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Track Notes for FRC742 – Yvon Mimeault, Y’était temps !

Yvon Mimeault – Y’était temps ! | It’s About Time – FRC742

Notes by Yvon & Guy Bouchard; Yvon’s comments are in italic.

1 Hommage à Adrien Alain / Réjean Ferguson

Yvon a recuelli ses airs un peu partout en Gaspésie et il avait beaucoup d’admiration pour plusieurs violoneux dont Adrien Alain de Gascon qui “…jouait dans deux salles de danse le même soir…”. Réjean Ferguson, un autre fameux violoneux gaspésien, a été président de l’Association québécoise du loisir folklorique.

Yvon learned his tunes from all over the Gaspésie. He greatly admired a number of fiddlers including Andrien Alain de Gascon who “…played in two dance halls on the same night…”. Réjean Ferguson, another well known fiddler from Gaspésie, was president of the Association québécoise du loisir folklorique.

2 Véronique va voir à ta soupe / Reel de mes p’tites vaches

Certaines mélodies de chansons servaient vouvent d’air aux violoneux. Let mots de celle-ci étaient: “Véronique, voir à ta soupe car elle est cuite et prête à manger.” “… On jouait cette mélodie pour fiare danser une première partie de quadrille.” Yvon est un artisan de grand talent, et il a entre autres sculpté des vaches magnifiaques.

C’est pour elles qu’il a composé la deuxième partie de ce pot-pourri.
Fiddlers often borrowed song melodies to use as dance music. The words of this song are: “Véronique, go check your soup, because it’s ready, because it’s ready; ready to be eaten.” “… We played this melody for the first part of a quadrille.” Yvon is also a great craftsman and he has sculpted many magnificent wooden cows. He composed the second tune for them.

3 Pot pourri de Mont-Joli à la Calafornie

“Mon père jouait cette mélodie et elle m’est ravenue en mémoire lors d’une semaine à Port Townsend au Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, en juin 1997. J’ai appris la deuxième en écoutant la radio en Gaspésie et je crois qu’elle provient du répertoire d’Elmo Leblanc. J’ai intitulé le pot-pourri en l’honneur de mes amis de Californie Laurie, Barbara et Kevin que vous entendez tous rire à la fin…”

“My father played this tune and it came back to me during the week I spent in Port Townsend at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, in June 1997. I learned the second one off the radio in Gaspésie and I think that it comes from the repertoire of Elmo Leblanc. I named it the pot-pourri in honour of my California friends, Laurie, Barbara and Kevin, whom we hear laughing at the end…”

4 Quadrilles de l’oncle Ti-Bé

“L’oncle Antoine Mimeault (Ti-Bé) habitait Ruisseaux-des-Olives et, dans les annés 40, il jouait régulièrement pour les danses. Il jouait ces deux airs que je j’ai plus jamais entendus par la suite.”

“My uncle Antoine Mimeault (Ti-Bé) lived in Ruisseaux-des-Olives and in the 1940s he played regularly for dances. He played these two tunes which I have never heard since then.”

5 Hermas Réhel / Histoire de mon vieux coq

Hermas Réhel est un ami d’Yvon et un autre excellent violoneux originaire de la réegion de Gaspé. Il vit aujourd’hui à Brossard en banlieue de Montréal. “J’ai composé le deuxième air en souvenir d’un vilain coq que nous avions quand j’était petit.”

Hermas Réhel, one of Yvon’s friends, is an excellent fiddler originally from the Gaspé region. Today, he lives in Brossard, a suburb of Montréal. “I composed the second tune which reminds me of the crowing of the rooster we had when I was a kid.”

6 Le Forgeron

“C’est un reel que j’ai arrangé à ma manière aprés l’avoir entendu de Jean Carignan. Je joue cet air sur le violon que j’ai fabriqué en 1949 et je l’accorde La-Mi-La-Mi.”

“This is a reel that I arranged in my own way after hearing Jean Carignan play it. I’m playing this tune on the fiddle that I made in 1949; it’s tuned A-E-A-E.”

7 Chaîn de quadrille de l’oncle Adelme / Ti-Blanc Davis

André accompagne ici Yvon car nous éditions tous ‘calés’ dans la ‘bouette’ sur le chemin menant au studio. “J’ai appris la première mélodie de mon père. La deuxième m’a été jouée par un accordéoniste aveugle de Rivière Madeleine qu’on surnommait Ti-Blanc Davis .”

