Thursday, 13 October — Whycocomagh

I got up just before 9h to an overcast and cool (+11 (52)) morning and drove to Judique for the instructor’s cèilidh there. The Whycocomagh Port Hood Road survived the storm better than I expected, but the stretch from Stewartdale to the Indian River bridge was pretty rough. Under the day’s grey skies, it was hard to tell the state of the colours, especially as a lot of trees were stripped bare; they struck me as at or slightly past peak, but were mostly oranges and yellows with a few pastel reds, but no brilliant reds other than the occasional small tree. The first really brilliant reds I saw were just down the Whycocomagh Port Hood Road from its junction with the Glencoe Road in Glencoe Mills—I detoured just to take their picture. It wasn’t obvious whether there would be more such reds later or not. Near Judique, the sun came out enough to cast weak shadows, but it was still a pretty grey day.

Today’s instructors’ cèilidh kicked off with Kevin Levesconte on fiddle and Allan Dewar on keyboard. When the Buddy MacMaster School of Fiddling students and their instructors arrived, Troy MacGillivray on fiddle with Allan on keyboard gave us some grand sets of tunes, during which Marie Arsenault Livingstone (from PEI), Mats Melin (from Sweden but now living in Ireland), and Mary-Janet MacDonald step danced—fabulous dancers all! Liz Doherty on fiddle with Allan on keyboard played more fine sets, after which the instructors and their students returned to their classrooms. My notes don’t say, but I think I remember that Kevin came back on stage and played with Allan. I left about 14h, after having a good chat with Mats.

When I got outside, the day had improved considerably; it was at least partly sunny and now +18 (64). Since I was going to return to the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre for dinner later, I decided to take a spin around the area looking for photo opportunities, so I first headed south to Centennial Road, which I drove to its end; I found some, but not much colour there, and a newly gravelled surface that had suffered bad erosion from Monday’s storm in spots. I turned around and then turned down MacLean Road, where I found some individual trees had changed, but not otherwise a lot of colour; after passing the General Line Road, MacLean Road becomes the Chisholm Road, where there is often good colour on the hills to the south and east, but they were still unchanged for the most part. I drove back north on Highway 19 and, in Judique South, turned onto the Campbell Road, where I found some colour at a sharp bend about 2.5 km (1½ mi) from Highway 19; at that point, one has gained enough altitude that one can see St Georges Bay from the road. I continued on another 700 m (⅖ mi), but the road had suffered enough storm damage that I turned around instead of going on down to the bridge over the Graham River as I had planned (beyond that bridge, Campbell Road, which continues on to Rear Judique South on the River Denys Road, becomes undriveable for my Prius). I returned to Highway 19 and drove north to the Hillsdale Road at the southern edge of Judique North. Once over the hill and descending into Lower Hillsdale, I found colours again, but mostly oranges, brick reds, and yellows. I stopped at the bridge over the Judique Intervale Brook in Lower Hillsdale, still flowing smartly, for photos. Beyond the bridge, the road had really bad puddles and had also suffered erosion from Monday’s storm; I should have turned around at the bridge: between Lower Hillsdale and Hillsdale going up the hill by the house with the school bus in the yard, I hit my bumper, although it seemed to have suffered no damage, and there was neither sun nor good colours on this stretch of the road. In Hillsdale, where I turned towards Judique on the Rear Intervale Road, the sun was fickle, but I caught its last glimmers at the bridge over the Judique Intervale Brook, where I stopped again for photos. By the time I got up the Gussieville Road, with its often fine views of the Judique littoral reaching as far as Henry Island, I had lost the sun. After regaining Highway 19, I drove out the Shore Road as far as McKays Point, where I turned around, but took no photos as there was no sun. I then drove back to the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre for the pork chop dinner, where I enjoyed grand music by Troy and Allan along with my delicious food. Not wanting to navigate the Whycocomagh Port Hood Road again, I then drove back to Whycocomagh via Highway 19 and the Trans-Canada Highway and got ready for tonight’s concert in Baddeck.

As readers of these posts know well, I’m not a great fan of “band” music, so my choice of the Celtic Pub show tonight at the Inverary Resort in Baddeck merits some explanation. Beòlach, with two fiddles, pipes/whistles, keyboard, and guitar surely qualifies as a “band”, but their music has always struck me as perfectly traditional Cape Breton music, and, played with verve to perfection, it cannot fail to enthral even me. Of the other bands that have come along since, only two, Còig and the East Pointers, both with deep roots in traditional Scottish music but, especially in the case of the East Pointers, often significantly evolved away from it, have taken my fancy; both were on the bill at tonight’s show and I took advantage of the opportunity to see them both again.

