Ward Allen - Frenchie's Reel

This is a response to wardalien's posting of "Maple Sugar" and the little bit of controversy it stirred up! To get my 2 cents in I'm putting up this recording of "Frenchie's Reel" from my collection. This tune is a classic now, and Ward's original version was never released on LP, so this is somewhat of a rarity. According to the label notation Sparton used, this was first released in January of 1957.
As for the whole argument that Americans are co-opting "Maple Sugar", or any other Canadian tunes, well, I have a few observations. Fiddlers everywhere co-opt each others tunes all the time with and/or without knowing it. The original single of "Maple Sugar" was released in 1956 and became a true hit record, virtually the only fiddle tune ever to do so. It spread far and wide, was pressed for distribution in the U.S. (almost no Canadian fiddle records ever were), it was on jukeboxes and radio, and would have been requested of just about every fiddler around at the time, much like "Orange Blossom Special". The closest comparable tune in recent years is probably "Ashoken Farewell", although even it wasn't a hit recording on jukeboxes like "Maple Sugar" was. Such a tune is bound to get so far afield as to someplace, sometime lose it's original title, composer, arrangement, etc. Usually this is simply because someone along the line heard it, learned it, and knew no more about it than that. Most of us know that "Ashoken Farewell" was written by Jay Ungar, but I guarantee you, somewhere along the line, someone has claimed it was traditional, or written by their grandfather, or played by the ancient Celts, or some such thing. The late Ervin Rouse, composer of "Orange Blossom Special", realized this when he said of his famous tune "I guess it belongs to the everybody now."
I put forth this idea: I suspect the real issue raised by wardalien is that the fiddling world is painfully ignorant of fiddling from Ontario in particular and Canada in general (especially non-Cape Breton, which is actually the majority of Canadian fiddling). What troubles me is I'm not sure this is anyone's fault but our own (I say this as an Ontario fiddler myself). Every time an account of fiddle music fails to mention ANYTHING about Ward Allen, Don Messer, Ned Landry, Reg Hill, Johnny Mooring, Graham Townsend, etc., a major and influential part of the story of fiddle music in North America is passed over. This is not the fault of Americans choosing to ignore information. There IS NO information extant to ignore. Go to any Canadian library and try to find any substantive information about any of these fiddlers. Messer and Townsend a little, maybe. Johnny Mooring? Not even on the WORLD WIDE WEB! We, as Canadians, have done nothing whatsoever of any substance to document our own National cultural musical legacy. Baby boomers act as if there was no Canadian music before the Guess Who, and therefore credit themselves with inventing it or some such rubbish. Americans, when told by someone that a given tune is Canadian, and written in fairly recent history by Ward Allen, John Durocher or Graham Townsend, must wonder why then there is no account of that fact anywhere to be seen. If these fiddlers really did write famous tunes, why would their own people bury the fact? I have no good answer.
As for heroes, I'm with you 100% wardalien, Ward Allen is mine. He's probably the reason I took up the fiddle, and he died a decade before I was born. I learned from several of his old pals, and from his records, and I too, feel a great debt and cultural link to both the man and his music. This is only my opinion, but to my well-trained ears, Ward Allen has more soul, phrasing, timing, technique and taste than ten of these cookie cutter disney fiddlers who got a book of tunes and a press kit last week can ever hope for. There are some good young fiddlers, but there's a lot more superficial bad ones. Why? Maybe because they never had the opportunity to hear the Ward Allens of our nation's musical history. I have felt so strongly about this that I put up a tribute site to Ward, which is here:

http://www.myspace.com/wardallen

Everyone should go and listen, read and learn about this great fiddler. Anyone, including wardalien, who wants to message me regarding Ward or fiddle music in general, please do. Thanks!

P.S. - Writing this has got me so worked up I may start to post some other tunes by great Canadian fiddlers!

To download "The Best of Ward Allen" click the link below:

http://www.mediafire.com/?d8hdwdi4ihis85e

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Canadian Fiddle
• Ward Allen
• Frenchie's Reel
• Mel Lavigne
• Maple Sugar
• Ontario
• Country
• Roots
• wardalien

[djldws]

i did tap and step dancing to all the fiddle tunes from the valley when i was a wee girl.....there is nothing like, the Ottawa Valley Fiddlers....they are a cut above......thanks for giving a piece of the valley back

[groseliers]

@breglad45 Classic Boogie-Woogie? I don't think so.

[breglad45]

AWESOME! I first heard Frenchie's Reel by the hammered dulcimer group "Nonesuch" back in the early 80s.

Some of the riffs are reminicient of what you might call 'classic Boogie-Woogie', no?

[letisha43]

This is awesome! Mel Lavigne was my Grandfather!! It's nice to hear some of his songs again!

[99sco]

young fiddle players of today have to much classical influence in there music.

each note is played to pretty.

no spirit to it.

[99sco]

ward allen;\,graham townsend

ed gyurki and chuck jocye are my fiddle heros

the best there ever were.

[tubelubeTU]

Cape Bretoner´s have their Fitzpatrik, Holland and Stubbart tune collections. The North-American have their Ryan´s Mammoth Collection (Cole´s 1000) and the Irish have their O´Neill´s (not the one edited by Krassen mind you), and the Scots have their Ceol Na Fidhle. But I can´t seem to find any Comprehensive collection of Canadian fiddle tunes, although there are the odd book around. Any tips?

[TennesseeShine]

You did a GREAT commentary in the sidebar for your post. I'm always interested in the fiddling history and old-time discography. I have to agree with you that too many Canadians are totally ignorant of their rich heritage. I recently worked in Timmins for several months and couldn't find any live French-Canadian music ANYWHERE even though the city is half French and within a stone's throw of Quebec. When I asked, evertbody looked at me like I had lobster's crawling out of my ears!

[nimkii4444]

Thanks for putting this up. I've been a fan of Ward Allen for a long time. He was one of a kind and a great inspiration. Truely one of the greatest Canadian fiddlers.

[lviv1954]

Thank You kindly for putting this fine tune on Youtube. B flat is my favourite key for sure. I have many local Sask and Manitoba fiddlers still on vinyl. I enjoyed very much you myspace info and I agree with you 1000%. God Bless from Regina, Sask... Don