Don Messer's Modern Canadian Fiddle Canon*
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Don Messer's Modern Canadian Fiddle Canon* NEIL V. ROSENBERG Recent studies of regional fiddle music traditions recognize hierarchies of ability and authority among their practitioners. Thus, Joyce Cauthen, writ ing of old-time fiddling in Alabama, divides the individuals whose biogra phies she presents into "Modest Masters qf the Fiddle and Bow" and "Alabama's Brag Fiddlers." When Peter Cooke began his research in the Shetland Isles, "Early enquiries," he says, "led me to the better-known, more skillful fiddlers, but it soon became apparent that collectively, they represented only the apex of a pyramid consisting of countless men and a very few women who could play the fiddle to some standard or other" ( 14 ). It is only coincidental that the records of Don Messer, the fiddler at the top of the Canadian pyramid for over two decades, were issued on the Apex label. But there is no question that from his position at the top, Messer shaped Canadian fiddling in a number of ways. In this study, I argue that Messer's influence can be seen as an example of what Philip V. Bohlman has described as "canon-formation" When I mention the topic of this paper to Canadians, everyone over the age of thirty responds with brief reminiscences of the national CBC television show, "Don Messer's Jubilee," that ran from 1959 to 1969. They tell of watc.hing with parents, speak of vocalist Charlie Chamberlain's legendary tippling, and recall the swirling folk dances of the Buchta Dancers. Elsewhere I have discussed how this extremely popular show reified the idea of the family entertainment at home (1976, 5). Indeed, during the past decade, 1 several nostalgic plays from the Maritimes have developed this notion. But Messer the fiddler, even though showcased on the screen, tends to get lost in the memories of those who saw only the television show. A full understanding of the meaning Don Messer's music had for Canadians requires a closer look at the man and his art. 2 "The fiddle," says Edith Fowke in Canadian Folklore, "is Canada's pre-eminent folk instrument." In her brief discussion of the strong Scottish and Irish influences across the country, she mentions the Scottish-influ enced styles of Cape Breton and Ontario and the Irish-influenced playing of Quebec. According to Fowke, "a simpler style, stemming from Don 23 24 Canadian Folk Music Journal Vol. 22 Messer's long-running radio program, is widespread in other regions" (64f.). Whether Messer's style is "simpler" is a question for later. But there is no doubt that Messer's radio performances influenced fiddlers all across Canada, creating a national canon of repertoire and performance practice. Fowke and others studying Canadian fiddle music have stressed regional or ethnic distinctiveness (e.g., Proctor; Hogan and Hogan). There are, I think, several reasons for this. First, there is the Canadian tendency to think in terms of a "mosaic" model of national culture. Second, in recent decades folklorists have argued that folk expression is an alternative cul ture, championing the cultural equivalent of ecological and genetic diver sity. Often such advocacy is justified through reference to fears of "massification," "cultural gray-out," "commodification" and the like (e.g., Lomax, 4f.; Narvaez). In analysing the interaction between folk and country music in Canada, I have argued that such fears are at best overstated: the music spread by professionals over the airwaves, on records, and in con certs is never copied completely, and there is a dialectic between popular and folk culture (1987). In the present report, I choose another perspective, one that stresses the power of influence and hegemony in the dialectic. Don Messer's Life and Work Born in 1909 to Margaret and John Messer at their farm near Tweedside, New Brunswick, Don Messer was the youngest of eleven children. 3 As the name suggests, the family had German roots; however, their ancestors had come to Canada in the 19th century from Scotland, where they had resided for several generations. Messer grew up in a rural Scottish-Canadian family. That he learned to play the fiddle at an early age reflects this milieu. As a youth, Messer played at dances and for home entertainments and was acclaimed a good old-time fiddler. At sixteen, in the rnid-1920s, he went to Boston to live at his aunt's boarding house and worked as dishwasher, busboy, window-dresser, and dry goods clerk. This was an extremely com mon move at the time; in fact, southern New England, particularly around Boston, still has extensive communities of Maritimes immigrants. In Boston, Messer learned to drive and listened to the new radio stars. As well, he heard local radio programs by Cape