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 7 IN THE GROOVEBluegrass Jam Etiquette Etiquette is all-important at a bluegrass jam. I have been participating in jams for the last forty years, some at festivals, some at hotels and lodges, some at campgrounds, some on stages and some just impromptu meets on a hot summer’s day in the park. The locales range from the Northern States to Ontario, Manitoba and the Maritimes. Bluegrass jams are somewhat different than our own living room jams in that etiquette is an unwritten rule throughout the get-together. We are doing well in the etiquette department, taking turns etc, but there are a few opportunities for improvement. They are mentioned when out-of-towners sit in on our jams. So, a few reminders: Please tune up in the hallway if the jam is already in progress. And Please try not to “play over” someone’s singing. I know we all tend to do that. Fills are fi ne when someone is singing (instrumental runs, rifs and licks at the ends of phrases are welcomed), but playing the melody at full throttle or even softly while someone is singing is not good bluegrass etiquette. Okay for other types of music, but not bluegrass. I have been reminded of this in American jam settings, and it is a little uncomfortable when a jam master “shushes” you, uncomfortable enough that you back off real quick and return to chording, chucking, chopping and fi lling while the singer sings. At other jams I have attended, fiddlers tend to be enthusiastic about playing a melody while a singer is singing and it takes away from that singer’s efforts. ‘CHUCKING’ in the background works for most instruments while someone is singing. It is more beautiful and effective when the solo breaks highlight the instrumental parts of the song, which in bluegrass is generally after the first verse and chorus. Also when fiddlers do a number, remember that other instruments might want to take a break in the tune as well, with the fiddlers again chucking in the background while the banjo or mandolin or whatever does its part. Members should speak up with “I’ll take a break” when they wish to do a run during someone else’s instrumental. Try to get in on time for your part. The originator of the tune fi nishes up the tune. Finally, This is a learning experience for many of us. Keeping the fun in the learning is crucial. These comments are made simply to keep everyone wanting to participate, and participate happily. A refresher of some lesser-known rules By Gloria Jean Hansen Jamming in Tottenham 8 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG GLORIA’S POINTERS Gloria Jean Hansen is a radio host for Bluegrass Canada Radio on The Grand 101 Sunday nights from 7-8pm. She also plays mandolin for IIIrd Fox Drive in Elliot Lake, On and hosts a Bluegrass jam thereby James Kerr “Yeee-hay!” I heard a tremendous yelp coming from the broadcast studio. “Weeee-oooh!” Sometimes Norm remembered to turn down the mic when he’d be hooting and hawlering to the bluegrass music he’d play on the airwaves. Sometimes he didn’t. The best shows of “Norman in the Morning” were the ones where he didn’t, and we get to listen to him singing along to bluegrass. I’m sure there are folks singing along at home, too. For 8 years I was the Programme Director at a small community not-for-profit radio station, Trent Radio 92.7 FM CFFF in Peterborough, Ontario. My volunteering went back years before then, my involvement with radio years before then, but as Programme Director is when I went deepest into music, community, and bluegrass. The interest in bluegrass extends directly from Norm McHardy, who for 20 years hosted “Norman in the Morning”, a bluegrass odyssey through the winding tunes of the Stanley Brothers, Lester Flat, Bill Monroe, and other traditional greats. “I enjoyed every Friday coming down and doing an hour and a half of Bluegrass,” said Norm. “I was retired. I enjoyed it. It gave me some activity and some contact with the music that I love.” As part of my job I had to listen to every show on Radiocity Bluegrass OCTOBER 2019 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 9 BLUE, BLUE, AIRWAVESNext >