The Sounds of Nova Scotia Volume 1
John Allan Cameron was playing pipe tunes on the 12 string guitar in the 1960's. He was a lone voice for the Celtic tradition, touring the country and, with his own television show, became a household name in Canada. Today, 10 albums and 27 years later, he is still going strong.The Garrison Brothers made their first public appearance in Boston in 1974 and continued to entertain audiences in the US and Canada until they disbanded in the early 80's. The group's featured instrumentalist and vocalist was Kevin Evans, now a member of the folk duo Evans and Doherty who continue to be a popular presence on the Atlantic Canadian music scene.The Rankins have had tremendous commercial and critical success in the past eight years since the group recorded its second independent album, the platinum-selling smashFare Thee Well Love. The group has won four Juno awards and a dozen East Coast Music Awards. In 1985, before The Rankins became a full time performing group, Raylene Rankin appeared in the popular music and comedy production The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton and introduced the moving and anthemic ballad "Rise Again", written by the show's musical director Leon Dubinsky. The Rankins were to record it later on their 1993 album 'North Country', but many still prefer the show version which is included on this compilation. The Follies was succeeded by a similar show, The Cape Breton Summertime Revue, which, in 1987, included Heather and Cookie Rankin in the cast.Born in Big Pond, Cape Breton, Rita MacNeil recorded her first album, Born A Woman, in 1975, the first of three recorded independently. Her major label debut came in 1987 withFlying On Her Ownon Virgin Records. She is the only female singer ever to have three albums in Australia's Top 100 in the same year. In 1990 she sold more records in Canada than Garth Brooks and Clint Black. In 1991 she was invited to play at Royal Albert Hall in London, England. In 1992 she was named a member of the Order of Canada by then Governor-General Ray Hnatyshyn. In the mid-1990's, MacNeil hosted Rita & Friends, her own CBC television show.Howie MacDonald has been a self-employed, full-time musician for the past ten years. His lively Cape Breton style of fiddling has entertained audiences across Canada, The United States, The United Kingdom, and Australia. In addition to being a well-respected musician in his own right, Howie has toured extensively with The Rankin Family for the past eight years, appearing on all six of their recordings, touring, and television performances.Miller's Jug has been a mainstay on the Atlantic Canadian pub circuit for well over a decade. Their rousing renditions of Maritime folk songs and other traditional favourites can be found on two album releases,The Nova Scotia AlbumandHeritage.Matt Minglewood has been performing across Canada for the past 30 years. His blues rock sound is unique and firmly rooted in his Cape Breton mining town upbringing. For many years he performed with vocalist Sam Moon in the legendary band Moon, Minglewood And The Universal Power. With the break-up of that entity, Minglewood created his own band and released a self-titled independent album in 1976. In 1979 he was signed to RCA and almost all his albums sold 50,000 copies before switching to CBS in 1982. In 1984 Minglewood went solo and signed to Savannah Records and released his debut albumMe And The Boysin 1985. The title track was the first single/video and had a cover version remade by American Charlie Daniels. By August of 1986 he was nominated for a Country Music Award for 'Album of The Year'. CARAS would soon nominate Minglewood as its 'Country Male Vocalist Of The Year'.Les Tymeux de la Baie, now disbanded, was an energetic Acadian band based out of their home region of Clare in Nova Scotia. Led by singer and songwriter Herbert LeBlanc, this group was popular for years on the folk festival circuit.John Gracie was born in Glace Bay, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and is a two time winner of the East Coast Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year award. He is a singer and songwriter of folk, country, and adult contemporary music and has hosted and/or appeared on international radio and television programs including specials on CBC, CTV, Global, The Nashville Network and the US Fox Network. John has performed his music around the globe including Japan, throughout Europe, across Canada and the United States and Bermuda and has released three albums.Growing up in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, the Barra MacNeils were exposed to Cape Breton traditional music at a young age. They began playing professionally in the early 1980's and recorded three independent albums before signing with PolyGram. The band also won the Roots/Traditional Artist Category at the East Coast Music Awards. In 1996 the Barra MacNeils won Pop-Rock Artists of the Year and in 1997 they were nominated for Group of the Year as well as Entertainer of the Year.Singer/actress Catherine McKinnon was, in the mid-60's, a regular on "Singalong Jubilee", "Don Messer's Jubilee" and "Music Hop" (all for CBC-TV). She had a Canadian hit with Buffy Saint-Marie's "Until It's Time For You To Go" in 1966, and got her own program on CTV in 1970-71. Her career began in folk music - her first and biggest selling album,Voice Of An Angel, was a collection of folk material - but she turned to nightclubs in the 1970's, adding ballads and torch songs along with works by such notables as Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell.