Questions to my friends north of the 49th parallel

[TommyK]

Yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning, my clock radio sounded off as expected. As expected, it was playing country music. What wasn't expected was the weather forecast was cold and snowy!!?!?!?! While we do get snow and cold not as much as they were predicting. Fortunately, the radio station call letters were not familiar to me. It was CFRY. Neither east, nor west of the Mississippi, but north of the border out of Manitoba, Canada. I really enjoyed the music and it was nothing I hadn't heard out of Nashville.

 

It got me wondering. I know Country Western fans are well up into the Northern Territories. Are they any CW stars from up that-a-way? I'm sure there are, I just don't spend a lot of time getting bios on CW stars.

 

Is there anything you'd call a Country Western Music City in Canada, like Nashville, TN?

 

Eventually, the station faded away and I started picking up some station near the gulf coast.

[ksdaddy]

There's a looo-ooooot of CW stars from 'over home'. Stompin' Tom gets downright belligerent on that subject because Canada doesn't seem to do a very good job of promoting their own talent and the Canadian artists feel they have to make it in the US to prove they have indeed 'made it'.

 

Tons of talent under the maple leaf flag. Freakin' tons of it.

[TommyK]

Maybe what Canada needs is a couple good Border Blaster radio stations.

[Gilliangirl]

I think Calgary is as close to Nashville as you're going to get up here. We have real cowboys (and fake ones) up here (the fake ones have clean trucks; the real ones have cow manure on their boots, etc). And there's a few country and western music stations. Of course there's a ton of stuff going on during Stampede every summer. But, I don't know if the music scene is any more country here than anywhere else. Maybe Drathbun will chime in here. Doug, you out there today? We've got Paul Brandt here. Ian Tyson's ranch is just around Longview area.

[BigKahune]

Maybe what Canada needs is a couple good Border Blaster radio stations.

 

I've got a buddy here in Michigan - he has a Godin acoustic-electric and is really into some canadian cat named Wilf (?) Carter. He's really pumped because he just bought a nearly complete collection (just missing a couple) of Carter's albums from someone in Canada. I'm told he was really big on the Canadian scene, but I've never heard of him. Maybe a couple border blaster radio stations are in order.

[Taylor Player]

Don't forget.... Shania Twain is from Canada..... What a sweet import she is!

[peiplayer]

Don't forget about Hank Snow.....lots of great musicians in PEI, Nova Scotia etc,...Cape Breton. bluegrass and fiddling music, country etc. Come over this way in the summertime,,,festivals every weekend, no shortage of Jams to go to. One of my favorite jams goes every Friday night in a room above the Atlantic Superstore....a large supermarket. Many good musicians and sometimes a large enthusiastic audience.

[drathbun]

I'm not much of a CW fan but I am partial to some of the "cross-overs". Off the top of my head:

 

Gordon Lightfoot (just 18 more sleeps until I see him!)

Ian and Sylvia Tyson

Hank Snow

Neil Young

Paul Brandt

Michelle Wright (OMG I DO love country!)

Shania Twain

Terri Clark

KD Lang (has been known to do some country like sounds)

Streets and Hills (my personal fav cause Randall Hill is my bro-in-law!)

Stompin' Tom Connors

Jan Arden

Tim McGraw

Blue Rodeo

Ronnie Hawkins

Anne Murray

 

I've got to say a word about Gordon Lightfoot here. Many Americans may not recognize him but they would certainly recognize his music as he has been covered by some of the great musicians of our time. Since we're talking country and western, let's list the country stars who have covered Lightfoots songs:

 

Lynn Anderson, Hoyt Axton, Carol Baker, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, The Carters, George Hamilton IV, Waylon Jennings, Elvis Presley, Ronnie Profit, Jerry Reed, Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty, Hank Williams Jr.

 

Lightfoot has been a recording and performing star and could have made his home in the US. However, he remained true to his Canadian roots and heritage and has become, like Anne Murray as well, a voice that is truly Canadian. Some of his most well known songs are:

 

If You Could Read My Mind

Alberta Bound

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

Sundown

Carefree Highway

Early Morning Rain

Cotton Jenny

Did She Mention My Name?

Beautiful

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

 

For my money "Beautiful" is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

[Gilliangirl]

Great list, Doug.

