Stringband
Encyclopedia
Stringband was a Canadian
folk music
ensemble, fronted by Bob Bossin and Marie-Lynn Hammond. Founded in 1971, Stringband recorded four studio albums between 1973 and 1978, and was an active touring ensemble through 1986. Passing through Stringband's ranks at various times were Ben Mink
, Terry King, Zeke Mazurek, Calvin Cairns, Dennis Nichol, Jerry Lewycky, and Nancy Ahern.
The group pioneered independent recording and artist-controlled album releases in Canada, and was noted for songs that explored Canadian themes, often with a humorous bent. No Stringband songs became commercial hits, though several became widely known, most notably "Dief Will Be the Chief Again
", Bossin's tongue-in-cheek tribute to former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
. As well, Stringband's feminist anthem "Show Us The Length" became an international, underground "hit", despite having little airplay due to its explicit language.
(b. 1948 in Montreal) and Bob Bossin, (b. 1946 in Toronto), along with violinist Jerry Lewycky. The name "String Band" was a common appellation amongst folk groups, usually with an identifying characteristic or location attached, as with the Incredible String Band
or The Iron Mountain String Band. The group chose "Stringband" as a temporary place-holder name until they could figure out exactly what sort of String Band they were—but a "first name" for Stringband never materialized, and so the unmodified name "Stringband" stuck.
Stringband initially played in Ontario coffeehouses and universities, later touring across Canada and internationally. The group was singularly activist among Canadian bands, performing frequently for anti-war, environmental and other causes.
Their first album, Canadian Sunset (1973), was released independently on their own 'Nick Records' label, and through aggressive promotion and constant gigging, managed to scrape into the RPM Canadian album charts, peaking at #97. Lewycky left after this album, and was replaced by Ben Mink.
Stringband's second album, National Melodies (1975), contained two of their best-known songs, "Dief Will Be The Chief Again", and the risque "Show Us The Length". Bossin attempted to shop the album to several Canadian labels, but they all passed, as they felt that the record had little commercial potential (and no commercial potential outside Canada). However, Al Mair of Attic Records
took the time to explain to Bossin and Hammond that they could actually make more money selling a few thousand copies of the album on their own label than they could selling 10,000 albums on someone else's. Bossin took the advice to heart, and Stringband remained a totally independent band, with all their original releases being issued on Bossin's Nick Records imprint.
Mink left the band after National Melodies to join Murray McLauchlan
's band (and later, the experimental progressive rock band FM
). However, Mink would return to the group's orbit in later years to produce and mix projects by Stringband, as well as solo material by Hammond. Mink was replaced by new violinist Terry King.
Thanks To The Following (1977), Stringband's third album, was financed by advance subscription orders from fans of the group. These subscribers and investors' names appear on the LP's front cover.
, and a 'best-of' compilation called Stringband Revisited was issued. This is the only Stringband material not issued on the Nick Records label.
Meanwhile, Bossin recruited singer-songwriter Nancy Ahern as a replacement for Hammond—but at Hammond's insistence, this trio was not initially allowed to bill themselves as Stringband.
Bossin's solution was to bill the trio as Whilom Stringband, "whilom" being an archaic word for 'former'. Nevertheless, by the time of the group's fourth and final studio LP (1978's The Maple Leaf Dog), the "Whilom" had been dropped, and the Ahern/Bossin/King line-up issued the LP simply as Stringband. The Maple Leaf Dog was produced by ex-Stringband member Ben Mink. Daniel Lanois
, later to be a world-renowned producer, was an engineer and session musician on the album.
In 1979, Ahern and King both left the group, drawing to a close the era of Stringband being a full-time group.
Stringband continued to play gigs on a steady part-time basis through 1986. Calvin Cairns replaced Mazurek on fiddle just prior to a 1983 tour of the Soviet Union
; a live concert recording from this tour was issued on cassette as Across Russia By Stage later that year.