André backed up Yvon on this one because the rest of us were stuck in the mud on the road to the studio. “I learned the first tune from my father. The second one was played for me by a blind accordion player from Rivière Madeleine whose nickname was Ti-Blanc Davis.”

8 Fort Worden / A.A. Deschênes

“Mon père jouait cette mélodie. Il a certainement appris de nombreux airs des passants qu’on appelait des quêteux et qui logeaient chez nous pour une nuit. C’était la mélodie préféré de mon groupe d’étudiants à Fort Worden au Festival of American Fiddle Tunes… “
“André Albert Deschênes, un ‘faiseux de violon’ comme il disait, originaire de Les Hauteurs près de Rimouski m’a rappelé cette autre mélodie du répertoire de mon père.”

“My father played this tune. He sure learned lots of tunes from the itinerant fiddlers whom we called beggars and whom we often put up for the night. At the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes at Fort Worden, this was my group of students’ favourite tune…”
“André Albert Deschênes, a fiddle maker as he called himself, originally from Les Hauteurs near Rimouski, helped me remember another tune from my father’s repertoire.”

9 La femme qui crie encore / L’accroche-pied

“Deux autres pièces du répertoire de mon père… Le premier titre a été trouvé par mon garçon Francis qui a réalisé la pochette. C’est l’un de mes accompagnateurs, le pianiste Jean Bellevance, qui a baptisé le deuxième. C’est vrai que mes airs sont souvent ‘accrochants’ à accompagner…”

“Two other tunes from my father’s repertoire … My son Francis, who designed the CD cover, came up with the first title. Jean Bellevance, one of my back-up piano players, came up with the second. It’s true that some of my tunes are hard to back up…”

10 Moineau Lamoureux / La gigue du père Doiron

“La première mélodie était jouée dans notre famille. Elle rapelle ‘la chicaneuse’ mais ches nous, c’était l’air du bûcheron qui veillait au village en courtisant la fille du voisin. J’ai appris la seconde de mon ami violoneux de Kamouraska, Ferdinand Dionne.”

“The first tune was played in our family. It’s similar to ‘la Chicaneuse’. But where I’m from, it was the tune of the lumberjack who used to spend his evenings in the village courting the neighbour’s daughter. I learned the second one from a fiddler friend, Ferdinand Dionne, from Kamouraska.”

11 De passage à Brossard / Yvon-t-y finir…

“Le violoneux de Gaspé Hermas Réhel m’a souvent joué ce reel lors de mes passages chez lui à Brossard. J’ai composé le deuxième lorsque je jouais pour les longues danses comme le Brandy. Quand je n’avais plus d’air en mémoire, j’improvisais en peu en pensant quelquefois ‘y-vont-y finir…’”

“Hermas Réhel, a fiddler from Gaspé, often played this reel when I visited him in Brossard. I composed the second tune when I played for long dances like the Brandy. When I ran out of tunes in my head, I improvised a little sometimes asking myself, are they ever going to finish?”

12 Y’était temps

“Je détiens le premier reel de mon père et j’ai composé le deuxième l’hiver dernier. Éric Favreau avec qui je joue ici est l’un de ceux qui peuvent le mieux suivre ma façon de jouer. Mes amis pensent que c’est l’effet ‘El Mimeault’ qui donne tant d’élans à nos violons…”

“I got the first tune from my father and I composed the second one last winter. Éric Favreau, with whom I’m playing here, is someone who can really follow my way of playing. My friends think that it’s the ‘El-Mimeault’ effect that gives so much swing to our fiddles.”

13 La gigue du bonhomme / Soirée à Lamecque

“C’était le 6/8 préféré de mon père Odilon et c’est pour cela que je l’ai surnommé la gigue du bonhomme. C’est lors d’une soirée à Lamecque au Nouveau-Brunswick que la deuxième mélodie m’est revenue en mémoire.”

“This was my father, Odilon’s, favourite jig. This is why I nicknamed it ‘La gigue du bonhomme’. It was during a party in Lamecque, New Brunswick, that I remembered the second melody.”

14 Pot-pouri des quatre violons

“Avec Éric, Guy et laurie, c’est tout un orchestre de violons pour interpréter cet air de mon père que nous enchaînons avec une mélodie que j’ai entendue à la radio acadienne du Nouveau-Brunswick. Le tout est soutenu par Kevin sur son alambic que certains nomment à tort cornemuse.”

