Volume 9 Issue 2 April 2015 www.bluegrasscanada.org ANNUAL FESTIVAL ISSUE BLUEBERRY BLUEGRASS & COUNTRY MUSIC SOCIETY FESTIVAL ARE THE MCDONALD BROTHERS BACK? PROFILE ON TRADITIONALLY WOUND V o l u m e 9 I s s u e 2 April 2015 Publisher - The Bluegrass Music Association of Canada Editor - Mike Kirley Design/Production - Gord DeVries The Bluegrass Canada magazine is pub- lished quarterly in January, April, July and October. Copies are distributed to members of the organization. Individual membership fees are $20 for one year, $38 for two years or $54 for three years. Organizational memberships are $50 for one year, $98 for two years or $146 for three years. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without the written permis- sion from the Publisher. PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO.42167060.RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO BMAC, 70 MILLRIDGE COURT, LONDON ON N5Z 4P4, 519-719-2501, membership@bluegrasscanada.org. Please send articles, calendar in- formation, 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 1st of the month pereceding the month of publication. Advertising- Contact Barb Duncan at 705-499-7656 Email barbieduncan01@gmail. com for rates and information. CD Reviews: Tim Osmond 2-156 Sherbrook St. Winnipeg MB R3C 2B4 osmondt@gmail.com Bluegrass Music Association of Canada BMAC is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation and promo- tion of bluegrass and old-time music in Canada, and supported by the volun- teer 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. BMAC Board of Directors President - Denis Chadbourn lea@thot.net - 705-776-7754 Vice-President - David Porter porterd@blackburnlodge.com Secretary /Treasurer - Roland Aucoin raucoin@cogeco.ca - 905-635-1818 Membership/Website - Gord DeVries gord.devries@rogers.com - 519-719-2501 Magazine Editor - Mike Kirley mikekirley@gmail.com - 519-653-4975 Advertising - Barb Duncan barbieduncan01@gmail.com - 705-499-7656 General - Murray Hale murrayhale@hotmail.com - 705-474-2217 General - Wilson Moore jwmoore@ns.sympatico.ca - Reg. column contributer Ongoing Volunteers Elaine Bouchard (MB - Event Calendar) - boucharde@live.ca Gary Hubbard - (ON - Regular column contributer) Sue Malcolm (BC - Event Calendar) - sue@suemalcolm.com Jerry Murphy - jerry@jerrysnews.com (NS - Event calendar + regular column contributer) Tim Osmond (MB - CD Reviews) - osmondt@gmail.com Joe Rohrer - (ON - Regular column contributer) Printing- A N B Print Inc. 4026 Meadowbrook Dr. #135 London ON N6L 1C8 519-621-0321 Distribution- Strictly Addressing 4-1025 Hargrieve Rd. London ON N6E 1P7 519-433-4244 WHAT’S INSIDE Table of Contents 4 President’s Message 5Denis Chadbourn Editor’s Message 6Mike Kirley Music on the Easy Coast by Jerry Murphy 7Jerry Murphy In The News 8Gord DeVries Baseball & Bluegrass 8Mike Kirley Tales from the Fryin’ Pan 9Joe Rohrer Thirty Years for the Blueberry Bluegrass Festival 10Mike Kirley Festival Listings for 2015 14Gord DeVries Are the McDonald Brothers Back? 18Mike Kirley Music ‘Biz’ 24Gary Hubbard The Blind Nightingale 26Mike Kirley BMAC Organizations Listing 28Membership Database Bluegrass Tradition - an Interview 30Wilson Moore Radio on the Air Listing 31Gord DeVries Offer from Minden Bluegrass Festival 34Denis Casey • ANNUAL SUMMER ISSUE • MORE INTERVIEWS - NEWS ITEMS - REGULAR COLUMNS ARTICLE SUBMISSION - THE DEADLINE IS THE 1ST OF JUNE 2015 TO HAVE YOUR INFORMATION TO MIKE KIRLEY IF YOU WISH TO HAVE YOUR ARTICLE ON CHILDREN IN BLUEGRASS INCLUDED. NEXT ISSUE (JULY): 5 by Denis Chadbourn Hey bands, we want your CDs, old and new! If it happens to be a new release, we’d be glad to get our industry expert, Tim Osmond, to publish a review of your cd in this, our national BMAC publication. Its like free advertising, and will help you get the word out about your latest project. This is just one of the numerous free benefits Bmac offers to bands. It also helps us keep track of the number of Canadian bluegrass CDs. released each year. We track these numbers in hope that bluegrass may some- day warrant it’s own Juno category. Another way BMAC promotes Canadian bands is through our band pages, in both this publica- tion, and on our website. Listen up. Help us to help you, by check- ing your member profile to ensure that it is up to date. Our biggest challenge, is keeping your infor- mation current. If there have been changes in your band, let us know. Defunct information sucks, but hey, we’re not clairvoyant... If you do not have a profile on our website, you may be missing To Serve You Better As a BMAC member, you can expect prompt, courteous and comprehensive service. And that’s exactly what you’ll get each and every time you need help with your membership. That’s our promise to you. