Pappy Weston was born on July 7, 1911. He learned to play the fiddle as a teenager and began playing for the regular Saturday night dances at Dennis Beach and Armstrong’s Dance Hall in the late 1920’s. These dances continued until 1955 when the halls closed. Also in the mid-fifties, his son Victor and daughter Freda started playing guitar and they formed a group called the Fundy Trailers. At the time, Pappy was the lighthouse keeper on Grindstone Island in Shepody Bay. Much of the music played there was for guests and for their own entertainment. Later on in the sixties, his son Ken and daughter Betty joined the group and they performed on radio and television as well as at various concerts and benefits in the area.
Through the sixties, Pappy and family appeared several times on CKCW-TV as guests on the Bunkhouse Boys Show as well as with Doug LaValley (from WWVA radio). Besides having his own twice-weekly radio show on CKDH Amherst radio, he made a guest appearance on Ben Colder’s Network Radio Show and the Maritime Farmers TV show in Saint John. He made several personal appearances with Val Surrette and the Nighthawks and made one appearance on CFCY Charlottetown radio, also one appearance at Mount Allison University. He played for a large benefit concert to raise money to start the Albert County Hospital in Albert, NB. For several years, he played regularly at the Albert County Exhibition and appeared one year at the Sussex Exhibition.
During this time there were not many old-time fiddle players in this area, so Pappy and his family were kept quite busy at local functions and shows until fiddling again became quite popular in the 1980’s. He can, therefore, be credited with keeping fiddling alive in the area for a long period of time.
Bobby Rowan DeCourcey (alias Bob Rowan) was born in Minto. He started picking guitar at an early age. Because of economic conditions in the late 1940’s, he left school to work in the local coal mines. Later he switched to driving truck and then to bell hopping. During these year he became a part-time musician and eventually became a regular on the Earl Mitton Radio Show over CFNB Fredericton and the Art Marr Show on CHSJ Saint John. In 1956 he won a Gibson guitar in a talent contest. In 1957 he moved to Toronto to work day jobs while playing various clubs at nights and on weekends.
His deep impressive voice attracted the attention of a recording studio entrepreneur resulting in a LP release “Johnny Cash Song Hits Sung by Bobby Rowan” and a 2nd album “Songs Made Famous by Johnny Cash” a couple of years later. Four of the selections on the 2nd album were written by Rowan. A 3rd album, “Johnny Cash Hits” was released, followed in 1972 by a 4th, “Rowan Country”. One song from the 4th album entitled, One More Favor, went to No. 1 on Canadian charts. During this time he also composed the music for the Canadian movie, “Going Down the Road” which later became a cult classic.
A dry period followed these successes and Bob took day work again. On the morning of December 4, 1982 he picked up a ringing phone at the transit office where he was employed. He was intrigued by the voice of the caller, Mary Morwood. She had dialed a wrong number. They met subsequent to that. Both were suffering despondency form the recent breakup of longtime marriages. He found that Mary had a beautiful singing voice and they formed a duo- Rowan and Mary – and billed as a “real country class act” were soon playing clubs all over southern Ontario and fronting for such famous US acts as Ferlin Husky and Dave Dudley. They released a cassette, “The Way We Met” which resulted in a chart hit for the pair. This success let to an appearance on You Can Be a Star over the Nashville Television Network.
Later they continued working day jobs and performed on nights and weekends. They always dreamed of an international break, but it never came. Music, however, was Rowan’s life…he loved it. He never thought of giving it up.
His death several years ago came as a shock to his wife and singing partner, Mary, and their musical friends – a group that included recording artists Johnny Burke and Ray Penny.
The River Valley Boys was a group formed by Eugene (Gene) Morris, Ken Harrison and Art Merritt which played for dances along the Southern Valley of the Saint John River in the early 40’s and into the 1950’s. For nearly a decade, the famous “White Elephant” in Hampstead was home base to this popular trio and their legion of loyal fans and friends.
Each member of the trio is an accomplished musician with a great wealth of experience in his own right. Eugene – himself an early inductee of the Hall of Fame – was taught to play the violin by his parents, one of whom taught him to read music and the other to play by ear. Ken Harrison played the guitar with the group. Ken was an experienced musician, having played for dances with a number of groups in his area before he joined The River Valley Boys. The third member, Art Merritt, began his musical career by playing the button accordion, later switching to the piano accordion. This instrument was one which Art earned by cutting four truckloads of pulp.
For a number of years, The River Valley Boys provided the music for dances at George Thompson’s hall at Hampstead, NB called The White Elephant. They drew people from many surrounding communities to their dances. They also played at concerts, house parties, fairs, exhibitions, and for a time played at CFBC Radio. They did dances in Queenstown, Hampstead, Gagetown or The Narrows.
For nearly a decade, Art, Gene and Ken enjoyed playing together until Gene was transferred to another location, but they remained friends over the years, fondly recalling the time when they would kick off another Saturday night of fun with their “Silver Bells”, an opening theme that would some fifty years later unite them forever on the wall of New Brunswick’s Country Music Hall of Fame.
PAGE TWO of 2000 INDUCTEES CLICK HERE
