Michael Taft Department of Folklore Memorial University of Newfoundland St

"THAT IS TWO MORE COLURS1I : JIMMY LINEGAg lS SUCCESS WITH COUNTRY ~USICIN NEWFOUNDUND~ Michael Taft Department of Folklore Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John' s , Newf oundla~d The island of Newfoundland is separated from mainland North America by more than just water. Its unique culture acts as a barrier and a filter for all mainland influences, while, at the same time, inhibiting or distorting the cultural flow from the island to the mainland. For this reason significant cultural events on the island often niake little or no impact on the rest of North. America, nor are those who greatly shape and influence the island culture -- those vhose names are recognized by all Newfoundlanders -- known off the island. The island's best known ente-tainers are recognized -only on the island (unless they venture to the mainland); a.singer or musician can, in fact, be a 'celebrity within the island's boundaries and a nonentity only 90 miles away on the mainland. Perhaps this is not too different from the phenomenon of a small-town or local cormnuni.ty entertainer who remains a celebrity within the area where he is known. But Nexfoundland is not a small town -- it is a very large island (41,000 square miles) with a half-million population scattered in a handful of towns, hundreds of coastal villages (known as outports), and one city, St. Johnrs. Therefore, the task of beconing a well-known entertainer in Newfoundland, and of maintaining that position, presents several problerris xhich are unique to this area. The performer's problem of establishing his name in the island community involves both a great deal of personal interaction with his qudience (or potentizl audie~lco)and the correct manipulation of the island's media. He must be aware of the influence of Newfoundland~str2,ditional culture on the expectations of his audience and, at the same time, recognize the influence of mainland culture on the island's traditions. Keeping in mind the balance between island traditions and mainland cultural influences, the entertainer must have a repertoire 1; either takes advantage of this balance by being highly eclectic -- i.e., including everything from traditional jigs, reels, and ballads to rock and roll -- or which concentrates on a particular kind of music, either traditional or popular, that accentuates one aspect of tine cultural conflict between the island and the mainland. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, it was country and western music which, in the minds of many Newfoundlanders, represented the incursion of mainland culture to the island. Any entertainer who sang country and western songs would, therefore, represent a symbol of change, upward mobility, progress -- i. e ,, mainland culture. Jimmy Linegar, a country and western singer and musician, is one entertainer whose success stopped at the border of Newfoundland. .4lthollgh he spent many years on the mainland, it is only in Nerifoucdland that he is still'widely known. The story of how he started out in country music and how he eventually became an island-wide celebrity illustrates~~~.--5:" problems encountered in "making it" in Nswfoundland country music. Discovering Country Music -3 m--- --.z?--= -- -.- 2- Jimmy Linegar bas born on February 4, 1936, the third oldest in a family of seven boys and th~eegirls, but it would be a mistake to think that he was born with a guitar in his hand or that he was steeped in country music from childhood, Both his parents and his older brother played traditional music on the button accordian and entertained at (the Newfoundland name for housz parties) but their repertoires did not include country music. In fact uiitil the age of thirteen, Jimmy had little contact or interest in country and western music. Hank Snow, the Canadian country performer from Nova Scotia who was among the most popular country singers in North America in the 1940s and 1950~~toured NewfoundLand in 1949, but his impact on Linegar at that time was minimal: - - - In 1949, xihat would I have been? I would have been thirteen, At that time, no I never had heard of Hank Snow. I do recal'l something about a big famous singer being in to~m,but at the time big famous singers meant notling nore to me than, uh, a game of ball in the p3r!