After a series of gigs at Vancouver's Expo '86 Stringband effectively dissolved, with Hammond and Bossin electing to concentrate on their solo careers. Bossin has continued to record on Nick Records, Hammond on her own label.
's Stuart McLean
, a big fan of the group. In addition to some reunion concerts, the group recorded 4 new songs for The Indispensable Stringband, a CD box set of 46 of their recordings. This compilation was released on Nick in 2002, and was funded with $25,000 contributed by friends and fans. The line-up for the new tracks was Bossin, Hammond, Cairns, Nichol and
Stringband most recently reunited in Toronto in January 2007. The occasion was a benefit for Hammond, whose eyesight was damaged in a riding accident in 2006.
"They were not the first to write about Canada," writes Gary Cristall in his history of Stringband, "Stompin’ Tom Connors and a host of regional writers had been doing that for years... But Stringband went further. Bob researched his songs like they were books. He made them sound simple, but underneath, they were complex pieces of art, not ditties. Bob’s songs were humane, evocative and literate, welding together sentiment, history and landscape as few songwriters have done.
"Marie-Lynn brought to her songs a contemporary feminist voice, one that predated what, in the late 1970s would be called “women’s music”... These songs are some of the best stories of women’s lives written anywhere. If Bob, like a ventriloquist, projected his voice into his characters, Marie-Lynn used her talent like a ouija board to tap into the past and bring to life women who never got to tell their stories."
Looking back over Stringband's career in 2001, writer and broadcaster Stuart McLean wrote, "Like Gordon Lightfoot or Monique Leyrac, like Margaret Atwood or Robertson Davies, Stringband made you proud to be Canadian. They skated through the coffee houses and concert halls with the grace of Bobby Orr and the passion of Rocket Richard."
Cristall concludes: "[Theirs] is a story of victory against the odds; of how an intrepid band of dissidents confronted the dominance of foreign mercenaries to carve out a niche for homegrown music. It is the story of two important creative talents who disliked each other upon first meeting and proceeded to work together for the next two decades, battling behind the scenes while, on stage, they delighted hundreds of thousands of listeners from Tuktoyaktuk to Toronto, Mexico City to Moscow. Stringband laid down the roots of independent recording in Canada; they inspired scores if not hundreds of musicians, and they left behind a dozen of the best songs ever written in this country."
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ensemble, fronted by Bob Bossin and Marie-Lynn Hammond. Founded in 1971, Stringband recorded four studio albums between 1973 and 1978, and was an active touring ensemble through 1986. Passing through Stringband's ranks at various times were Ben Mink
Ben Mink
Ben Mink is a Canadian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer.Born of Polish parents, Mink was raised in Toronto Ontario. He got his start performing with the rock/country group Mary-Lou Horner, which became the house band at bar and nightclub....
, Terry King, Zeke Mazurek, Calvin Cairns, Dennis Nichol, Jerry Lewycky, and Nancy Ahern.
The group pioneered independent recording and artist-controlled album releases in Canada, and was noted for songs that explored Canadian themes, often with a humorous bent. No Stringband songs became commercial hits, though several became widely known, most notably "Dief Will Be the Chief Again
Dief Will Be the Chief Again
Dief Will Be the Chief Again was a 1975 song by the Canadian folk band Stringband. A "tongue in jowl" tribute to former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, the song was briefly popular in Canada when it premiered...
", Bossin's tongue-in-cheek tribute to former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
. As well, Stringband's feminist anthem "Show Us The Length" became an international, underground "hit", despite having little airplay due to its explicit language.
Founding and early years (1971-1977)
The band was founded in Toronto in 1971 by the core duo of Marie-Lynn HammondMarie-Lynn Hammond
Marie-Lynn Hammond is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, broadcaster and playwright. Born in Montreal to a Franco-Ontarian mother and an Anglo-Quebecer father, she is fluently bilingual and writes and performs material in both English and French.She began her career as a founder of the folk music...
