“Airs piqués” – A New Album of Guitar Duets from Guy Bouchard and Mathieu Fournier

Earlier this month I opened my mailbox to find a CD copy of the latest project from Gaspé musicians Guy Bouchard and Mathieu Fournier. Both excellent fiddlers whom I've gotten to know over the years, they also enjoy playing Gaspesian fiddle music on the guitar in the flatpicking style. My friend Brian Morris and I …

Charles Languedoc and Eden Patterson – Recordings from Laura Boulton, 1941

In 1941, pioneering American folksong researcher, Laura Boulton, passed through the Gaspé area as part of a larger project filming and recording traditional musicians in Quebec.

Gaspé Fiddle @ 10 years – Sat Aug 8, 2020, 1-4 pm

10 years ago, myself and several other musicians, researchers, and community members began working to document, archive, and share the traditional fiddle music of Gaspé Bay. There have been countless initiatives that have resulted from our work, both collaboratively and individually. There have been blogs (this one and http://www.gaspefiddle.blogspot.com); a CD project (Douglastown: Music and …

The Shigawake Fair Presents: Thirsty Thursdays 2020 (Facebook Edition)

Since October 2019, I have been working for the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network on a Canadian Heritage-funded called "A Different Tune: Musical Heritage in English-Speaking Quebec." It's a survey of the diverse grassroots musical cultures across Quebec's English-speaking communities, both rural and urban. This past March, I was en route to Shigawake and Gaspé when …

Leo Fitzpatrick and Leo Bernier – “Sweet Marie” (March 27, 1959)

As some of you know, this blog is a result of my PhD research with music and home recordings made around Gaspé. I'm now working on my written dissertation and as I do so, I would like to share with you some of the recordings that comes up as I write in the next few …

The Douglastown Project at Benny Library – June 5, 2019

Dear readers, Our trio, The Douglastown Project (Glenn Patterson, Laura Risk, Brian Morris), is playing an hour-long free show and discussion at the Benny Library in Montreal's NDG neighbourhood on June 5th. If you or family live around Montreal and would enjoy hearing some of the old fiddle music that used to be played around …

The Douglastown Detour – Available for Download Today

At long last, the day has arrived. The Douglastown Detour app for Apple and Android phones is now available for download. This is a self-guided audio walking tour of the Douglastown village core (from the present-day community centre down to the tracks on the beach and all important sites and places between - e.g. the …

Sneak Preview of the Douglastown Detour – Thursday, July 26 (3-4 pm)

It's been a quiet couple months here but I'm very excited to announce that an audio project I've been involved in for the past two years is just about ready for the public. Join Kathy Kennedy and I at the Douglastown Community Centre tomorrow (Thursday, July 26, from 3 to 4 pm) as we unveil …

April 15, 1989: “Community Radio Awareness Day” on Radio-Gaspésie

Today, I'd like to share a lovely but somewhat unusual item from our archives, a tape I found in the late Willie Methot's collection, courtesy of his wife Myrna. It features a 1989 broadcast on Radio-Gaspésie hosted by Chester Cotton (from the station's former "English Hour" program), CBC Radio's Louise Penney (now a world-renowned mystery …

Songs of Wilbert Coffin – Article in Canadian Folk Music

Dear readers, It's been a while! I'm deep in the writing phase of my PhD dissertation on music, media, and memory in the English-speaking communities of the eastern Gaspé. This—along with car troubles and extensive travelling since last May—is largely why things have been so silent lately. A while back, some of you will remember I …