(, 2 Although he was born and lived on the ou5.skirts of St. John's, and therefore had the benefit of being near the cultural center of the island, he could not take full advantage of this because of his familyls poor financial background, For example, most of the time Jimmy's family did not have possession of a vorking radio: .. .m usod to get chezp radios, $5 radios, second-hand. A tube would give out and it wo.uldnlt be worthwhile to replace the tube. So for long periods of time, we Id havz no radio. For this reasion, Jiray could not have. .been greatly influenced by the music of St. John's four full-time radio stations (VOCM-,CJON, CBC, and VOUS), and, of cours3, television was nonexistent in Newfoundland until a much later date, fie was, in effect, more cut off from the influences of th.e xedia than many of those who lived in the small isolated outports far from the city. However, around the year 1949, several events in Linegarb life led to the start of his interest and ultimately his career in counkry music. At this time his family acquired a wind-up gramophone: ...the swnd came out through the arm or something. Urn, there 1:as a needle stuck 2own and a little voice box or something up abovz it. The sound seemed to come out thro-:gh that, and she -r~irnrn~ls mothe;.;! - paid about $5 for that and maybe half a d.ozen ~scords. Among these records rms on3 by an obscure Cailadian country performer called Alberta It vas this rccori: that sparked Jimmyts interest enough to make him cant to s.ing : I donrt sqpose many psople woulc! reccll Alberta Slim, but he had a nice soft - \)ice and., uh, I like the songs he did, 1 can't recall the op?osit,c sids, but the, the one I liked xost of all was, ull, It?'r.~oLittle Eyes That Shine .I1 And I 1.c2.rncd to ~inzit. As i'f to rsinforce Jimmyfs intc?~.est,Alberta Slim cans to St. John's in 1949, not to sicg, but to whibit his -tyair.ed animals: He ~2swit:i the Zill Lynch Circus,. .and he had a horse 'narr.,~dSitbz. He cal!-ed it ,o.n educatcd hc~se. I rerner,iS~--?szc!-;lg 'kLir,l,. -E.:3 uycd ta 2sk Kitten to 2.dd up how $uch is t:;o 21-~lt:lr=.e: ?lid h: l d 21.213 Kitten five . t.imcs and he'd say, l:Or~,two, threc, four, five,'l Well now each tiye he'd sl;l~:,;i-itt?n, Kit'xn was trained to lift his foo-t '- ; paw t'?c ri*07~~1. Despite his ii4s~~~ol:.nt,rr,~~tin r_nt hn, rlrinz Lllbzrtz Slim sing, this event was nevertheless inportant to Lirizgar, for it w~sthe first time he had a chance to see a tlfamousl: cz~~l-:ltrysliigcr in percon, Jimmy was fcl-tun~tc in that TOT Hc?yi?rard, 2. losd semi-professional singer, was a friend of ths far~il~.~klen Eenk Sno~~rcma to St. John's in 1949, Hayward mst a~citallred with hin bzlrcstage. S~~.bsequently,it was Hayward who introd-~s:: Jinxy to thz music of hot12 Hank Snow and ljilf Carter -- another CanndLai artist fro~NOT? Scotia (knorm ~.!.so as I~T~ntanaslim) who was popular tl?roughLoutLTo rth I\.rncrica at that time : .,.hz happened to be the first p?rson to ever come into ollr houce :rith a. guitar aad sins zome iianlc Snow songs a~dWilf Carter songs. And he actuzlly Let me hold the guitzr. And uh, this is, uh, my first start at knowing that there bT?.z, ~kl, sorel~cdbrby the nxre of Hank Snow ar_d ~orrch~dybg ths n;,r1;,3 of Nilf Czr-kr, Bzcause this m2n szng tkir so~zs, This was also Jirxyls first closc: confrct with a local celebrity who represented mainlxd cu-lture tl~rovzl?the sonLs 02 S:iow and Carter. Linegar did rot a??rcciate Cartor zt that tire, but he was very impressed with Had; Snmis sorzs, 2n< it, war ~t _l-o:lg %for2 he had found some Snow recordings to ple;r on thz grm;;?hone. Oiice Jl;mjr actually heard Snow sing, Sno~rrcplaccd Nbzrlca Slip as hS-s i'z-vorite artist. In all the years since that tizis, S~c1r.rhas mm2in-d JS nrn:-f~ ;?.inrite singer, and he consciou~lypttc-n- hi:: singing c'ter Sncw c: style. The next step in Jimmy's progression was acquiring a guitar. After his "great awakening" to country music in 1949, it is not surprising that by early-19% *he had his first guitar: It was a Pglm 2zach guitar with the trees, green trees, painted on the face of it. -r1t was bought7- for a five dol1.ar bill. This guitar was not to 1-ast very long. His older brother took it apart to use the neck for a cigar-box banjo. However, a succession of guitars followed this -- a Hersel Minerva bought for $7.00, a May Bell for $12.00, an I,-C Gibson (now considered a rare model) for $25.00, a J-4s Gibson *for $60.00, a D-18 Nartin for $1h0.00 -- until, on February 14, 1953, Jimmy was able to purchase a new D-28 Martin for $282.50.

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