(b. 1948 in Montreal) and Bob Bossin, (b. 1946 in Toronto), along with violinist Jerry Lewycky. The name "String Band" was a common appellation amongst folk groups, usually with an identifying characteristic or location attached, as with the Incredible String Band
Incredible String Band
The Incredible String Band were a psychedelic folk band formed in Scotland in 1966. The band built a considerable following, especially within British counterculture, before splitting up in 1974...
or The Iron Mountain String Band. The group chose "Stringband" as a temporary place-holder name until they could figure out exactly what sort of String Band they were—but a "first name" for Stringband never materialized, and so the unmodified name "Stringband" stuck.
Stringband initially played in Ontario coffeehouses and universities, later touring across Canada and internationally. The group was singularly activist among Canadian bands, performing frequently for anti-war, environmental and other causes.
Their first album, Canadian Sunset (1973), was released independently on their own 'Nick Records' label, and through aggressive promotion and constant gigging, managed to scrape into the RPM Canadian album charts, peaking at #97. Lewycky left after this album, and was replaced by Ben Mink.
Stringband's second album, National Melodies (1975), contained two of their best-known songs, "Dief Will Be The Chief Again", and the risque "Show Us The Length". Bossin attempted to shop the album to several Canadian labels, but they all passed, as they felt that the record had little commercial potential (and no commercial potential outside Canada). However, Al Mair of Attic Records
Attic Records (Canada)
Attic Records was a Canadian independent record label, founded in 1974 by Alexander Mair and Tom Williams. The label was known for developing Canadian talent, including Anvil, Lee Aaron, Maestro Fresh Wes, The Nylons, Teenage Head, and Triumph...
took the time to explain to Bossin and Hammond that they could actually make more money selling a few thousand copies of the album on their own label than they could selling 10,000 albums on someone else's. Bossin took the advice to heart, and Stringband remained a totally independent band, with all their original releases being issued on Bossin's Nick Records imprint.
Mink left the band after National Melodies to join Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan, CM is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.-Biography:Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old...
's band (and later, the experimental progressive rock band FM
FM (Canadian band)
FM is a progressive rock band from Toronto, Canada which existed from 1976 to 1996, with a brief return in 2006, although they had a period of inactivity between 1989 and 1994. Their music has been categorized as space rock, and lyrics are dominated by science fiction themes...
). However, Mink would return to the group's orbit in later years to produce and mix projects by Stringband, as well as solo material by Hammond. Mink was replaced by new violinist Terry King.
Thanks To The Following (1977), Stringband's third album, was financed by advance subscription orders from fans of the group. These subscribers and investors' names appear on the LP's front cover.
Hammond leaves; "Whilom" Stringband era (1978-1979)
Hammond left Stringband at the very end of 1977 to establish a solo career. Early the following year, Stringband licensed several tracks to CBC RecordsCBC Records
CBC Records is a Canadian record label, owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances in album and digital format....
, and a 'best-of' compilation called Stringband Revisited was issued. This is the only Stringband material not issued on the Nick Records label.
Meanwhile, Bossin recruited singer-songwriter Nancy Ahern as a replacement for Hammond—but at Hammond's insistence, this trio was not initially allowed to bill themselves as Stringband.
Bossin's solution was to bill the trio as Whilom Stringband, "whilom" being an archaic word for 'former'. Nevertheless, by the time of the group's fourth and final studio LP (1978's The Maple Leaf Dog), the "Whilom" had been dropped, and the Ahern/Bossin/King line-up issued the LP simply as Stringband. The Maple Leaf Dog was produced by ex-Stringband member Ben Mink. Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...
, later to be a world-renowned producer, was an engineer and session musician on the album.
In 1979, Ahern and King both left the group, drawing to a close the era of Stringband being a full-time group.
