Gerry Lizotte Profile…bluegrass fan, photographer and officionado.
On a rainy October day (well that’s better than saying, “On one dark and stormy night!”) when I arrived at the Chatham address and pushed the button in the lobby for Gerry’s apartment. “Hello.” “Yep”, I said. The door release clicked and I located the correct location by the physical presence of Gerry framed in the apartment’s open door. The Charles River Boys were layin’ down the grass in the background. “What do want to drink?”, says he. “Beats me, what are you having?” “How about a Guinness?” “Sounds OK.”
“What’s the name of the song that goes, ‘…a hundred years from now…’!”, Gerry asks. “ ‘A Hundred Years From Now”, I says, “the Lester Flatt song!” “Yea, how come I don’t have it. I’ve got all their stuff!” “How should I don’t know, check the ‘Bluegrass Album Band’.” “Son of a gun, there it is.” And so it went for the afternoon.
The CD rack in the living room is stocked with more than 900 CD’s….everything from “The All Girl Boys” to “Hank Williams, Sr.” The walls are lined with photographs of his own making… another of his accomplishments. There’s one of Bill Monroe with his famed Gibson F5 mandolin, along with country scenes, trains, reflections of a building in water and a bridge. Gerry has been published in Bluegrass Unlimited, Bluegrass Canada, on Bill Monroe’s website, the International Bluegrass Museum and on a Dixie Flyers album cover. He was the photographer for the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards show for many years and has been the official EKBOFMA photographer from the beginning.
The vinyl library is in the bedroom…another 600 plus volumes…as well as a rack of cassettes of his own making…the accumulation from a lifetime of bluegrass music collecting and listening.
Gerry was introduced to bluegrass back in the mid 50’s by three vinyl 45’s…Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs & The Mc Cormick Bros.…among the country purchases made at a favorite record store in Cowansville, Quebec. He was hooked by the banjo. With the advent of Elvis Presley and Rock ‘n Roll, he was swept into that genre until the Beatles, then he switched to the Folk sound that was such a part of the 60’s culture. When Bob Dillon went electric and added drums, Gerry zoned out. He was living in Chatham at the time and saw an ad for a Dixie Flyers free library concert…an introduction to bluegrass.
The Flyers introduced Gerry to the festival scene in ‘78. “You don’t know about bluegrass festivals!”, chided Bert, “There’s lots of them. Carlisle’s in June. All the big bands from the US will be there…20,000 people!” It was down hill from there…a slippery slide into the wilder side of bluegrass. Camping in the “zoo”! Partying day and night! The bluegrass equivalent of Woodstock! An unbelievable event! Even got some bluegrass in amongst the extra curricular activities. It was then that Gerry entered his bluegrass photography career with photos published in “Bluegrass Canada”, the annual Carlisle festival program.
From this point on it was the festival circuit…Waterford, Back 40 in Woodstock, Palmer Rapids, Pinnacle Hill…and concerts and bar gigs in the London area…Fryfogles & the Firehall. Bluegrass was in it’s boom period. Bluegrass everywhere! Gerry is proud of the fact that he brought bluegrass to Chatham…The Dixie Flyers at the Parkview. The Flyers where the host band, either playing every week or booking other bands including Station Road, Hotfoot Quintet, Humber River Valley Boys and The New County Line. The festival circuit was also expanded to include the American festivals in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
Gerry has been involved with EKBOFMA since it’s inception, acting as photographer and Chatham/Kent Rep. In 1994 he received the Association Appreciation Award. Now that Gerry is retired, he’s had the time to catalog and organize all his music and photographs and the time to plan his festival schedule.
Gerry's Poscript: My personal run in with Doc Watson occurred at Pinnacle Hill in 1985. I was walking behind the stage when I encountered Doc trying to get into a locked car. “Can I help”, I said. “They locked me out of the car”. "Who’s got the keys?” “T. Michael has them. He’s on stage setting up”. “I’ll get them for you, Doc”. I went up to the stage and said, “Hey, T. Michael, Doc’s locked out of the car and all his gear is in it”. “Here”, he said and threw me the keys and I opened the car for Doc. “Thank you Sir”, he said. I asked him to pose for a photo op that he very graciously agreed to. I was on a high for the rest of the festival!
Bev MacAulay Profile…association officer & lifelong bluegrass fan.
Bev grew up in Quebec’s Eastern Townships with surrounded by old time and country music and influenced by names like Wilf Carter, Jimmy Rogers and Don Messer. Throughout the Summer there were regular Saturday night dances at her Uncle Batley’s Pavilion, featuring bands from near and far - even had the likes of Don Messer. Her mother ran the winter dances at the Women’s Institute with local groups - usually fiddle, piano and guitar. She met banjo playing Don MacAulay in ’54, moved to Montreal in ’58 and married in ’59. There was lots of bluegrass activity in Montreal at that time. Flatt & Scruggs did a sold out matinee and evening concert in a 1500 seat auditorium in ’61. The Monterey night club used to book the occasional bluegrass act. That’s where she heard the Osborne Brothers do “Ruby” for the first time. Then in ’65 the MacAulays made the move to Essex in Canada's sunny south.