“With Éric, Guy and Laurie, it’s quite the fiddle orchestra for playing this tune from my father followed by a tune that I heard on an Acadian radio station from New Brunswick. Kevin supports the orchestra on his whiskey still, which some people incorrectly call a uilleann pipe.”

15 L’oncle Petit / Le reel à tout le monde

“L’oncle Petit était en réalité un gros et grand bonhomme, un oncle de mon père et un excellent gigueur. C’était sur ce reel qu’il aimait danser. Le reel à tout le monde est joué à peu près par tous les vieux violoneux et j’ai emprunté un peu à chacune des versions qui j’ai entendues.”

“My uncle ‘Petit’ (tiny) was in fact big and tall. He was one of my father’s uncles and an excellent step dancer. He loved to dance to this reel. ‘Le reel à tout le monde’ (Everybody’s Reel) is played by just about all the older fiddlers and I borrowed a little bit from each of the versions I heard.”

16 Souvenirs de Cascon / Reel de Drummondville

“C’est suite à une autre visite chez le violoneux Adrien Alain de Gascon que j’ai entendu la première partie de ce pot-pourri et c’est Ti-Noir Joyal de Drummondville qui m’a joué la deuxième lors d’un spectacle dans sa région.”

“I heard the first part of this medley while visiting the fiddler Adrien Alain of Gascon. Ti-Noir Joyal of Drummondville played the second one for me at a concert in his area.”

17 Pot-pourri des Maritimes

“Lorsque nous étions jeunes à la maison, moi et mes frères écoutions sur une vielle radio les airs de violon que nous tentions de turluter pour les garder en mémoire. J’ai appris de nombreux airs de cette façon et plus tard, quand j’ai travaillé à Gaspé, nous écoutions régulièrement les émissions en provanance des Maritimes.”

“When I was growing up, my brothers and I listened to fiddle tunes on an old radio. In order to remember them, we’d sing them using ‘mouth music’. I learned numerous tunes this way. Later on while working in Gaspé, I listened regularly to radio shows from the Maritimes.”

18 Le reel du batelier / Le reel de St-Augustin

“Mon bon ami de St-Augustin-de-Desmaurer, Henry Grimard, a composé ces deux airs sur son accordéon-piano.”

“My good friend Henry Grimard from St-Augustin-de-Desmaurer composed these two tunes on his piano accordion.”

19 Reel de pendu

Vous connaissez tous l’histoire de ce condamné qui, pour prouver son innocence, s’est improvisé joueur de violon. De la façon dont Yvon débute son air, il prouve bien que l’accusé n’avait jamais touché à un violon! Disons qu’il a par contre très vite appris … Le violon est accordé La-Mi-La-Do#.

Everyone knows the story of the condemned man who, in order to prove his innocence, improvised this tune (The Hangman’s Reel) on the fiddle. The way that Yvon starts the tune shows that the accused had never touched a fiddle. Let’s just say that he was a fast learner… The fiddle is tuned A-E-A-C#.

John Cohen and Peter Hoover

Two of our collectors passed away in 2019. Ray knew each of them for a long time and both were involved with the Field Recorders’ Collective from the very beginning. We will miss their contributions both in music, knowledge, and camaraderie.

John Cohen (August 2, 1932 — September 16, 2019)

John CohenThe NPR tribute to John (linked below) starts: “John Cohen straddled two worlds: as a photographer, he immersed himself in the avant-garde visual arts scene of 1950s New York; as a musician, he was an integral part of that city’s folk revival of the same era.” All very true, though for those who knew him well, John straddled many more than two worlds. Every time we saw him he loved to discuss some new interest such as South American textiles, inform us of the history and back stories of the tunes and songs we played and stories of his experiences following his passions throughout his long and productive life. He was certainly a valuable contributor to FRC and to the traditional music scene in general. He will be missed.

John was responsible for these FRC recordings:

  • John Summers (FRC310)
  • Reverend Gary Davis (FRC116)
  • Berkeley in the 1960s (FRC609)
  • The Lost Recordings of Banjo Bill Cornett (FRC304).

Some Links:

Peter Hoover (April 29, 1939 – October 11, 2019)

Peter HooverPeter Hoover was a larger than life character, both figuratively and literally. His many, diverse passions as well as his undeniable quirkiness are documented thoroughly and lovingly in the obituary piece that appeared in the Ithaca Journal. In 1959, Peter took it upon himself to journey South, to meet older-generation musicians and to record their music. He did this over a period of three years, and the recordings that he made have resulted — thus far — in 10 excellent CDs issued by the FRC.