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Visit our online membership services at www.bluegrasscanada.ca /oss7_pro/register.php to fill out a membership registration form, renew your membership, or make changes to your current membership profile. Changes in address, email, phone number, etc. are important for us to be able to continue delivering services to you. Membership Expiry You will find the membership expiration date included on your Bluegrass Canada magazine mail- ing label. Please use the enclosed expiry notice letter to mail in your renewal cheque, or simply log in to your account online and pay by credit card or Paypal. You can mail a renewal cheque at any time to: Membership Co-ordinator Gord DeVries 70 Millridge Ct. London ON N5Z 4P4 Help Us grow our membership Each magazine includes a mem- bership application form. If you like the magazine, pass the form on to a friend. Our only revenue source is through the annual membership fees and advertising. More members = more services. Bluegrass Canada is produced and managed 100% with unpaid volunteer labour, so your money will directly affect our ability to improve. out on gig opportunities. Promot- ers know that BMAC is bluegrass central, and regularly peruse our website to find bands for their events. If you ain’t listed there, you are doing yourself a great dis- service. To update your info or to take advantage of this wonderful, free, marketing tool, get off your duff and communicate with Gord Devries. He’ll hook you up. Regardless of whether it is old or new, BMAC will sell your your band’s CDs on consignment, via our online boutique. Because we are a Canadian outfit, this service is exclusive to Canadian bands only. Dudes, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of this! If you have any questions, please feel free to communicate with any one of us listed on the inside cover. We’d be glad to point you in the right direction. We are here to serve you. Well, soon a brand new season of festivals will begin; we look forward to seeing you, and picking a few with you. Safe travels and warm regards, Denis Chadbourn PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE6 Rumour has it that Gary Greenland had a hand in helping behind the scenes with that one. Another year a man with Alz- heimers wandered away from the Festival site. Despite the fact that he was wearing a florescent vest with a big X on it, he managed to make it over eighteen miles on the backroads before the Police found him. Situations security teams dread. And then there is that story about James King and the pond behind the stage after dark. But we will leave that one for another time. I managed to chat with Norm Sliter, of The Blueberry Bluegrass Festival in Alberta this issue. That festival is celebrating their thirtieth year this summer. Check out how they managed to get a state of the art stage and arts building for their festival. Many thanks to our regular contributors for their columns in this issue. Wilson, Jerry, Gary, and Joe; we can always count on you to keep us in the loop. We are still looking for a contributor from P.E.I., the Prairies, and B.C. Don’t be shy. Drop us a line. And how about some Festival reviews? Pat? You’re not doing anything. Keep pickin’, Mike EDITOR’S MESSAGE Festival time is weeks away, beginning informally in Ontario with Victoria Day Weekend at River Valley Park, River Valley, with Tony and the gang. Free camping, pot- luck dinners and the park clean-up, followed by picking sessions. (www. bggypsy@northernbluegrass.com) Following that on May 28 to May 31 is The Quinte Island Bluegrass Celebration, (www.quinteisleblue- grass.com.) in Prince Edward Coun- ty, Ontario. This is 100% Canadian, and the groups compare with American fare. Good to see the Griddle Pick- ers there. In the weekends of June, July, and August there is a festival every weekend but one in Ontario. Some weekends have two festivals listed. Make sure to get out to the one closest to you. They need your support and you will have a blast, no matter what the weather. Something new to consider: our very own Advertising Direc- tor, Barb Duncan has organized a Baseball and Bluegrass weekend for Aug. 14-16. Check out her ad.on the back cover. One year at the Tottenham Festival I camped in a dining tent. A guy asked me at the campfire jam if he could sleep in it, as it was start- ing to rain. I said okay, and he used his guitar for a pillow. Sometime after midnight a twister came and ripped the dining tent to shreds. I looked over and he was still sound asleep, head on his beloved guitar! Those were the days. Another year, my son was camping on the side of a hill at the same festival and a thunderstorm came in the night and moved his tent thirty feet. He came out dazed in the morning and looked around confused. Not much fun at the time, but they become legendary stories in the years to come. And who can forget the year Carl Goodman got arrested for