The Folk

This is the story of two families, from opposite sides of North America, with two totally different lives, who intertwined in some very interesting ways. The first is The Carter Family from Virginia, considered one of the founding families of Americana, whose recordings from the early 1900s influenced countless listeners. The second is The Romaniuk Family, an unknown family band from the foothills of Alberta. This episode investigates both The Carter and Romaniuk families, from their early beginnings, to their eventual meeting, and how an unheard-of cover band from Alberta came to be involved with one of the greatest musical groups of the 20th century.

Is folk music still folk music if you play it on an electric instrument? Well, is a road still a road if it goes from dirt to pavement? In the late 1950s, a Métis-Cree musician named Elsie Justis moved to a very remote area in the Northwest Territories, that did not have any roads, and brought an electric guitar with her. This episode introduces Justis and her music, and how music travels and comes to be in remote places.

Perhaps no other region has produced more fiddle players and fiddle recordings, per person and per square inch, than a tiny island on the northern most tip of Nova Scotia, called Cape Breton. Of the thousands upon thousands of top-tier fiddlers that have come from the island, one person time and time again is named the region's very best, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald. This episode investigates the life and music of Fitzgerald: the rough-and-tumble surroundings that inspired his style of playing, the record deals that sank despite favourable sales and popularity, and his love of drink that lasted a lifetime.

What if I told you I had a story to tell that no one has ever heard before? A folk story that I find fascinating. A story about music that happened many years ago. A story that happened in your own backyard. Would you wanna hear that story?