These FRC recordings were from Peter’s extensive collection:

  • Calvin Cole (FRC704)
  • Addie Leffew & Claude Wolfenbarger (FRC509)
  • Heywood Blevins (FRC508)
  • Wade Ward (FRC507)
  • Dan Tate (FRC506)
  • Byard Ray, Manco Sneed & Mike Rogers (FRC505)
  • Sidna & Fulton Myers (FRC504)
  • Santford Kelly (FRC503)
  • Marcus Martin (FRC502)
  • Uncle Charlie Higgins, and Wade Ward & Dale Poe (FRC501)

Some Links:

Track Notes for FRC738 – John Dee Kennedy of Pawnee, Oklahoma

John Dee Kennedy of Pawnee, Oklahoma – FRC738

By Brad Leftwich

John Dee Kennedy (1914-1997) was a self-effacing man who, in his prime, was considered by many to be the best breakdown fiddler in Pawnee and Osage counties, Oklahoma. In a generation where most of his contemporaries were playing Western swing, bluegrass, or Texas contest-style fiddle, John perpetuated an older family and community tradition that can be traced through the mountains of Arkansas all the way back to eastern Kentucky in the 19th century. These field recordings were made by Linda Higginbotham and Brad Leftwich at John’s home in Pawnee, Oklahoma, 1982-1985. Continue reading

Kentucky Fiddlers Home Recordings Vol. 1 Track Notes

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by John Harrod

One day in September 1977 I got a phone call from George Hawkins asking if would I give him a ride to the fiddle contest at the Bath County Fair. I had visited him a couple of times previously and was struck with his way of playing. He was someone I wanted to learn from and he was willing to oblige. I was a little surprised to learn that they still had a fiddle contest at the Bath Co. Fair but I should not have been. What few contests still taking place at the time would draw a few fiddlers who could scratch out hackneyed versions of some bluegrass tunes, but the old traditional styles no longer appeared at the contests because the judges were as swayed by what appeared on radio and television as the fiddlers were, and an old time fiddler had no chance of winning. But this contest proved to be different in all respects. There were no bluegrass fiddlers, only old time players from three adjoining counties who all knew each other. Continue reading

Teodar Jackson – Texas Fiddler

Teodar Jackson – African-American Fiddling from Texas – FRC728

by Dan Foster

Teodar Jackson (1903-1966) was an old-time fiddler with deep roots in Texas. He was born in Gonzales County where his family had farmed since his grandfather came there from Mississippi sometime after the Civil War. African Americans numbered roughly a third of the county’s population in the 1880s. Communities like Wesley Chapel, Monthalia and Canoe Creek were small rural sanctuaries where many young musicians came of age to the sound of old-time fiddling at dances and country suppers. By the 1940s the family had moved north to the Austin area where Mr. Jackson remained a fiddler known to all as “T-olee” and to family as “Papa-T”. Familiar dance tunes, blues and rags made up a large part of his repertoire, but in addition he played a number of set-pieces that hint at something perhaps older, otherwise lost to our ears, until his playing was recorded by Tary Owens in Austin in 1965. Continue reading

Web Links and Videos for Jim Shumate

Jim Shumate: Pioneering Bluegrass Fiddler – FRC727

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Jim Shumate

by Wayne Erbsen (photos courtesy of John Miller)

Jim Shumate: Pioneering Bluegrass Fiddler – FRC727

To die-hard fans of bluegrass music the name Jim Shumate is practically a household word. After all, he played with Bill Monroe in the mid 1940s and was the first fiddler for Flatt and Scruggs when they formed their own band, the Foggy Mountain Boys. The three tracks he Continue reading

Vernon Spencer & the Spencer Family of Big Springs, KS

Vernon Spencer of Big Springs, Kansas – FRC726

by Tricia Spencer

Vernon Douglas Spencer was born September 22, 1921, on the family farm in Big Springs, Kansas. He was the baby of 11 children born to his parents Harley and Cora and around the age of 4 or 5, he asked his daddy for a fiddle. He was given a fiddle and Vernon taught himself how to play learning tunes and songs that were popular on the radio as well as tunes that his daddy played on the harmonica. Music was a large part of Vernon’s life from an early age. Living off the land, hunting, and music were done daily. Vernon’s grandaddy left Louisville, KY, at the age of 15, and it was this generation that bought land in Big Springs and brought along a part of Kentucky with them. Continue reading