George Hill and Friends: Mohawk and Country

The Mighty Mohawks were formed in Kahnawake, Quebec, in 1958 by singer, guitarist and bandleader George Paul Hill. At the time, Kahnawake was commonly written as Caughnawaga, a spelling that appears throughout the group's early history and became the title of one of Hill's best-known songs. The group was also billed as “Canada's Country Boys.”

Hill was born in Kahnawake in 1929. A Department of Indian Affairs file from September 1936 records correspondence from L. P. Hill and his wife concerning their son George Paul Hill and his admission to the Protestant Day School at Caughnawaga. The document preserves Hill's full name from his childhood, almost three decades before it appeared on a Mighty Mohawks songwriting credit.

By the early 1960s, Hill and the Mighty Mohawks were travelling with a repertoire of country standards and original material, appearing in bars and dance halls around Quebec and beyond. One later account recalled an early configuration involving George Hill, Slim Martin, Allan Stacey and Wally Moon. Other lineups appear on the group's surviving recordings.

In 1964, Hill formally registered his interest in the group's name. On May 2, he applied for the Canadian trademark THE MIGHTY MOHAWKS from his address in Caughnawaga. The application covered entertainment, including the production, composition and performance of music, and the trademark was registered on August 27, 1965.

That year, Arc Records released The Mighty Mohawks Capture Country. The lineup named on the original jacket was George Hill, “Princess Moonbeam” Betty Benoit, Wally Moon and “Boots” Bernie Goguen. Hill came from Caughnawaga, Benoit from Clarenceville, Quebec, Moon from Restigouche, Quebec, and Goguen from New Brunswick.

The album combined country standards including ‘Rose Of Old Pawnee’, ‘Steel Rail Blues’, ‘Kaw-Liga’, ‘Mule Skinner’, ‘Distant Drums’ and ‘The French Song’ with material written by members of the group and musicians connected with them.

Among the originals was ‘Caughnawaga’, written by George Paul Hill and Hank MacDonald. Fifty years later, the McCord Stewart Museum included the 1965 recording in its Songs of the Brave presentation, crediting Hill and MacDonald as its writers.

Another original, ‘Half And Half’, came from the Mi'kmaq musical community of Listuguj. Wally Moon was Elie Wallace Martin, born in the Listuguj Mi'kmaq community in 1936. He and his brother Albert “Slim” Martin were self-taught musicians and songwriters who composed ‘Half And Half’.

The song contained English and Mi'kmaw sections. Its Mi'kmaw portion drew on a story shared in Listuguj and Gesgapegiag concerning the puglutmu'j, the little people associated with the Appalachian Mountains and the Bay of Chaleur. The version on Capture Country has been identified as the original recording of the song.

The Mighty Mohawks brought together musicians from several communities. Hill's base was Kahnawake, Wally Moon came from Listuguj, and Bernie Goguen came from New Brunswick. Vincent Hickey of Tracadie, New Brunswick later became another prominent member of the group.

The Mighty Mohawks performed during the opening ten days of Expo 67 in Montreal. The JUNO Awards' history of Indigenous music identifies the Mighty Mohawks Country Show Band of Kahnawake among the Indigenous country groups that performed during Canada's centennial celebrations at Expo 67. Their stage presentation combined country show clothing with cultural elements, including Mohawk hairstyles. A later Mighty Mohawks jacket advertised the group as “Stars of Canada's World Fair Expo '67.”

Westar Records also issued a ten-song album by the group as catalogue WSL.33-103. The same record circulated under different presentations. One sleeve identifies the performers prominently as The Mighty Mohawks, while another issue was titled The Mohicans, with the release also catalogued as The Mighty Mohicans. The catalogue number and ten-song program remained the same. The album contained ‘Indian Song’, ‘Just Because’, ‘Steel Guitar Rag’, ‘You're The Only Good Thing’, ‘Almost Persuaded’, ‘Man's Place’, ‘There Goes My Everything’, ‘Arkansaw Traveler’, ‘I Might As Well Be Talking To The Walls’ and ‘Weaker Moments’.

A subsequent lineup brought together George Hill, “Princess Moonbeam” Betty Benoit, “Boots” Bernie Goguen and Vincent Hickey. Hickey added fiddle to the group's instrumental repertoire. On George Hill's Mighty Mohawks he was featured on six fiddle tunes: ‘Kemptville Breakdown’, ‘Saint Anne's Reel’, ‘Fiddle String’, ‘Maple Leaf Two-Step’, ‘Buckskin Reel’ and ‘Orange Blossom Special’.

