John Jeffries was born at Jeffries Corner, Kings County and grew up loving the old-time country music so popular then on radio. He began playing acoustic guitar by ear as a teenager, then learned to play fiddle tunes, to accompany his father Cecil, and other local fiddlers at dances and variety shows. While attending Sussex High School he taught himself electric guitar to join the Morris brothers, Gary and Bill, in their popular rock band, the VIP's, and play teen dances at Legions and other venues. After graduation, John worked in St. Andrews, Moncton, Halifax, Truro and Miramichi and was part of bands in each area. In 1976, John moved with his wife Maureen and family to Fredericton where he joined Aubrey Hanson's Country Ramblers playing live dances, shows and performing on local TV and radio weekly. Stints with Bubs Brown in his band Buckshot and later Roanoke followed. After that, he joined the Ponds, Duane and Cameron and sister Debbie, to form their great Family Reunion band. Soon, however, fascinated with bluegrass, he became a member of Fredericton's Cabin Fever, then with his son Allan joined ‘Old, New, Borrowed and Blue’. He was a founding member of the Goldrush bluegrass band and, also, helped organize the Fredericton Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association and served a term as its president. At the same time, to keep a foot in the country door, he became a member of Silver Dollar Express and the River Valley Fiddlers. Multi-talented, John plays 5-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle and pedal steel, as well as guitar, sings and is an accomplished comedic storyteller. He has taught most of the instruments he plays to individuals and classes and operates a fiddle repair shop. John presently plays with Randy Vail and Lost Highway, guests regularly on Valley Jamborees, and is one of Fredericton's elite Classic Country quintet and the Dan Cunningham Band. He has performed on ECMA and CCMA showcase stages and is, also, a sessions player much sought after by recording studios. His son and four daughters are all well-known singing musicians. John’s music career has spanned over 50 years and he is still very active.
Perry White Born in Happy Valley, Newfoundland in 1964, the late Perry White began playing accordion by ear when he was only four years of age and by the time his family moved to Fredericton in 1974, he had mastered guitar and was experimenting with other instruments. But that was only the beginning for a born performer who would by his late teens become a multi-faceted instrumentalist, an accomplished vocalist and a confident stage personality. Randy Vail was amazed by Perry at their first meeting, a Dark Hollow concert at which he offered a chance at the mike to anyone in the audience. Perry who was completely unknown came up and 'literally blew him away'. Shortly after that he joined the Gary Morris Valley Jamboree cast and was part of that Sussex based show for over eight years. During that time he joined Sussex Radio CJCW rapidly working his way up to an on-air personality and a great promoter of local country music recording artists. After his stint with the Valley Jamborees he joined Randy Vail & Lost Highway, with whom he played for many years, leaving when his tenure with CJCW ended, to play dances and shows as a one-man band on a busier schedule to support a wife and family. In those years he became a regular weekly performer at the Saint John West Canadian Legion and introduced Newfie Kitchen Parties to many southern NB communities. For two years prior to his death in a highway accident near St George, December 10, 2007, he had been the morning man on 98.1 The Tide near St. Stephen and was a weekend country deejay on CHSJ Country 94 in Saint John, which he has described as a dream come true. He was guesting on many local shows and jamborees and never turned down a chance to perform on fundraisers. Perry loved to sing and play, whether it was a paying gig or not. His death left three sons, Brendan, Travis and Dakota fatherless.
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