Breton and Irish fiddlers like Alex Gillis and Jerry Tohey.4 During his several years in Boston, Messer also took formal violin lessons. This training was seminal; he was taught to hold and bow the violin in the "proper," classical way, and he learned to read and write music. So while he brought his folk fiddling skills to the big city, they were molded there into something different. Studying the violin was just another part of moving from farm to city, from barter to cash, from the old way to the modern. Around 1929, Messer returned to Canada, settling in Saint John, New Brunswick's largest city. A photo in his scrapbook shows the 20-year-old fiddler in the studio of CFBO (later CHSJ) for his first radio series (Messer Revue de musiquefolklorique canadienne Vol. 22 25 n.d., 1).5 Dressed in suit and tie, and flanked by a second fiddler, pianist, drummer, and banjoist, all similarly dressed in business suits, he is holding the fiddle under his chin in a pose that duplicates the photos at the front of John Craig Kelly's First Lessons on the Violin, the initial book he used in his music studies in Boston.6 During the next decade, Messer would be on and off the air at CHSJ, the Saint John station that became the local CBC outlet. Some of his series were aired nationally; others were regional or local. Meanwhile, Messer travelled throughout the province, playing for dances in small rural commu nities. Band members came and went, some programs having budgets for more musicians than others. By the mid-1930s, two musicians who would remain with him for the rest of his life had joined: bassist Duke Neilson, a circus kid who, as "Julius, the human volcano," sometimes did a fire-eating act at the band's appearances during the 30s, and singer (and sometime guitarist), Charlie Chamberlain, billed as "The Singing Lumberjack." In 1936, the Messer band was selected to help represent New Bruns wick at the annual Sportsmen's Show in Boston. Billed as "Don Messer and the New Brunswick Lumberjacks," they were acclaimed in newspapers and made a number of appearances and radio broadcasts. This success bolstered Messer's reputation in Saint John, and in 1937, after another successful appearance at the Sportsmen's Show, he made his first recording~ for Compo Records of Montreal. Utilizing a unique recording technique, the company recorded selected tunes and songs from Messer's Saint John radio shows directly off the air in Montreal during the summer of 1937. His first 78s appeared that autumn on two labels: the English-language Melotone, and the French-language Starr.7 His national career thus launched, Messer continued on CBC radio in Saint John until early 1939. Later that year, CFCY, the CBC station in Charlottetown, seeking someone to replace an undependable local fiddler, hired Messer. He moved to Charlottetown along with Neilson and Cham berlain and formed a new band. In November, 1939, they began broadcast ing as "Don Messer and his Islanders." In the next three decades, Messer and the Islanders would become Canadian fixtures. They were heard nationally every week on the CBC and, starting in 1942, on Compo's Apex label. From the mid-40s onward, the group made annual national tours in addition to their many appearances in the Maritimes. During World War II, PEl was the site of military training camps, and Halifax, within listening range of CFCY, was the main staging area for European naval traffic. The Islanders' national popularity grew as many young service people heard and saw the group. Messer continued on CBC radio until 1959, the year he began the national CBC television show that ran until1969. Consistently one of the top-rated shows on Canadian TV, its abrupt cancellation in 1969 caused a national furor that reached Parliament. 26 Canadian Folk Music Journal Vol. 22 In 1970, Messer moved to CTV, the principal independent national network. There his syndicated show ran until 1972. In his final years, Messer corresponded with various radio stations about the possibility of establish ing a 15-minute show; this seems to have been his favorite performance medium. In March, 1973, Messer died of a heart attack. Don Messer's Canon Why was Messer successful? First, he was a good musician. More than that, he embodied principles that made him a model for modern Canadian old-time fiddling. His lessons gave him the ability to read music, and he subsequently taught himself how to play backup to accompany singers. He was proud of his access to the world of printed music and, as early as 1933, told reporters of his valuable collection of rare old fiddle-tune manu scripts.8 Guitarist-singer, Mac Doane, a member of one of Messer's early bands, recalled visiting Messer and playing through tune books: He lived up country then, he had a house up country.