It was the first time I had ever been at the Inverary Resort and, after dark, I found the signage too minimal on their large campus to know where to go or to park and, unlike most concerts, no one was there to direct traffic to the parking area. Driving around, I finally located an empty parking spot and set off on foot to find the venue. Luckily, I was not far away, as it turned out, and found a huge conference hall set up with tables, each seating eight to ten people and most of which were already occupied when I arrived well before 19h; since this was a “pub” night, bar service was available to those who wanted it. I found an open seat about halfway back from the stage and waited for the concert to begin. Emceed by a Mr MacAulay, whose first name I didn’t get, it opened with Buddy MacDonald, substituting for the sick Darrell Keigan, on guitar; Rachel Davis on fiddle; and Darren McMullen on mandolin or bouzouki. Buddy gave us seven selections, all songs, including Bright Blue Rose, Down Where the River Flows, Islanders, and Nobody Home, accompanied by Rachel and Darren except for the third song, which was done a cappella. Next up were Fin Moore on bellows pipes, Sarah Hoy on fiddle, and Mike Vass on guitar. They began with a set of tunes none of which I recognized and followed it up with the Galician set from last night and Angus G MacLeod from two nights ago; Fin on highland bagpipes with Mike on guitar gave us a great set; switching back to bellows pipes and with Sarah joining in again, they gave us a march and reels; their final set featured Sarah on solo fiddle playing a slow strathspey and then joined by Fin and Mike for a finale of fast tunes. (This was the fourth night in a row I had seen Fin, Sarah, and Mike, and, although I did not realize this would be the case when I made out the schedule, I have no complaints—they make for a very fine trio indeed.)

After the break, Còig, now a quattuor instead of the original quintet that was responsible for its Gaelic name, was introduced: Rachel Davis on fiddle and vocals, Chrissy Crowley on fiddle, Jason Roach on keyboard, and Darren McMullin on banjo/mandolin/bouzouki/guitar. With Darren on banjo, they first gave us a brand new set of jigs they’d arranged this week. Rachel then sang Down the Road, accompanied by Darren on guitar and later joined by Chrissy and Jason. Next was a fine instrumental set from their Christmas CD, Carols, with Darren on banjo, ending with a nameless reel written by Kimberley Fraser and Koady Chaisson; the whole set epitomized what I so like about this group—it was just plain fun to listen to! They then taught the audience the chorus to a Gaelic milling song, which they sang for us, with Darren on bouzouki and Mike Vass joining the group on fiddle providing instrumental interludes between the verses. Their last number was a great blast o’ tunes that earned the group a partial standing ovation. Tim Chaisson on fiddle and stomp box, Koady Chaisson on banjo, and Jake Charron on guitar form the East Pointers (named for PEI’s East Point near Souris, though Jake is originally from Ontario); with only three members, the East Pointers is small for a “band”, but their manic playing is as full-bodied as that of any larger group and their sound is unquestionably that of a band. Koady led off their first set with fantastic picking on banjo, while Tim’s amazing coördination in simultaneously playing a blazing fiddle and keeping perfect time on the stomp box was on full display; unfortunately, this number was badly marred by first Jake and then Tim encouraging the audience to clap along, which overlays and obscures their music and adds nothing (no audience can really keep proper time with these guys)—if there is to be clapping, which I detest, it should come from the audience and not be solicited from the stage, a sign they’ve attended too many folk festivals where this is the norm. I was unable to detect much of a break between their first and second selections, but there was a change in the music. They next sang Blaine’s Laughing Eyes, a sad anthem that is one of their regular numbers. Another frenzied instrumental set followed, with an introduction by Koady talking over the fiddle and guitar that I couldn’t make out. Next was a song with Tim on lead and backed by the other two that I hadn’t heard before, in which Koady’s banjo sounded like a tambourine. Koady and Jake began their next number with a nice banjo/guitar duet at a refreshingly slow tempo, which Tim joined later on fiddle, and then segued into more usual East Pointers fare, constantly increasing speed and ending with break-neck fast playing from all three, leading to a partial standing ovation at the end; a guy and two gals from the audience got up and danced near the stage during this set. Their last set begin with Tim strumming his fiddle like a guitar and Jake clapping on stage again and continued with some very fine guitar playing from Jake, accompanied by Tim and Koady, that Koady then led on banjo to a barnburner of a conclusion for their performance and a full standing ovation at its end. Three amazingly talented musicians! The finale featured all of the evening’s performers: Fin on bellows pipes; Darren and Koady on banjo; Jason on keyboard; Jake on guitar; and the rest on fiddles. Koady and Darren played a banjo duet with Jake on guitar; the fiddlers then came in and then Fin, with Jason accompanying the very high-energy tunes that closed out the evening, with a blonde lady step dancing near the stage. It was a very fine concert indeed, but I had definitely sated my modest taste for “band” music for this year.

I regained the car in light rain and mist, where the car’s thermometer registered +14 (57); I was back at the motel in Whycocomagh by 23h and went promptly to bed.