Harold O'Donnell was born at Millstream in 1925. He began playing at the age of seven and a year later was entertaining at fairs, concerts and in kitchens for miles around.
From 14 years of age, until 26, Harold worked in the woods, then moved to Ontario where he played clubs, dance halls and social gatherings at nights while working regularly at construction. He married while there and in the early sixties moved back to Norton , New Brunswick.
A band he formed, the Northern Lights, played around southern New Brunswick for several years before changing their name to Country Clover. In 1970 Harold took a regular job that restricted his playing time and two of his sons...he is the father of eight musical sons and daughters...took over the band and for five years in the eighties played backup for Joan Kennedy.
In 1984, Harold entered open competitions for the first time, taking prizes at the ANE, N.B. Old Time Fiddling and Maritime Old Time Fiddling contests. A year later, he won the Maritime Open Fiddling title.
In recent years, because of ill health, Harold has confined his personal appearances to the Norton-Sussex area.
Winston Crawford was born at Parlee Brook near Sussex in 1941. His father played accordion, harmonica and fiddle and Winston began playing guitar at eight to accompany him. He received his first fiddle as a gift just before his twelfth birthday. With the help of his father, a neighbour Sammy Stephenson and others Winston developed a very distinctive style.
In his mid-teens while a family band he had formed with three brothers were playing dances on weekends in and around Sussex, Winston taught himself to play bagpipes making the band suddenly very popular at parades as well.
In 1965, Winston married and his wife Edie began backing the group on piano. Three children, two boys and a girl were born to them. Following the tragic death of their daughter Ann Marie aged three and a half, Winston and Edie immersed themselves even more in music and in the seventies Winston was in a constant whirl of dances and shows. But in the 80's he decided to extend his horizons and entered a number of fiddling contests. He won the prestigious Johnny Mooring Memorial trophy two years in a row, an ANE first and several others.
In 1982 the group cut their first LP and Winston won the Maritime Open in Dartmouth . In 1983 he dropped out of competitions to spend more time composing and recording. He also traveled more extensively doing mini-tours of Ontario and Eastern Canada . He released his second LP in 1984; this one included three original tunes, the first had included six. In 1989 he released an 8-tune cassette side on a tape shared with a young PEI fiddler.
Winston also started a new musical involvement: he began teaching a class of eight aspiring fiddlers. That class has grown until presently it numbers 62, ages five to 75. He accepts little remuneration for this; it is simply his way of helping keep old-time music alive.
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