carrying a beer across a 25 foot wide parking lot. That led to the whole Festival being moved for one year until the town got the Officer involved transferred to some small town up around Wasaga Beach. by Mike Kirley7 MUSIC ON THE EAST COAST As seen by JERRY MURPHY As I sit down to write this article, you might say Eastern Canada is in the dead of winter. It has been snowing most every day for a month now, the banks are too high to see over in many cases and we are running out of places to put the snow, some Atlantic cities have had to haul the snow away, just to get one lane open on the streets so emergency vehicles can pass through, many refer to it as an Old-fashioned Winter. We have had a few events keep going during the winter – our coffeehouses have kept going on schedule, even though the attendance has been down a bit at times, some entertainers came great distances to do a stellar job, no matter how big the crowd. The club jams have all taken place, as well as most shows. I had the plea- sure of attending and acting as MC of “The Halifax Bluegrass Special” which is produced each January by the Downeast Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Society in conjunction with the Halifax RV Show at Halifax’s Exhi- bition Park and what a great way to break up the win- ter. The show lasted about six hours and entertainment was provided this year by 3 award winning groups, The Reigning Eastern Canada Band of the Year, Shad- ow River, from Nova Scotia, Bluegrass Tradition from Nova Scotia, who also hold Eastern Canada Awards for Band of the Year and a new band made up of very experienced musicians from the Moncton area, called Highway Train. A similar show was held in Moncton and called The Moncton Bluegrass Special, in mid February with seasoned bands as well, consisting of The Russell Sawler Band and The Douthwrights from the Moncton area and Eight Wheel Drive from Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame has also been active with meetings and shows over the winter and is actively preparing for their induction ceremonies in September, the deadline has now passed for nomi- nations, the nomination forms are now in the hands of the judges and the Inductees will be announced in early April. Plans are well underway for many of the bluegrass festivals happening this year, a couple of the older ones include; The Annual PEI Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Fes- tival and the Annual Nova Scotia Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Festival. The Annual PEI Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Festival will be held in Rollo Bay, PEI on July 3rd, 4th & 5th. To celebrate their 30th year, they will feature from the US; The Lonesome River Band, The Clay Hess Band and Ned Crisp & Bottomline. The Spinney Brothers and Bluegrass Tradition will represent Nova Scotia, The Bluegrass Diamonds will represent New Brunswick and from PEI we will enjoy, Janet McGarry & Wildwood, Dunromin, Dylan Ferguson & Eastbound, Bluegrass Revival, Two + Three, SK Bluegrass, Blue Zone and Just Grass. The 44th Annual Nova Scotia Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Festival, being the old- est of its kind in Canada, will take place in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia on July 23rd to the 26th and to celebrate, they are bring- ing in from the US; Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Blue Highway. They will also feature the internationally famous Spinney Brothers from Nova Scotia as well as award winning bands; Acoustic Horizon and Shadow River from Nova Scotia and Back Roads and The Russell Sawler Band from New Brunswick, they well also have a Youth Con- cert on Saturday morning. There are Bluegrass and/or Classic Country Festivals and camp-outs happening most every weekend from late May to mid October in various parts of Atlantic Canada, come visit with us and enjoy some of our great entertainment. Until next time, Keep Pickin’ and ensure Bluegrass is here to stay! On the East Coast. June - Stewiacke (NS) Blue- grass Festival July - Cape Tormentine (NB) Bluegrass Festival July-August - Blackville (NB) Bluegrass Festival On the West Coast: August - The True North Fraser Bluegrass Festival. According to Fred Schffler the promoter, funding fell through for this year, but he expresses optimism for 2016 with new funding sources currently in negotiation. Individuals Richard Dugal Warren Heimpel Lynn Hepburn Lynden Hunter Carole Jalbert Dan Kirley Kathryn Kirley Clarence Kubusheskie Liz & Jerry Switzer Dave Webster Organizations Bands Chem Chicks & The Chicklets Clubs Foothills Bluegrass Music Society Pacific Bluegrass and Heritage Society Festivals Blueberry Bluegrass & Country Music Society Festival Burks Falls Country Jamboree - GrayHall Productions Presenters Kitchen Party Music Jam Every Canadian knows “The Hock- ey Song” by Stompin’ Tom Con- nors, a Country Music legend. But not many know the connection between Bluegrass and Baseball. At the time Bluegrass was forming as a genre, it was con- sidered Country Music too. In 1946, Bill Monroe and The Blue- grass Boys went into the studio and recorded what is considered the first Bluegrass album. And it was probably after a good round of baseball. Bill was a real slug- ger, and he insisted that anyone in his bands played baseball as well. Many of his performances on the road were in small commu- nity halls in rural towns. There was usually a baseball diamond nearby. Bill would challenge the locals to a game ahead of time for free tickets to his show. This way, the whole town came out to see the game. Bill and his boys usually won, how- ever. After sweating it out on the field, the boys would don their suits and put on a Bluegrass show in the community hall. And the baseball fans would line up to see the show. Hard drivin’ baseball - followed by hard drivin’ banjo! 8 IN THE NEWS BLUEGRASS AND BASEBALL FESTIVAL CANCELLATIONS NEW EVENTS On the brighter side, we have learned of two new events which will happen in Ontario this year. July 5-10, 2015 South Marysburg will be the host location for a new bluegrass music camp, spanning one week and providing intructors for banjo, bass, dobro, fiddle, guitar and mandolin. See the ad on page 17. August 14,15, 16 sees the Baseball and Bluegrass event kicking off in Toronto. See the ad on the back cover. for more informa- tion. NEW MEMBERS THIS QUARTER Other News US based band Appaloosa has decided to become inactive while band leader Wayne Taylor settles into a new home location. Emory Leaster, mandolin player with the group, continues his nor- mal pursuits with a European tour with Mark Johnson and gigs with The Emory Lester & Jill Jones Band and The Emory Lester Set.9 in down her forehead like a little brown snake , and her hand reach- in for the iron skillet hangin on the wall beside the door ! now , I know I ain’t the shiniest fork in the drawer, but I do know when it’s time to ~~~~~RUN FORREST ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RUN !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~ ol’ wusername stood in the kitchen door yesterday and said “ wudderya cookin now ?? “ I said I’m havin left- over turkey, with mashed taters and gravy . she said “howerya heatin it up, you ain’t got it on the stove ! “ I said nope , I’m fixin it in the hot air popcorn popper ! when it’s hot enough , it SHOULD come flyin out onto my plate ! she just went to open her mouth to let me have it , when it come flyin out ALL RIGHT !!! JUST LIKE VESUVIOUS . with one mighty glurp mashed taters swizzled with pipin hot gravy and mangled tur- key blew the top off the popcorn popper,and shot straight up into the ceiling fan , which commenced to flingin all ‘round like a manure spreader gone berserk ! the whole thing only took about 10 seconds , followed by a loud crack , a ball of fire and a cloud of smoke went wafting into the already oozing at- mosphere of the kitchen ! when the smoked cleared , there in the doorway stood ol’ wusername , lookin like Wylie Coyote on a bad day ,curlers hangin precariously from her hair, turkey gravy slither- TALES FROM THE FRYIN’ PAN By Joe ‘Honest t’ Goodness’ Rohrer Joe Rohrer is the bass player for Rhyme N Reason JOIN NOW! Becoming a member of BMAC couldn’t be easier (or less expen- sive.) If you are able to access the internet on your desktop, laptop or iPad device, you have all you need! Simply navigate to www.bluegrasscanada.org and click on the “Register” button at the top right of the website. You’ll be taken to a simple regis- tration form which will first ask you to select the Membership Type. Let’s assume for the sake of this discussion, you wish to be an “Individual Member”. Click in that box. The next choice is whether you wish to pay by Credit Card, or ‘Offline’, which means you’ll send in a cheque. Next, you’ll need to fill in a ‘security code’ simply by copying a few distorted looking characters into an input box. (That’s for BMAC’s security, to verify that we’re dealing with a person, not a machine.) We need your Name and Address info and also ask you to select your own username and password. Note that the info fields that are identified with a red aster- isk are mandatory. The next sections of the form are optional and the purpose is fully explained on the form. Once you’re done this, just Click on “Submit” at the bottom. Be assured that BMAC does not share your information with third parties. Once you’re a member, you will have access on the website (using your username/password) for private member’s information such as magazine back issues and minutes of Director’s meetings. That’s it. Call Gord DeVries if you need help. 519-719-2501 I’m trapped in an elevator - wait, it gets worse..Next >