Nigel Mullin Nigel Mullin, born in England in 1940, came to the Miramichi as a child, and while still a youngster fell in love with the lonesome wail of a steel guitar listening to Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys recordings. But, although he loved the sound he had no idea what sort of instrument made it. It was not until the mid-fifties, a few years after Hank Williams death that he found out. A Johnny Cash concert he attended featured a pedal steel guitar player in the band. He was utterly amazed to learn it was the same instrumentalist that had thrilled hi on Hank’s records, Don Helms. From that night on, if the early recordings had been the bait, it was the Cash concert and that instrument’s live vibrations that set the hook. He was hopelessly caught up in the sound but although he learned to play himself it was not until he was 1 that he could afford to make that rather sizeable investment. Once the instrument was his, he quickly arranged for lessons from a local master of steel techniques, the late Brendan Hall. The when secure in his ability to play well, band employment was not hard to find. Even though at the time the steel guitar was a favoured staple of Nashville producers, good steel guitarists were hard to find in NB so he soon was playing with The Sanatoria Club band which, during that period, received noticed in Maclean’s, Time and a citation from Prime Minister Trudeau. This led to him to play on Carl O’Donnell’s Music for The Good Folks cassette taping and further renown as an instrumentalist. Stints followed with Joe MacDonald’s Black Diamond Band, The Good Ole Boys, Ernie Taylor’s Band and Gene O’Connor’s entourage. He also played with a number of US and Canadian touring acts and often with Miramichiers Donna McLean, Jimmy Lawlor and Jim Morrison. A musician who has devoted much of his life to performing country music, Nigel, who lives at Red Bank, volunteers a lot of time to his community, playing fund-raisers and charity events, for the sheer love of it. His devotion to the steel guitar, he says sincerely, has greatly enriched his life. A fine rhythm guitarist and an outstanding pedal steel player, music has given him a sense of achievement and made him life-long friendships among musicians and fans. He is also a very good stand-up comedian.
Norman Young Born at Upper Derry, in 1948, Norman Young is a journeyman barber by trade, a Miramichi Fiddler at heart. During the sixties Norman became a familiar figure at variety shows and house parties along the river, singing and playing guitar. In the early 1970’s he moved with his wife Joanne to Charlottetown, PEI and joined a band, the Music Makers as a guitar picker. They often played the Benevolent Irish Society Club as Don Messer and His Islanders had before them. He also played with Pius Blacket and Ginger Mckay and the Blue Water bands. A strong fiddle tradition existed on the Island and when Norman spoke about wanting to learn that instrument his wife bought him one. Soon he was playing with the PEI Fiddlers, as well, a group founded by Bishop Faber MacDonald. In 1980 Norman and his family moved back to the Miramichi and he joined his brother’s band, Satellite on bass guitar. In 1991 he became a founding member of the Miramichi Fiddlers and helped write their constitution. In 1995 he became their lead fiddler and, shortly after, their music director. A year later he arranged the music for the first of their two recordings, Miramichi Fiddlers, Volumes One and Two, and led that elite group of fiddlers at the subsequent studio sessions. In 1997, he became active in the NB Old Tyme Fiddle Orchestra during its creation, was elected to its board of directors and chosen to lead one of the six platoons of 50 musicians each that comprised it in the beginning. He felt it a great honour to perform with such a vast assemblage on one stage. But an even greater honour was accorded him in 1999 when he was asked to join the Saint John Fiddlers and Natalie MacMaster to play at the installation of his friend Faber MacDonald as Bishop of the Diocese of Saint John. Between his stints with local bands, Norman has travelled widely in Canada sharing the wide repertoire of New Brunswick fiddlers with audiences in Edmonton, Yellowknife, Fort Smith, the Northwest Territories, Inuvik, Hay River, Norman Wells, Tuktuyuktuk. Norman has also composed many fiddle tunes including the title track of his new recording Fiddlenium. He has given freely of his time to play benefits for many causes; weddings, funerals, church functions. Since 1997, Norman has been teaching fiddle to students from 12 to 60, doing his part to keep that Miramichi tradition alive and growing.
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