$12.00 The official magazine of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada Keep in touch with Bluegrass in Canada with our news, lessons, and more! Volume 15 Issue 4 October 2021 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org Jeff Scroggins Interview CANADIAN BOY MAKES GOOD! CANADIAN BOY MAKES GOOD!Dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Bluegrass and Old-time music throughout Canada Canada PROUD PUBLISHERS OFTable of Contents The Talented Jacob 10 CUCKOO'S NEST (Key of D) (octave version) 17 6 16 On the cover Jacobe Lauzon with Nothin’ Fancy Columns 5 President Murray Hale’s Message 16 In the Groove with Tom McCreight 31 Editor Mike Kirley’s Message Lessons 6 Mandolin with Emory Lester 8 Banjo with Denis LePage News 26 What’s Going On Listings 23 BMAC Organization Listings 28 Radio on the Air Canada V o l u m e 15 I s s u e 4 $12.00 The official magazine of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada Keep in touch with Bluegrass in Canada with our news, lessons, and more! Volume 15 Issue 4 October 2021 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org Jeff Scroggins Interview CANADIAN BOY MAKES GOOD! CANADIAN BOY MAKES GOOD! OCTOBER 2021 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS From Markham, Ontario all the way to Virginia with Nothin’ Fancy, Jacobe Lauzon is propelled by the power of his music. Many ’a Mandolin This issue we caught Emory Lester in the Cuckoo’s Nest. Home Again Tom “the Old Coot” McCreight is home again with Paul Menard. Out West Linda Thorburn up close and getting pickin’ with Jeff Scroggins.Bluegrass Music Association of Canada BMAC is a non-profit 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. Specifically: 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 conflict 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 15 I s s u e 4 Email: membership@ bluegrasscanada.org Website: bluegrasscanada.org Publisher Murray Hale & Mike Kirley Editor Mike Kirley SUBSCRIPTION One Year $45 / includes Free Grass Roots 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. MEMBERSHIP • Grass Roots Membership: $20/y includes all members of a household up to age 18. Access to online magazine plus all other BMAC online services. • Organizational memberships: See bluegrasscanada.org or contact Gord DeVries at 519-719-2501 or membership@bluegrasscanada.org. SUBMISSIONS Send change of addresses and undeliverable notices of Canadian addresses to BMAC, c/o Gord DeVries, 22790 Amiens Road, Komoka ON NOL-1RO. 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. PRINTED IN CANADA. CANADA POST CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS MAIL SALES PRODUCT AGREEMENT No. 42167060. 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.devries@rogers.com Advertising Director Arlene Jamieson arlene@venture-interiors.com Advertising Director David Featherstone davidfeatherstone58@gmail.com Director Denis LePage dlepage99@gmail.com Director Eric Holt erich@foothillsbluegrass.com Media Director: Dennis Casey roxden@sympatico.ca Social Media Carol Boyer carol.boyer@sympatico.ca Contributors David Featherstone Gloria Jean Hansen Denis LePage Emory Lester Tom McCreight Linda Thorburn Advertising Rates & Specs Dave Featherstone 705-624-1155 Arlene Jamieson 613-433-0900 Layout James Kerr 705-927-0994 Printing & Distribution Innovative Kaitlyn Gerber 1-888-698-3883 kaitlyn@innovative.ink Millbank, ON Canada 4 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG MASTHEADPresident’s Report Murry Hale, president of the BMAC. By Murray HaleA Good Word from Murray YAHOOOOOO!! Does everyone feel like they just finished their last exam and are off for the summer holidays. I sure do. Once again it is great to hear music outside, music around the campfires and on the stage. It is great to be able to play music with other people, sing with others and listen to our great music. Thanks to our efforts of masking, isolating, maintaining distance and basically listening to our health officials, we have survived Covid 19 even if we have not gotten rid of it. It will be great to get back into the swing of things and enjoy and support the upcoming events. Please check online bluegrasscanada. org get on facebook and all the other sources of info and watch for the postings for upcoming events. I have heard from reliable sources that our annual awards show will return this fall at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville Ontario. Also other festivals are being planned as we speak about this. Please don’t forget that BMAC is looking for club liaison persons to help us keep abreast of events all across the country. There will be perks for those of you who step up. Our magazine likes to keep our membership informed and educated with current ideas, developments and opportunities and we need your help to do this. I spent some time out west this summer and was pleased to see events take place as early as late July. Cudos to those who organized and participated. I will look forward to seeing all of you as we return to the business of Bluegrass. Please say “Hi “ if the opportunity arises. Yours in the “RETURN TO BLUEGRASS AS USUAL” Cheers, Murray Hale Become a member of the BMAC Email: membership@ bluegrasscanada.org Website: bluegrasscanada.org Start gettin’ picky about Your music... OCTOBER 2021 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 5 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEFinding alternative octaves for familiar tunes and melo- dies has been an avenue of exploration and creativ- ity for me for quite some time, so much so that it comes to my atten- tion each and every time I play a melody on the mandolin. Whether it be a new melody or an old tra- ditional one, I always love to find the alternative ‘parallel path’ that always exists on the fingerboard. Most melodies can