The official magazine of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada $12.00 Volume 17 Issue 1 January 2023 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.orgPresents 3366tthh AAnnnnuuaall PPEEII BBlluueeggrraassss && OOlldd TTiimmee MMuussiicc FFeessttiivvaall 3366tthh AAnnnnuuaall PPEEII BBlluueeggrraassss && OOlldd TTiimmee MMuussiicc FFeessttiivvaall DDuunnddaass FFaaiirrggrroouunnddss,, PPEEII JJuullyy 77,, 88,, 99 –– 22002233 High FidelityUSA Ticket information and details: ppeeiibblluueeggrraassss..ccaa/ttiicckkeettss/ 990022--556666--22664411 Tommy WebbUSA Plus Maritime bands to be announcedTable of Contents The Future of Fiddle 10 39 22 33 On the cover Aynsley Porchak, teaching the fiddle a few lessons. Columns 5 President Murray Hale’s Message 32 East Coast Rep Nancy Keddy 39 Editor Mike Kirley’s Message Lessons 6 Banjo with Denis LePage 8 Mandolin with Emory Lester News 28 Letters, Grass Clippings, & More Listings 34 Radio on the Air 36 BMAC Organization Listings Canada V o l u m e 17 I s s u e 1 The offi cial magazine of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada $12.00 Volume 17 Issue 1 January 2023 PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 42167060 bluegrasscanada.org JANUARY 2023 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS An in-depth look at the enchanting Aynsley Porchak, fiddle fantastic and rising star. A Roly Good Time An interview with founding member of the original “Station Road”, Roly LaPierre. Radio Bluegrass Check out our expanded, highly curated bluegrass radio listings for the discerning bluegrass listener. Getting the Last Word A very special Editor’s message from Bluegrass Canada’s Editor, Mike Kirley.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 17 I s s u e 1 Email: membership@ bluegrasscanada.org Website: bluegrasscanada.org Publisher Murray Hale & Mike Kirley Editor Mike Kirley Associate Editor Mike Higgins 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 David Featherstone davidfeatherstone58@gmail.com Director Mike Higgins mj10@sympatico.ca Director Denis LePage dlepage99@gmail.com Director Eric Holt ericholt@telus.net Social Media Carol Boyer carol.boyer@thepickshoppe.com Contributors David Featherstone Gloria Jean Hansen Nancy Keddy Denis LePage Emory Lester Linda Thorburn Advertising Rates & Specs Dave Featherstone 705-624-1155 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 HaleThe return to Bluegrass from COVID I cannot believe four months has passed us by since the last message. This year, 2022, appears to be flying by compared to our sleepy Covid affected 2021. What’s new? Well, to review our year we witnessed the gradual return to Bluegrass as it was pre-Covid, almost. From all of our reports the festivals that resumed were successful. Just as an aside here, our readers should google the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass festival over the last five or six years and check out the lineups they have offered to their audience. Unbelievable for northern Canada. As well, of course, the Blueberry Bluegrass Festival in Stony Plain Alberta continues to create inroads for Canada on an international level with its award winning ideas and programs. I cannot fail to mention as well The Northern Lights Bluegrass Festival and camp which has also been fantastic over the last few years. Your executive is working hard to keep track of bluegrass events within Canada while attempting to expand its membership, continue to improve its website, and implement new and innovative ideas for the bluegrass community. Our monthly meetings on Zoom are proving to be very productive lately with the addition of a new editor for our quarterly magazine which is still being produced as a hardcopy for Subscription members and on our website for BMAC members at bluegrasscanada.org. Please help support us by becoming a member. Enjoy this Quarter’s magazine. All the best to y’all for 2023! Cheers, Murray Hale Become a member of the BMAC Email: membership@ bluegrasscanada.org Website: bluegrasscanada.org Start gettin’ picky about Your music... JANUARY 2023 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 5 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Murray Hale, president of the BMAC.