1989

Gerry Taylor

Gerry Taylor was born in Jordon Mountain, New Brunswick on July 19, 1933 . He became interested in country music after hearing Wilf Carter on radio in the mid-thirties and being surrounded by his musical neighbors who would play often at his house along with his mother who was a popular singer in the neighborhood.

 

He became a regular concert goer in the late forties and started collecting 78rpm's and later lps in the mid-fifties. He became known to record representatives through this hobby and became recognized as something of an authority concert organizers checked with as to which performers to book for the area.

 

In the sixties Gerry became involved in the promotion of Lily Lake Jamborees in Saint John and wrote the first stories on the local country scene to appear in the Evening Times Globe. Later he helped with the promotion of Saint John's first Country music night spot, Club XL.

 

In 1975, he was involved with the forming of a Saint John Folk Club and later in an affiliation of it with the active New England folk scene.

 

He began writing stories on Canadian music personalities for magazines and in the late seventies began a regular column called Folk and Country World in a special Rural Life Journal feature section of the Saint John dailies. Shortly after he began a Sunday night CFBC-FM radio show called Fundy Folk Night which lasted four more years.

 

In 1981 he did a column and radio show about the bluegrass band Ladies Choice and how they would be breaking up if they didn't get an ATV contract. The response along with the efforts of an ATV director helped to put the TV show Up Home Tonight on the air.

 

Two years afterwards he worked with director Barry Bramhill in shooting the pilot shows for a new weekly ASN feature, New Faces. He is still one of their NB contacts and yearly takes down guests to the show. During the last years of Stacy's Jamboree over Bangor television, Gerry acted as an audition person for the show. He also acted as judge and announcer on various shows.

 

He has traveled extensively with local Saint John performers and recently did the first Atlantic Airways CBC Radio Show recorded in Saint John.

 

He has also served as a judge at both the Maritime Open Country Singing Contest and dozens of fiddle and amateur contests.

 

 

 

Bill Canam

Bill Canam has been a resident of Stickney since the age of five. At 18 he picked up his first guitar. Without a lesson he taught himself to chord on the Dobro.

 

In 1940 he won first prize in Kidd Baker's talent show. But it was when he joined the CPR in 1950, that his musical career began to develop a new course. Her began to compose his own lyrics.

 

Out of this era came his songs The CPR Hotel, My St. John Valley Home, The Foggy Morning Special, Tobique Railroaders, The Sweetheart Who Never Returned, and many more.

 

In the 1960's Bill went on CJCJ Radio's Open House. His fame continued to spread in an interview with Don Herron on CBC Radio's Morning Side Show, also in 1976.

 

Since then he has had the opportunity to compose the music for Carle Rigby's song, Let's Sing About New Brunswick.

 

When Bill isn't off to a jamboree, a benefit-fundraiser, an anniversary or birthday party to entertain, you can probably find him out in his Ponderosa strumming along with his buddies.

 

After 50 years of entertaining, and 40 of his own songs, Bill has recorded his first release, The Singing Trackman.

 

 

 

Ada (Franklin) Baker

Ada was born in Riceville , New Brunswick on June 22, 1922 and was raised in Woodstock. She married country singer Kidd Baker on January 17, 1939 . Ada and her husband travelled coast to coast and 38 states in the USA . On February 15, 1950 they had a daughter named Bonnie Ada Baker.

 

Ada was a vocalist with her husband on such records as “Can't You See” and “Using My Bible For a Road Map”.

 

On April 26, 1961 Ada passed away in the Careleton Memorial Hospital at age 38.

 

 

 

 

 

Loren Campbell

Loren Campbell's home town is Bathurst . In 1946 he joined Kidd Baker's band. They did stage shows, dances, and radio broadcasts all that summer. In the fall, Loren joined the Maritime Farmer Barn Dance on CHSJ radio in Saint John.

 

In 1949 he moved to Nova Scotia and formed a group. They played for shows and dances, then in 1952 he was called to Montreal for a job testing aircraft engines. In 1955 after being laid off he returned to the music business. He formed another group and played together for three years in one night club then went on tour in the Ottawa Valley area and west as far as Sudbury.

 

In the late 1950s it was back to Montreal to dismantle, clean, inspect and rebuild V-12 engines. Within a year he was promoted to foreman.

 

In 1966 he decided to give it up and move to Florida where he developed a mobile home park. On July 2, 1969 he married his partner Dorothy and in 1977 he sold his mobile home park and went back into country and bluegrass music, doing a lot of charity entertainment.

 

 

 

Jack McAffee

Jack McAffee was born in Knoxford, Carleton Co. He became interested in country music after listening to Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Hank Williams, and others on early radio.

 

He began singing at school functions and at the age of 9 performed his first “solo”.   At 13 he borrowed a guitar and taught himself how to play. He then played and sang at Variety Shows and Jamborees in the area.

 

In 1962, his first “paying job” was as part of the “Open House Show” band which was broadcast over CJCJ Woodstock weekly. Jack also learned to play drums.

 

Guest appearances included Don Messer, Doc Williams and the Mercey Brothers.

 

For some years he performed with Charlie Russell as a two piece band playing for parties and dances. He then formed his own band “Jack & Company” where he recorded his first single in 1976. Two albums followed, the second in 1980 with his own group. .