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COUNTRY ROOTS


LARRY DELANEY


Revisiting The Roots


Musical roots in the Ottawa Valley run deep...probably even below the permafrost. The early settlers of “The Valley” incorpor- ated folk songs in their daily work, while fiddle playing and dancing became their main source of relaxation and entertainment during their more leisurely moments. Much of that lifestyle has been captured best in the music and merriment of the generations that have followed. The shanty shack housing, the log driving, the lumber mills, and the camaraderie that existed among these set- tlers can be re-visited through the songs of some of the Ottawa Valley’s early country music stars, most notably in the recordings of Mac Beattie (1916-1982).


Just a quick scan of some of the song titles that filled Mac Beattie’s albums will enlighten you on the historical past -- The Log Driver’s Song, My Renfrew County Home, Little Shack Up the Pontiac, Lake Doré Waltz, Take Me Back to The Mada- waska Valley, Back in the Pakenham Hills -- provide a factual and picturesque flashback to the times. Arnprior-born Mac Beattie and his


Ottawa Valley Melodiers group were the headline attraction in the early days of the Ottawa Valley music scene. Their Saturday


22 BOUNDER MAGAZINE


Fiddle player Reg Hill (L) with Mac Beattie on his famous washboard, headed-up the Ottawa Valley group, Mac Beattie & His Ottawa Valley Melodiers.


radio show, aired over CHOV in Pembroke, brought new life into radio programming in the Upper Region of the Valley, and their live performances at the Sunny Dale Acres in Lake Doré, and other dance halls in the region, became legendary.


THE RHYTHM OF THE “WASHBOARD”


Unlike most band leaders who would be identified by their talents as a guitar player to accompany their vocal work, Mac Beattie accomplished his stardom by playing the most basic of instruments...a washboard. Mac’s rhythmic beating, on the then com- mon household appliance, was accompanied by a long line of Ottawa Valley musicians who made up the various segments of his Ottawa Valley Melodiers...Gaetan Fair- field, Hal Mosley, Garnie Scheel, Horace Blanchette, Bill Sheppard, Champ Johnson, Bob Whitney, Al Utronki and Jim Mayhew, were just a few of the talented players in the group. Perhaps the musician who shared the lead role of The Melodiers best was Brockville-born fiddle player Reg Hill (1927 - 1979).


Reg Hill, like Mac Beattie, was also a successful recording artist for the Banff/


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