$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 16 Issue 3 July 2022 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org Guy Donis & Guy Donis & The Montreal Bluegrass LeagueThe Montreal Bluegrass League SPENCERVILLE FAIR GROUNDS SPENCERVILLE, ONTARIO Maple Hill Larry Efaw and The Bluegrass Mountaineers (Ohio) Blue River Band Concession 23 County Road 44 Grass Under Fire Bill White & White Pine Subject to change Edgar Loudermilk Band (Georgia) Corey Zink and Company (Tennessee) Table of Contents Guy Donis 11 18 26 28 On the cover Our cover story Guy Donis & The Montreal Bluegrass League. Columns 5 President Murray Hale’s Message 50 Out West with Linda Thorburn 51 Editor Mike Kirley’s Message Lessons 6 Banjo with Denis LePage 8 Mandolin with Emory Lester Departments 34 Book Review News 38 Grass Clippings Listings 34 Radio on the Air 31 BMAC Organization Listings Canada V o l u m e 16 I s s u e 3 $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 16 Issue 3 July 2022 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org Guy Donis & Guy Donis & The Montreal Bluegrass LeagueThe Montreal Bluegrass League JULY 2022 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Our Denis LePage wows with an exclusive interview with Guy Donis on his life, his music, and the struggles of a bluegrass musician today. Bill Koop Sweetwater’s Bill Koop and the rewarding feeling you get from bluegrass. Over Jordan The late Al Benner and his impact on the Tottenham Festival and beyond. The 70s Bluegrass Revival Mike Higgins reflects on the career of bluegrass musician and longtime Bluegrass Canada columnist Tom McCreight.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 16 I s s u e 3 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 the first of the month, 60 days preceding the magazine date. 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 Treasurer Roland Aucoin raucoin72@gmail.com Secretary Dave Featherstone davefeatherstone58@gmail.com Membership & Website Gord DeVries gord.devries@rogers.com Advertising Director Dennis Casey dgcasey1867@gmail.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 Linda Thorburn Advertising Rates & Specs Dave Featherstone 705-624-1155 Dennis Casey 705-457-6880 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 Message By Murray HaleBusiness as usual! Greetings to the Canadian bluegrass community. I am writing this message in May for the July issue of Bluegrass Canada. I have had the good fortune of being a Snowbird and migrating to Florida for the winter. It is so heartwarming to return to a sunny Canada and witness all the planning and work being done in anticipation of the re-emergence of a full-fledged festival season. I hope that all of you are as excited about getting out to these events as I am. During our monthly meetings with reports coming from all over Canada it looks like a full return to business as usual. We now have input from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Yukon, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island and we are looking for liaisons from the remaining provinces. We are very excited to see more and more readers checking out bluegrasscanada. org and we are seeing increases in membership as well as a jump in the number of bands advertising on the website and our facebook page. The website is under construction and will soon be easily navigable for festival and event promoters to take advantage of as well. In fact by the time you read this, this improvement will quite likely be completed. Please collect one or all of your guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, fiddle, dobro and song list and head out to your favorite festival. Enjoy your summer everyone. You deserve it. Cheers, Murray Hale Become a member of the BMAC Email: membership@ bluegrasscanada.org Website: bluegrasscanada.org Start gettin’ picky about Your music... JULY 2022 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 5 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Murray Hale, president of the BMAC.Pike Country Breakdown By Denis LePage A banjo sound so sweet CANADA’S STORE sales • rentals • repairs financing • print music • lessons www.long-mcquade.com music music With over 80 locations across Canada. Denis 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. 6 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG BANJOPike Country Breakdown JULY 2022 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 7 BANJO‘Sciot-a’.....’Sciot- o’.....’Sciot-y’.....this one goes by what seems like many names or many definitions.....but for those who know or have heard this tune, it is always a clear answer. A jam ‘favorite’ for a long time, this old tune (which is named after a river in the state of Ohio) has been played in many different keys.....the key of ‘G’ being probably the most used. For ‘presentation’ and ‘technique’, I’m offering this one up here in the key of ‘A’, in order to illustrate a few subjects that I often speak on and instruct. The first being ‘melody presentation’, which is presenting a tune in a different key, in order to hear the melody in a different ‘light’, which is often musically ‘revealing’. As well as the key, finding a ‘second octave’ for any tune is a good and healthy exercise, and fun to search for. The version here is shown in two different octaves, the traditional and popular ‘high’ octave, and a re- vealing ‘low’ octave that isn’t always apparent, but interesting to play. The second subject that is interest- ing here is the strategic placement of the left hand, as is shown in both the ‘low’ and the ‘high’ octaves in this tune. The letters at the bot- tom of the staves show the finger ‘suggestions’ to make these notes clearly. In the ‘low’ octave, the index (first) finger is used for two notes ‘in a row’, and using a slide to bring the hand back into the normal posi- tion. In the ‘high’ octave, the use of ‘open’ notes to give the hand a chance to ‘shift’ to a new posi- tion to cover notes is interesting, and the option is always there to use the pinky finger to lessen the ‘movement’ of the hand. Interest- ing to try both options, and acquire the ‘hand shifting’ skill to use in other tunes if you wish. If you’ve never played this tune before, it is a great one, and if you have, maybe a few ideas here might start you on an interesting and fun ‘search’ for even more ways to ‘present’ this one. Happy ‘Sciot-y’ everyone! 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 continues his idea of adding octaves, this time the lower octave. ‘BIG SCIOTA’ 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 8 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG MANDOLIN2040 E 2524 A 2040 42 0 EA 0 2 6 0 6-7 02 R-SL 02 6 2 0 404 245202 0 054 05 20 6 0 42624 0 464262462 0 02 0 404 02 62466 02 24 2 626 240 4 20 6 0 426 06 0 6 20 2 404 0 46 626 2 IMIR 4142 II-SLIM 421-2 2 I 42 2 04 64 0 44 6 4 00 4626442 5057 MIMRI 0579 RIRI 4774 RI 207 MIM 5404 MRIM 5457 I 0 0 200 5 2 24 2 404 52404202 A DEAA EDA EAD BIG SCIOTA (Burl Hammons) (Key of A) 204025242040 42 0 42624 0 464262462 F#m EAEAA DEAA 626 2 IMIR 4142 II-SLIM 421-2 2 I 2 EDA EADF#m 00 6-7 02 R-SL 02 6 2 0 404 2452 R M PART 'A' HIGH OCTAVE PART 'A' LOW OCTAVE PART 'B' LOW OCTAVE PART 'B' HIGH OCTAVE 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 JULY 2022 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 9 MANDOLINNext >