Music in My Life

In the beginning I tried to take piano lessons from Aunt Edna. This didn’t work out. I couldn’t sit still long enough. Music was all around me however when I was little. 

Uncle Emmett was an excellent fiddle player . He competed in fiddle contests in Mattawa and won a few. He also played at square dances . Its a shame he didn’t make use of this skill when he retired. I think he tried giving some lessons .I guess living in Rutherglen wasn’t a great place for a music teacher.

Elmo’s wife Marie was a fiddle player too. I heard her play in Alberta. She sounded a lot like Emmett , maybe they played together once upon a time. Elmo’s son Roy sang and played guitar (Roy sang a special song for his mom Marie, really well). Roy’s son Michael also sings and plays guitar. My Sister Wendy sings and plays guitar too. We all got together with Elmo’s children at Helgi’s farm close to Rimby in Alberta and made lots of noise.

Aunt Jo played the organ. She had two of them one at her cottage and one in North Bay. Uncle Jake played both the fiddle and the bag pipes . I heard them play together at their house in North Bay. They did  “A bicycle built for two” for me. It was beautiful.

We had a reunion once at the Mawhiney’s cottage. I saw Jake head into the bush with his gear not really paying much attention. Ten minutes latter this god awful noise came out of the bush and Jake marched out blowing his bag pipes. My kids had not experienced bag pipes before. Joey latched on to one of my legs and was hanging on for dear life. Not sure where Amy and Darren ran to. I had a good laugh. I still love the sound of bagpipes.

Aunt Edna played and taught piano.

Amy took piano lessons for a long time and got quite good at it.

For punishment we would send Joey to his room . It didn’t really work because he would happily play on his keyboard for hours. Joe can listen to an Eric Clapton rift and then play it on the guitar or mandolin. He tried the piano but got stage fright and froze up at his recital. He has a gift but doesn’t use it.

Me, I got my first guitar when I was ten . I now own six of them . I keep one at Amy’s and another at Joeys so I don’t have to fly with a guitar . I just have to bring my Harmonicas . I have a full set of harps and can play a lot of cover songs. Mostly Dylan, Petty, Neil, The Band, Ozark …Since my ears have been failing I haven’t been playing to much. Maybe I’ll figure something out and start playing again. I need some electronic ears that sound real.

Darren played lead guitar and was the song writer for the band “Oldbury” . Their music has all original . They played many gigs in Alberta. They opened for the Trews in front of 10,000 fans.

They also opened for Wide Mouth Mason, 54/40 , Trooper, Our Lady Peace. They tried real hard but didn’t quite make it. Darren has more guitars than me. Darren also played harp for Sonny Rhodes

My brother-in-law Tony Moeller , his son Mike  and I played a lot of guitar in Bracebridge and Baysville . Sometimes all night long. Drank many beers too. 

For Rita’s 60th birthday we got together in Bracebridge at my house (40 Kevin Cres.) . On guitars we had me, Tony, Mike, Wendy, On fake-drums we had Wendy’s husband Lorne ( Lorne Grossman is a professional percussionist. he played for Cats, Phantom of the Opera)  

So music has had a huge impact on my life and I hope it continues to. 

I suspect my granny Smith played piano but I never heard her . Somebody had to teach dads sisters to play.

I seem to member my sister Carol taking piano lessons from Aunt Edna.

I believe Uncle Jake’s sons , Keith and Dave Buchanan both play the bagpipes and I suspect they have passed the tradition of scaring little children on to their own children (Andrew, Jorden,…)

Leave a Reply

Scroll to Top