Information/Write-up
Liner notes from the CD re-issue:
The Don Messer Show was a regional program which was first broadcast in 1956. Two years later the show went coast to coast on the CBC network, and became Don Messer's Jubilee. For nine years the show was a mainstay on the network, and introduced the nation to the talents of Graham Townsend, Johnny Mooring, Mary Osburne, Charlie Chamberlain, and many many more who went on to become household names. A number of the original artists on Rodeo Records were drawn from this vast talent pool, especially on the Banff label.
The late '50's, into the 1960's, saw a popular resurgance in traditional folk music in Canada and the United States. The easy going, down home format of Don Messer's Jubilee made Don Messer a father figure of the Canadian entertainment industry: the host of our weekly national kitchen party. Although it ended in 1969, it created a legacy of Canadian musical history, and spawned the summer replacement "Singalong Jubilee" (1961 to 1972) where we first were introduced to Anne Murray.
This album features some of the songs performed on Don Messer's show with his group the Islanders. These recordings are old and noisy, and do not meet todays stringent digital recording standards, yet they faithfully represent an early era in Canadian recording history - a past which Rodeo Records is proud to be a part of.
Original liner notes:
The music of Don Messer and His Islanders affects the homes of many thousands of Canadians who have listened in the early days to his popular radio program and personal appearances trans Canada. Many memories of courtship and more carefree days must be evoked from those living through this era, when the strains of Don Messer's fiddle comes haunting over the airwaves.
In later years a new generation has grown to love Canada's "King of the Fiddle" through the medium of CBC's Top Rated T.V. Show Don Messer's Jubilee.
From the days when the group was known as the NEW BRUNSWICK LUMBERJACKS, to the simple and household name of DON MESSER & HIS ISLANDERS constitutes a period of over 30 years of public devotion to bringing the music of rural Canada, of old time favourites long forgotten, to the busy minds of a people building a bigger and better Canada.
Many things have contributed to the success of Don Messer and one has been the faithful service of many of his musicians who have shared in his ever increasing popularity. Some of the artists listed below have spent many years as part of the Messer family and are outstanding and well known performers in their own right.
Don Messer: fiddle
Charlie Chamberlain: vocals, guitar
Marg Osburne: vocals
Cecil McEachern: lead guitar, fiddle
Waldo Munro: piano
Rae Simmons: clarinet
Julius "Duke" Nielsen: bass
Warren MacRae: drums
No Comments