A3910808080 10

$3.75

Croft, Clary - False Knight Upon the Road: Songs from the Collection of Dr. Helen Creighton

Format: LP
Label: Solar SAR 3015, World Record Corp. WRC1-2015
Year: 1986
Origin: Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, 🇨🇦
Genre: folk, Folklore Nova Scotia
Keyword:  Helen Creighton
Value of Original Title: $3.75
Make Inquiry/purchase: email ryder@robertwilliston.com
Release Type: Albums
Websites:  https://clarycroft.bandcamp.com/album/false-knight-upon-the-road
Playlist:

Tracks

Side 1

Track Name
Come All Ye Old Comrades
False Knight Upon the Road
A Maid I am in Love
Jesse Munroe
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
Citadel Hill

Side 2

Track Name
Broken Ring Song
Lost Jimmy Whelan
Catherine Était Fille
When I Wake in the Morning
All 'Round My Hat
What Harm Has Jesus Done You
Come All Ye Old Comrades (Part II)

Photos

A3910808080 10

False Knight Upon the Road: Songs from the Collection of Dr. Helen Creighton

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Information/Write-up

Clary Croft is a renowned folklorist, singer, author, and performer whose life's work has helped preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of Nova Scotia and the broader Maritime provinces. Born in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia in 1950, Croft has spent more than five decades researching, recording, and interpreting traditional folk songs, stories, and customs. He is widely regarded as one of Canada’s leading authorities on Maritime folklore and a beloved figure in the East Coast folk community.

Croft’s early career took shape as a founding member of the folk group The Privateers in 1968, before he joined the cast of CBC’s national television program Singalong Jubilee in 1970. Around this time, he also began recording original material, including a pair of rare CBC singles: Something in Your Face / Rainy Day Man (1971) and Halifax Vocalist (1973). His debut LP Sun, Moon & Stars (1975) was recorded in conjunction with the Sherbrooke Village restoration project and featured a blend of traditional and contemporary Maritime songs, several penned by Croft himself.

Throughout his career, Croft maintained a deep connection with the work of pioneering folklorist Dr. Helen Creighton. He worked closely with Creighton during the last fifteen years of her life and later catalogued her vast archival collection at the Nova Scotia Archives. His intimate knowledge of her legacy led to the release of the 1986 album False Knight Upon the Road, which featured songs drawn from her field recordings and included a personal dedication from Creighton herself. The Halifax Mail Star fittingly dubbed Croft “the acknowledged master of one of the richest repertoires in Canada.”

As a performer, Croft is known for his warm tenor voice, clear diction, and thoughtful arrangements, often accompanied by acoustic guitar or Celtic harp. He has collaborated with some of Atlantic Canada’s finest musicians, including Dave MacIsaac, Georges Hébert, and Joan Danson, and performed widely at festivals, heritage sites, and on national broadcasts.

In addition to his musical output, Croft is the author of several well-regarded books that explore the customs and superstitions of the region, including Witchcraft: Tales, Beliefs and Superstitions from the Maritimes (1995), Celebrate! The History and Folklore of Holidays in Nova Scotia (2001), and the definitive biography Helen Creighton: Canada’s First Lady of Folklore (2004). His memoir, My Charmed Life in Music, Art and Folklore, was published in 2021 and offers an intimate look into his multifaceted career.

Croft has taught and lectured widely on folklore, heritage, and costume studies, and holds academic credentials from Saint Mary’s University, the University of New Brunswick, and Dalhousie University. He continues to live in Halifax with his wife Sharon, where he remains an active voice in cultural preservation, traditional arts, and community life.
-Robert Williston

Clary Croft: vocals, guitar, thumb cymbals
Georges Hebert: guitar
Joan Danson: cello
Lutia Lauzon: celtic harp
Dave MacIsaac: fiddle

Produced by Clary Croft
Engineered by Harold Tsistanas
Recorded at Solar Audio, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Executive producer: Russell Brannon

Photography by David Nichols
Photographs taken at “Evergreen,” courtesy of the Dartmouth Museum

Special thanks to Mrs. Elsie Jarrett, Georges Hebert, Fiddlehead Records Ltd., and Sharon — for her love and advice

Dedication
This record is dedicated to a lady I feel privileged to call my friend — Helen Creighton.

“Clary Croft has so many interests that the days are never long enough. Besides working on textile designs with Sharon, his wife, he likes to collect and write about folklore, an interest I share with him. I know him best as a singer, and it delights me that he specializes in folk songs I have collected in Canada’s Maritime Provinces. You will see why when you listen to his record.”
— Helen Creighton

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