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. By Denis LePage Denis shares helpful ways to recall familiar tunes Breaking Bad …. Habits! I’ve found it really helpful to take the time to break some of these bad habits. So as you all probably know I’ve been playing banjo for an awfully long time. Over the years, I’ve accumulated a repertoire of tons of breaks to songs as well as dozens and dozens of lead parts to instrumental tunes, intro and tag licks and backup stuff. Some of this is in Scruggs style, some using melodic positions and some single string and Reno-esque chord progressions. Over the last couple of months, I have been involved in a lot of jams at festivals, at our regular open mic Saturday afternoons at the Moonshine Café in Oakville and at the Waterloo Wellington bluegrass jams at the Galt Legion. These are always a lot of fun and I get a chance to hook up with old friends, meet new ones and quite often hear tunes that I didn’t know existed!. What I’ve noticed about my playing at these jams though is that sometimes after a tune or song I’ll consider what I just played and think, “hhhhmmm…. I used to have a better version of that…” So, I’ll keep that tune in mind, or record the name of the song on my phone so I don’t forget which one it was and work on it when I get home. My point here is that over the years as you play more and learn more stuff I think it’s pretty easy and pretty normal to fall back to using your most familiar licks especially if you’re playing something that you don’t play often. You might tend to use those familiar licks a lot and your playing in different songs might start to sound kind of repetitive or over simplified. This is/was definitely the case for me and that’s why when I practice, I make a point of reviewing licks and tunes that I don’t play often or going over how I used to play a tune or a break. Sometimes I dig up old tabs or look up old instruction books from years ago and even listen to old recordings on YouTube. I’m always amazed at some of the stuff I’ve forgotten or gotten too lazy to use! New Camptown Races is a perfect example. I learned this tune years ago using a combination of some old Bill Keith tab, some other sources, and some home-made licks of my own. We’ve played this tune a bunch of times recently (I know it’s a favourite of Norm Tellier!) at some of the jams I mentioned above and I always thought that what I was playing now wasn’t really the way I had learned it years ago. What I was playing worked but this new version wasn’t as good as my old version in my opinion. So I went back to the drawing board and basically re-educated myself about how I used to play New Camptown Races and I’m way happier with this ‘revived’ version than with what I had been ‘jamming’ recently. Whatever the reason, be it human nature, bad memory or laziness, I’ve found it really helpful to take the time to break some of these bad habits. Denis LePage 6 BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF CANADA BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG BANJOBreaking Bad …. Habits! JANUARY 2023 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 7 BANJOHope everyone is hav- ing a great year of mu- sic, and 2022 has been lots of musical fun….. Some tunes are simple, some tunes are twisty, some tunes are complex, and some tunes are just plain fun to play, and always enjoy- able to bring up in a jam session, with the band, or just sitting around and enjoying the music and the ability to pick. One of the more ‘fun ones’ is a great tune written by mandolin legend Jesse McReyn- olds called ‘Dixie Hoedown’. Even though it has a definite and known melody, it is always open to creative approaches, ideas and experimentation. The version that I’m presenting here is a standard known melody for this tune, but also mixed in are some ‘multi string arpeggios’ to colour in the chord tones here and there, and it is a good exercise for the picking hand to play over multiple strings and retain the ‘rhythm’ while maintain- ing the rhythmic ‘down-up’ pick directions. Standard key of ‘G’ tune with a couple of nice minor chord areas in the second part, make ‘Dixie Hoedown’ a favorite with just about anyone who plays it. Have fun with this, and always keep the ‘rhythm’ feel in the picking hand! 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 A great “fun” tune written by Jesse McReynolds DIXIE HOEDOWN Even though it has a definite and known melody, it is always open to creative approaches, ideas and experimentation. 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 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 DIXIE HOEDOWN (Jesse McReynolds) (Key of G) 2 5 02 0 553 320 3 323523522 525 75355323 2035 0 5 25 0 540 2332 BmAmGG CDGD 0 530 542 353 2 5 25 02 54 3220 5 53 455 00 54 0 5 2 CGDG GDGGC 0 5 0 00 5425 35 0 0 0 2 5 25 455 00 5 4 02 05 2 CGDG GDGGC 2 5 02 30 5330 020 30 2 52 232 52 4 52 35 5 25 3 2 05 2 52 03 2 5 2 00 545 3 40 3 BmAmGG CDGD 02 5 32202 353 2 5 25 02 54 322020 3 2 5 25 02 54 5 35 0 0 0 23 2 5 25 02 54 0 0 0 202 5 2 5 53 455 00 54 0 5 220 5 25 455 00 5 4 0 JANUARY 2023 BLUEGRASS CANADA MAGAZINE 9 MANDOLINNext >