Hammond's return; 'part-time' touring era (1980-1986)
After the departures of Ahern and King, Bossin quickly invited Hammond to re-join the group. She agreed, on the proviso that Stringband would become a part-time enterprise that would allow her time to pursue her solo career, as well her her playwriting and other interests. Bossin, looking to pursue some solo endeavours of his own, agreed. Adding new violinist Zeke Mazurek and the group's first permanent bassist, Dennis Nichol, beginning in January 1980 Stringband resumed touring and playing folk festivals a few months each year. A live recording from the new line-up (Stringband Live!) was issued later in 1980; it also included guest contributions from former Stringband members King, Ahern and Mink.Stringband continued to play gigs on a steady part-time basis through 1986. Calvin Cairns replaced Mazurek on fiddle just prior to a 1983 tour of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
; a live concert recording from this tour was issued on cassette as Across Russia By Stage later that year.
After a series of gigs at Vancouver's Expo '86 Stringband effectively dissolved, with Hammond and Bossin electing to concentrate on their solo careers. Bossin has continued to record on Nick Records, Hammond on her own label.
Reunions (1991, 2001, 2007)
In 1991, Stringband performed a few "20th Anniversary" reunion shows, and released The Old Masters, a cassette-only 'best-of' compilation. A more extensive reunion was organized for the group's 30th anniversary, partly at the instigation of CBC RadioCBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
's Stuart McLean
Stuart McLean
Andrew Stuart McLean is a Canadian radio broadcaster, humourist and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio programme The Vinyl Cafe. He is often described as a "story-telling comic", though he has written many serious stories...
, a big fan of the group. In addition to some reunion concerts, the group recorded 4 new songs for The Indispensable Stringband, a CD box set of 46 of their recordings. This compilation was released on Nick in 2002, and was funded with $25,000 contributed by friends and fans. The line-up for the new tracks was Bossin, Hammond, Cairns, Nichol and
Stringband most recently reunited in Toronto in January 2007. The occasion was a benefit for Hammond, whose eyesight was damaged in a riding accident in 2006.
Tributes
Stringband's songs created for their authors a loyal cult following. Bossin's titles include "Tugboats", "The Maple Leaf Dog", "Show us the Length", "Lunenberg Concerto", and "Daddy Was a Ballplayer." Hammond's songs include "Vancouver", "Flying/Spring of '44", "I Don't Sleep with Strangers Anymore", "La jeune mariee" and, with Bossin, "Mrs. Murphy"."They were not the first to write about Canada," writes Gary Cristall in his history of Stringband, "Stompin’ Tom Connors and a host of regional writers had been doing that for years... But Stringband went further. Bob researched his songs like they were books. He made them sound simple, but underneath, they were complex pieces of art, not ditties. Bob’s songs were humane, evocative and literate, welding together sentiment, history and landscape as few songwriters have done.
"Marie-Lynn brought to her songs a contemporary feminist voice, one that predated what, in the late 1970s would be called “women’s music”... These songs are some of the best stories of women’s lives written anywhere. If Bob, like a ventriloquist, projected his voice into his characters, Marie-Lynn used her talent like a ouija board to tap into the past and bring to life women who never got to tell their stories."
Looking back over Stringband's career in 2001, writer and broadcaster Stuart McLean wrote, "Like Gordon Lightfoot or Monique Leyrac, like Margaret Atwood or Robertson Davies, Stringband made you proud to be Canadian. They skated through the coffee houses and concert halls with the grace of Bobby Orr and the passion of Rocket Richard."
Cristall concludes: "[Theirs] is a story of victory against the odds; of how an intrepid band of dissidents confronted the dominance of foreign mercenaries to carve out a niche for homegrown music. It is the story of two important creative talents who disliked each other upon first meeting and proceeded to work together for the next two decades, battling behind the scenes while, on stage, they delighted hundreds of thousands of listeners from Tuktoyaktuk to Toronto, Mexico City to Moscow. Stringband laid down the roots of independent recording in Canada; they inspired scores if not hundreds of musicians, and they left behind a dozen of the best songs ever written in this country."
Studio albums
- Canadian Sunset, 1973
- National Melodies, 1975
- Thanks to the Following, 1977
- The Maple Leaf Dog, 1978
Compilations
- Stringband Revisited, 1978
- Stringband 20th Anniversary, The Old Masters, 1991
- The Indispensable Stringband, 2001