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Ottawa Valley Melodiers, appearing more than a dozen times on Don Messer’s Jubilee TV show, followed by their own “Hay Lofter” series on CJOH-TV in Ottawa, and the Cross- Canada Barn Dance show aired nationally on CTV.
SHARING THE SPOTLIGHT Mac Beattie & The Ottawa
Valley Melodiers indeed played a prominent role in the early days of country music in the Ottawa Val- ley...but by no means were they alone. Oral Scheer, Hank “Rivers” Lariviere, Orval Prophet, The Happy Wanderers, Bob King, Ron McMunn and others, were all carving out their own notch on that tree that had its roots so deeply planted in ‘The Val- ley’.
Madawaska-born Oral Scheer (1917-2004) was known as “The Smilin’ Balladeer” and worked on
Eddy Arnold (L) is joined by CFRA’s Frank Ryan and concert promoter Frank Jones (R), backstage at Ottawa Coliseum for a 1947 performance by the Nashville coun- try legend.
Ottawa radio and TV shows as a fea- tured vocalist with Cammie Howard & The Western Five. Their shows were often produced at CBC Studios then located in downtown Ottawa
at The Chateau Laurier. Oral Scheer was among one of the first Ottawa Valley artists to earn national atten- tion with his recording of “Three Fingered Bland”, a ‘gunfighter song’ which pre-dated Marty Robbins’ classic songs of the genre by more than a decade.
Henry Lariviere (1917-1996), born in Hawkesbury, Ontario, was among the first Canadian country art- ists, alongside Hank Snow and Wilf Carter, to be signed to RCA Victor in 1939. Dubbed “The Singing Sol- dier”, in recognition of his role as an entertainer serving in the Canadian military during and after WWII; he also recorded albums for Rodeo/ Banff as Hank Lariviere, and later became billed as “Hank Rivers” to better relate to a national audience. A gifted songwriter, his work often had a patriotic touch with tunes like Gal- lant Men, Hurrah for Camp Borden, and Maple Sugar Sweetheart, which was a re-working with song lyrics of the Ward Allen fiddle classic. Hank Lariviere (Rivers) was frequently called upon to open shows in Ottawa for some of music’s top touring acts of the 40’s-50’s, including Hank Wil- liams, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Hank Snow and cowboy legend Gene Autry. In 2014 the British Archives of
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