be played comfortably on the fingerboard in at least two octaves and sometimes three, depending on the key of the song and where the melody path lies. There is usually an ‘alternate’ octave choice for any melody either in a ‘higher’ or a ‘lower’ octave. If you listen and search for it, you will find it. Presented here is the great fiddle tune ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’, presented here with several oc- tave choices, both ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ paths. A ‘lower’ octave melody starts the tune here, with some creativity required to form adjustments to the traditional melody, due to some of the notes being too low for our fingerboard to reach, and alternative notes are required to replace and keep things ‘in bounds’, so to speak. A ‘higher’ octave melody in the second part of the tune (shown on the last two lines of tablature here) feature cre- ative finger choices to help achieve clean and clear notes up the neck (left hand fingering suggestions are indicated with small letters below the staves). The index finger plays two notes in a row to shift the hand upwards to make the follow- ing notes accessible with stronger fingers, followed by a creative ‘step down’ of fingering to get back to normal position. Try out these ‘oc- taves’, and hopefully you’ll be look- ing for even more creative paths in other tunes….when it comes to mandolin, the fun never ends! Emory Lester is an icon in the Canadian bluegrass scene. Although he is a Virginia native, Emory now calls Ontario home. His mandolin playing is revered worldwide. By Emory Lester Emory demonstrates playing in alternate octaves Cuckoo’s Nest When you advertise in Bluegrass Canada, you: Target a niche demographic Get seen in digital and print Support Canadian Bluegrass To learn more, contact: Arlene Jamieson arlene@venture.interiors.com David Featherstone davidfeatherstone58@gmail.com Introduce yourselves to our readers 6 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG MANDOLINWhen you advertise in Bluegrass Canada, you: Target a niche demographic Get seen in digital and print Support Canadian Bluegrass To learn more, contact: Arlene Jamieson arlene@venture.interiors.com David Featherstone davidfeatherstone58@gmail.com Introduce yourselves to our readers CUCKOO'S NEST (Key of D) (octave version) OCTOBER 2021 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 7 MANDOLINDenis LePage has spent over 40 years mastering the banjo, and is an active member of the Canadian bluegrass community. He currently runs a website dedicated to banjo instruction: banjoden.com. By Denis LePage Denis takes us through a popular Christmas Tune Frosty Notes in Key of D Yeah… I know it’s not Christmas. But I thought I’d put the tablature for Frosty the Snowman in this issue so that you’d have a bit of time to get comfortable with it before those holidays are upon us. There have been a lot of banjo versions of Christmas tunes recorded over the years. Eddie Adcock put out a killer version of Jingle Bells when he was with the Country Gentlemen. Bill Evans recently published a tab of Frosty in the key of G in the Banjo Newsletter. “What Child Is This” has been done numerous times and if you check out YouTube you’ll find a bunch more. So I thought I’d add one more to the list. But the real reason I have supplied this version of Frosty is because it’s in the key of D (as Liberty was in the last issue) and D is a key that you should get used to playing in without a capo. Initially, you can think of playing in D open as being pretty much identical to playing in G at the 8th/9th fret position that Scruggs used so often in tunes like Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Earls Breakdown. If you can play at that position in G you can use a lot of the same licks in D down at the 3rd/4th fret position. But there is a lot more you can do. Melodic runs work well in this key and you can also take advantage of having a full octave within the first 3 frets on the banjo. So here are some notes on this tab version of Frosty. Much of the tune is played within a chord. In fact the tune starts off with a measure of D chord that is followed by a short melodic run then a bit more D followed by a longer melodic descending run. The bridge starts off with a couple of simple slides and then a jump to the 6th and 7th frets so that the melody notes land in the right place. The second half of the bridge is an E chord followed by another melodic run. The rolls in the ending are laid out so that again the melody notes (… the “bumpity bump bump” parts) fall where they should. I have finished this version off with a single string lick that is played out of the D position chord. Go ahead and change this up if you like but remember that single string licks in that D position can be used anywhere on the neck if you’re playing in different keys. When I was doing a workshop at the Tottenham festival a few years ago I was asked about how I come up with lead breaks for songs. I’m not sure I answered that question very well at the time but the trick to playing a lead break or coming up with a version of a tune like ‘Frosty’ is to try to find a way to hit the melody notes of the tune exactly where the singer would hit them. That rule of thumb applies whether your playing Scruggs, melodic, single string or the Reno/ Adcock staccato chording styles. As Chris Quinn put it in the article that we did on him a few months ago: Try to play the syllables of the words. I think you’ll find that this version of ‘Frosty’ pretty much sticks to that. I hope you enjoy it and will try to put together some other tunes that you can share with me the next time we meet. 8 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG BANJOFrosty Notes in Key of D OCTOBER 2021 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 9 BANJONext >