Material from this period also appeared in other formats. An undated eight-track, The Mighty Mohawks With Vincent Hickey, combined fiddle pieces with songs including ‘Carroll County Accident’, ‘Harper Valley P.T.A.’ and ‘Daddy Sang Bass’. The limited-edition cassette George - Vincent, Betty And Boots explicitly identified the Hill, Hickey, Benoit and Goguen lineup and again featured Hickey on fiddle and guitar.

‘Wawa Special’, ‘Fiddle String’, ‘Buckskin Reel’, ‘Orange Blossom Special’ and ‘Maple Leaf Two-Step’ recur across these releases, documenting the instrumental repertoire associated with the Hickey lineup.

The Mighty Mohawks continued performing for decades. Mi'kmaq country musician Peter “Gwezee” Clement later recalled opening for the group in Kahnawake during the late 1980s, with Wally Moon still performing with them. Hill continued playing semi-professionally and used the Mighty Mohawks name with the bands in which he performed.

During the early 1990s, older Mighty Mohawks material returned to circulation. A souvenir cassette titled The Mighty Mohawks: Kahnawake/Restigouche Great Country Music Stars was independently reissued around 1993. A copy was subsequently preserved in the Brian Wright-McLeod archival collection at York University.

Hill assembled another group of performers around the Mighty Mohawks name in the 1990s. In 1994, Owera in Kahnawake advertised an eleven-song cassette titled Mighty Mohawks: George Hill Sings Again With Friends. The project also appeared on CD as The Mighty Mohawks Indian/Western Showband: George Hill Sings Again With His Friends, featuring Donna Jacobs.

The recording brought together another circle of Indigenous country musicians. Ronnie Martin, a Mi'kmaq singer and bass player from Restigouche who led the Montreal group Manitou, sang ‘Shady Lovin'’ and ‘Lovin' On Back Streets’. Donna Jacobs, identified with the Wolf Clan/Mohawk Nation, sang ‘Walking After Midnight’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’. Sid Menard, Gary Rice, Bobby T., Leo Diabo and Joe Running Deer also contributed vocals.

Hill sang ‘Tombstone Every Mile’, ‘On My Way To The Show’, ‘I'd Still Be There’ and a new performance of ‘Caughnawaga’. Leo Diabo sang ‘The Mohawk Song’, while Joe Running Deer performed ‘The Forty-Niner’. The sessions were recorded and mixed at Beachroad Recording Studio in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory by Daniel Kirby and Sid Menard.

Another collection, George Hill and Friends: Mohawk and Country, appeared circa 1998. Hill was joined by Annette Jacobs, Donna Jacobs, Billy TwoRivers, Josie Skye Horne, Sandra Beauvais, Shirley Beauvais, Doris Montour, Leo Diabo, Esther Kane and Tiorahkwathe Gilbert, with Albert Canadian providing the musical arrangements and accompaniment.

The sixteen-song collection placed country standards alongside songs centred on Kahnawake and Mohawk life. Hill sang ‘Cab Driver’, ‘Long Ago’, ‘Sky Walkers’, ‘Cowboy Boots’ and ‘You're The Only Good Thing’. Billy TwoRivers contributed several performances, while other selections included ‘Kahnawake’, ‘Going Back To The Reservation’, ‘Oh Kahnawake’, ‘Toiiwaierikowa’ and ‘Ohsera:se Nikahá:wi’.

On August 16, 2008, a concert at Mohawk Hills Golf Course in Kahnawake celebrated 50 years of the Mighty Mohawks. Guests included Gary Rice, Brian Moon and Hill's longtime friend, country singer Ronnie Prophet. The anniversary marked fifty years from the group's formation in 1958.

Hill continued performing within his community. The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre later remembered him among the Kahnawake musicians who volunteered their time entertaining residents at Christmas gatherings.

George Paul Hill died on December 22, 2015, at the age of 86. His association with the Mighty Mohawks had lasted for more than half a century. Wally Moon, born Elie Wallace Martin in Listuguj on May 15, 1936, had died on July 8, 2009.

In 2024, ‘Caughnawaga’, recorded by Hill and the Mighty Mohawks in 1965, appeared in Kaniehtiio Horn's feature film Seeds. The film credits identify the recording as ‘Caughnawaga’ performed by The Mighty Mohawks, courtesy of Paul Hill. The song returned to a Kahnawake setting almost sixty years after its original release.

-Robert Williston