Ned Landry Fiddling legend Ned Landry was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1921. As a boy, he taught himself to play the violin and harmonica, and it was as a harmonica player that he first performed, at the age of 12, on Don Messer's CHSJ radio showBackwoods Breakdown. After placing second in CBS Radio's Major Bowes' Amateur Hour talent show in New York City, he became the first old-time fiddler to appear on television in Boston. These appearances led to a recording contract with RCA Victor, which released the first of eight albums they would put out under Landry's name in 1955. Landry, who also won the "open" class of the 1956, 1957, and 1962 Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers' Contests, also recorded albums for Arc, MMC, Afton, Prime Time and his own Landry label, and made frequent appearances throughout the 1950's and '60's on CFCB Radio in Saint John and the CBC television variety show Don Messer's Jubilee as leader of the Maritime Farmers and his own band, The New Brunswick Lumberjacks. Landry is listed here as a member of the Maritime Fiddlers Association, so it would appear as though he's still alive and fiddling at the age of 85. In addition to Landry, this album features Bill Gibbs on bass, Rolly Chambers on rhythm guitar and Bill Bartlett on drums. The highlight is definitely "Hillbilly Calypso", which marries a groovy beat pushed along by bass and bongos to a mid-tempo reel. "Red Wing" I like because sections of the melody sound a lot (i.e. exactly) like "American Patrol", an F.W. Meacham military tune that dates back to 1885 and was popularized by Glenn Miller (although my favourite version is by James Last). And "Soldier's Joy", possibly the most popular fiddle tune of all time, has been recorded by dozens of groups, including the 1920's-era Georgia band The Skillet Lickers, who added the lyrics "Well twenty-five cents for the morphine, and fifteen cents for the beer. Twenty-five cents for the old morphine, now carry me away from here!" Hillbilly Calypso Red Wing Soldier's Joy The man with the fiddle covered a lot of territory, and a lot of record labels during his career. This LP, "Me And My Fiddle" came out on RCA (though for the life of me, I'll never understand why record labels never printed a year on albums, it makes it very frustrating!). As usual, Ned's song selections take us from the soft on-the-road sadness of songs like the Blue Canadian Rockies, clear to the rock-and-roll vibe of The Western Twist. The Blue Canadian Rockies, an oft-covered song, is about as melancholy as you would expect a country fiddler to get Rubber Dolly is about as "country" as you would expect a country fiddler to get The Western Twist is about as "rock and roll" as you would expect a country fiddler to get