2001

Amos "Amy" Jardine

Amos "Amy" Jardine was born in the small settlement of Keenan’s on the bank of the Miramichi River. He was the second of ten children. Music played a big part in his early life. His mother, a teacher, played the piano and taught him to harmonize. A neighbor taught him to play violin – for which he developed a love of. He was only 12, however, when polio robbed him of the use of his right arm and hand and his ability to play stringed instruments.

 

Through the years since that tragedy, he has concentrated on playing harmonica and on promoting young musicians. He still leads and performs with a six man band at dances and with the Cain’s River Rats at special engagements. The Cain’s group has recorded several albums of original materials. Amos also performs with Amy and Friends at many benefits and fundraisers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leo Cormier

Leo Cormier, the sixth in a family of 11 children, was born at Acadieville, a small northern New Brunswick village, in 1946. It is a community that through the years has gained a reputation as a stronghold of traditional Acadian, bluegrass and country music.

 

Leo’s father played harmonica, his mother accordion, and most of Leo’s siblings played musical instruments. Leo mastered an older brother’s guitar and accordion while very young. When he was 12 his father bought him a mandolin, which he soon added to his musical arsenal. Leo’s interest then turned to the fiddle, which became his great passion – he then began borrowing his uncle’s fiddle to learn and to practice on. At 18 he purchased his own fiddle and was soon playing local house parties and dances, becoming a weekly fixture at fiddle jams and concerts around Rogersville. He further honed his skills with various groups throughout the 1990’s.

 

In 1993 he was invited to participate in the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Contest at Nepean, Ontario. Despite the loss of a finger in a workplace accident, in 1997 Leo won the Maritime Open Fiddle Contest, adding it to many New Brunswick titles won in the 90’s.

 

Prior to Leo’s moving to Bathurst in 1991, fiddling had become virtually a dying art in the Chaleur area. He rekindled that flame, and in 1994, founded the Chaleur Fiddlers, causing many former fiddlers to dust off their instruments. Leo recorded his first album in 1997 and a second one in the winter of 2000.

 

 

 

Al Hebert

Al Hebert is only the second person to be elected to the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame because of his work promoting country music through media. Born in 1940 at Bathurst, he began his radio career in 1959 with CKBC Radio – first as a continuity writer – then as host of a daily country music show.

 

In 1966 he was appointed sports director, and in 1970, program director, while continuing to do a full time “on air” shift. He was also station manager for a time.

 

He has received many citations for his work with sports and service clubs. In 1988, he was elected Broadcaster of The Year by the Atlantic Association of Broadcasters.

 

Through most of his broadcast years, Al promoted country music with a weekly radio program called Country Gold.

 

 

 

 

Paul Richard

Paul Richard wwas born in Petit-Rocher and became interested in old-time fiddling while listening to the Don Messer radio programs as a child. By age 11, he was playing at weddings and community gatherings. In the 1950’s and 60’s, while living in Montreal, he performed in clubs with a five-piece band. He returned to Petit-Rocher in 1967 where he accepted a teaching position and formed another five-piece group that performed regularly through the area.

 

For the past 20 years he has taught violin, using the Suzuki method, to students of all ages while continuing to play for patients in hospitals and senior’s complexes. He formed the popular fiddling group, Les Violons de la Cote Nord (the North Shore Fiddlers) in 1976 and now leads a group of 15 or more fiddlers and accompanist in playing old-time jigs, reels and waltzes at weekly senior’s club dances. He has performed at many leading New Brunswick venues during his long career, either as a solo act of with bands.

 

 

 

 

Aldric "Al" Goguen

Al was born in Rogersville. He inherited a love of music and his ability to perform from his parents. His father played the fiddle at dances and weddings while his mother was active as a church organist. After mastering his first instrument – the piano accordion – Al learned to play many other instruments by ear. It was his passion and talent for guitar, however that forged his professional music career. Al left his music studies at St. Joseph’s College to join the Merchant Marines during the Second World War.

 

After the war, Al played with many popular New Brunswick bands including Earl Mitton and the Valley Rhythm Boys and The Diamond Trio. He also performed with such renowned artists at June Eikhard and Marg Osbourne. Al’s music career ended in the 1980’s, although he continued to play at family gatherings.