 

Another one who never got as much credit as he deserved was Tommy Hunter, who I think is still touring. 'The Country Gentleman'. i grew up watching him on TV.

[drathbun]

Great list' date=' Doug.

 

Another one who never got as much credit as he deserved was Tommy Hunter, who I think is still touring. 'The Country Gentleman'. i grew up watching him on TV.[/quote']

 

The Country Gentleman from Mississauga!

[Fred_Engr]

And don't forget

 

Donald Charles Frederick (Don) Messer (May 9, 1909 - March 26, 1973) was a Canadian musician and defining icon of folk music during the 1960s.

 

Born in Tweedside, New Brunswick, Messer began playing the violin at age five, learning fiddle tunes with Irish and Scottish influences. As a young boy, Messer would play concerts in the local area and later throughout southwestern New Brunswick.

 

 

Tommy Hunter, CM, O.Ont (born Thomas James Hunter March 10, 1937 in London, Ontario) is a Canadian country music performer, known as "Canada's Country Gentleman".

 

Fred

[Murph]

Lightfoot was huge on the radio in the Phoenix area when I was..............

 

Younger......

 

Murph.

[zeebee]

I live in that city..........Winnipeg....please dont equate us with C&W....we got enough issues with weather, floods and mosquitoes. We are the hometown of Neil Young and the Guess Who. Also, home to one of the best Folk festivals in N/A.Held every July and suprisingly known as the Winnipeg Folk Festival.... bout 50,000 expected this year.

 

http://www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca/wp/

[ksdaddy]

and is really into some canadian cat named Wilf (?) Carter.

 

 

Wilf Carter aka Montana Slim (1904-1996) was a good friend of my fathers and Dad recorded two albums of Wilf's songs. He met him 1954 and corresponded with him over the years. My mother still has the letters upstairs in Dad' music room. They sometimes exchanged 3" reel tapes but I doubt there's any kicking around. I met Wilf in 1972. My sister, Sheila Carol, is named after Wilf's two daughters.

[BigKahune]

Wilf Carter aka Montana Slim (1904-1996) was a good friend of my fathers and Dad recorded two albums of Wilf's songs. He met him 1954 and corresponded with him over the years. My mother still has the letters upstairs in Dad' music room. They sometimes exchanged 3" reel tapes but I doubt there's any kicking around. I met Wilf in 1972. My sister' date=' Sheila Carol, is named after Wilf's two daughters.[/quote']

 

ksdaddy - Thanks for the additional info on Wilf Carter. Very insteresting stuff about your father and Wilf. Please excuse my ignorance - did your father record professionally, and if so what was the name?

 

seems to be quite a Canadian contingent on the forum.

[ksdaddy]

Dad just did it as a hobby. The first album's vocal and guitar was done in my living room in 1984 on an old Sony open reel. It was then sent to a studio where the owner, a guy named Norm Pooler, added bass. Perley Curtis added dobro and Tim Farrell added fiddle. It was first just a batch of cassettes, the labels of which my mother typed with the song titles. They sold out fairly quickly (not sure why) so Dad re-released it as an album (and also more cassettes). He spent many hours mailing them to radio stations and selling the records through mail order. He had a short writeup in some Country Music magazine sometime in the early 90s; I've got the magazine here somewhere. About that time he went back into the studio (for real this time) and cut a second album. By that time nobody was buying albums and few were buying cassettes so I think my mother has several boxes upstairs. I think at the time cds were still quite pricey to produce and his targeted audience was more likely to have cassette players or turntables anyway.

 

I don't think he ever had any delusions of actually making money on the records/tapes; he would have been happy to break even.... who knows if he did? Doesn't much matter I guess, some people buy snowmobiles for $8000 and two years later they're worth $2500, so if he blew some money during his retirement years doing something he wanted to do, I say go for it. I could never stand to listen to much of it but I think that's just because I grew up with it and it was a sensory overload thing.

[BigKahune]

Dad just did it as a hobby. ...some people buy snowmobiles for $8000 and two years later they're worth $2500' date=' so if he blew some money during his retirement years doing something he wanted to do, I say go for it. ...[/quote']

 

I like that story, good for your dad.

Thanks

[TWilson]

Corb Lund?