1965 was a very significant year to bluegrass music. Self styled bluegrass expert and promoter, Carleton Haney, ran the first multi day festival at Fincastle, Virginia on labour day weekend. It was inspired by events like the Newport Folk Festival and was the model for bluegrass festivals throughout the US and Canada. The biggest and most notable to Canada was Bluegrass Canada at Carlisle, Ontario. Bev and the whole MacAualy family attended the first three Carlisle festivals from ’73 to ’75. During those three years the attendance rose from 2,600 to 15,000! The lineup was stellar – The Dillards, the Stoneman Family, the Osborne Brothers, John Hartford, the Country Gazette, Vassar Clements, the Country Gentlemen, Bill Monroe, Seldom Scene, the Good Brothers, the Dixie Flyers, Charlie Monroe, Bryan Bowers, the RFD Boys, Norman Blake, Smiley Bates and Josh Graves to name just a few. The event got so rowdy by then that they declined to attend the following years.
There were other festivals to by then - Ottawa Ohio, the McLain family festival (twice), Grand Ole Opry’s Jim & Jesse Bluegrass Festival & Ogdensburg NY (twice in the mid 80’s0 - where they would meet friends from Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto, depending on the location. And of course there was the Harrow festival that ran ’79,’80 and ’81.
Bev’s first encounter with EKBOFMA (Essex-Kent Bluegrass, Oldtime & Folk Music Association) was Sept ‘88 when she drug Don and his banjo off to Leah Harris’s farm for the pickin’ camp over. In the early years, the Association participated in a large number of social and community events, with strong member participation.
In 1990, the Association started the first of the bluegrass concerts – Grassworks in February and the Bluegrass Cardinals April. By October of ’90, Bev had taken over the Association Treasurer’s position and was onboard for the 1991 concert season starting with the Lynn Morris Band in February.
In 1991 we formed committees to coordinate and run events in the Association’s three music disciplines – Bluegrass, Old Time and Folk – and I stepped down as president to take up duties as the Bluegrass Committee chairperson. Bev served on the Bluegrass Committee from the beginning, coordinating ticket sales, counting the money, assisting with event production, doing the moonshine run and a host of other things. This season brings the concert count to 60!
When the Association secretary stepped down in the late 90’s, Bev picked up the pen as well. Today, Bev serves as the Association’s Secretary-Treasurer, looking after correspondence and cash and as the Bluegrass Committee’s event co-producer and financial officer. When you come to the Association’s Pickin’ and Meetin’ nights at the Essex Retires Center on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month, say hello to Bev. She’s the one not playing the banjo. She’ll introduce you to whom ever you need to meet, tell you what you need to know, collect your dues and issue your membership card.
She met banjo playing Don MacAulay in ’54, moved to Montreal in ’58 and married in ’59. There was lots of bluegrass activity in Montreal at that time. Flatt & Scruggs did a sold out matinee and evening concert in a 1500 seat auditorium in ’61. The Monterey night club used to book the occasional bluegrass act. That’s where she heard the Osborne Brothers do “Ruby” for the first time. Then in ’65 the MacAulays made the move to Essex in Canada's sunny south.
1965 was a very significant year to bluegrass music. Self styled bluegrass expert and promoter, Carleton Haney, ran the first multi day festival at Fincastle, Virginia on labour day weekend. It was inspired by events like the Newport Folk Festival and was the model for bluegrass festivals throughout the US and Canada. The biggest and most notable to Canada was Bluegrass Canada at Carlisle, Ontario. Bev and the whole MacAualy family attended the first three Carlisle festivals from ’73 to ’75. During those three years the attendance rose from 2,600 to 15,000! The lineup was stellar – The Dillards, the Stoneman Family, the Osborne Brothers, John Hartford, the Country Gazette, Vassar Clements, the Country Gentlemen, Bill Monroe, Seldom Scene, the Good Brothers, the Dixie Flyers, Charlie Monroe, Bryan Bowers, the RFD Boys, Norman Blake, Smiley Bates and Josh Graves to name just a few. The event got so rowdy by then that they declined to attend the following years.
There were other festivals to by then - Ottawa Ohio, the McLain family festival (twice), Grand Ole Opry’s Jim & Jesse Bluegrass Festival & Ogdensburg NY (twice in the mid 80’s0 - where they would meet friends from Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto, depending on the location. And of course there was the Harrow festival that ran ’79,’80 and ’81.
Bev’s first encounter with EKBOFMA (Essex-Kent Bluegrass, Oldtime & Folk Music Association) was Sept ‘88 when she drug Don and his banjo off to Leah Harris’s farm for the pickin’ camp over. In the early years, the Association participated in a large number of social and community events, with strong member participation.
In 1990, the Association started the first of the bluegrass concerts – Grassworks in February and the Bluegrass Cardinals April. By October of ’90, Bev had taken over the Association Treasurer’s position and was onboard for the 1991 concert season starting with the Lynn Morris Band in February.
In 1991 we formed committees to coordinate and run events in the Association’s three music disciplines – Bluegrass, Old Time and Folk – and I stepped down as president to take up duties as the Bluegrass Committee chairperson. Bev served on the Bluegrass Committee from the beginning, coordinating ticket sales, counting the money, assisting with event production, doing the moonshine run and a host of other things. This season brings the concert count to 60!
When the Association secretary stepped down in the late 90’s, Bev picked up the pen as well. Today, Bev serves as the Association’s Secretary-Treasurer, looking after correspondence and cash and as the Bluegrass Committee’s event co-producer and financial officer. When you come to the Association’s Pickin’ and Meetin’ nights at the Essex Retires Center on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month, say hello to Bev. She’s the one not playing the banjo. She’ll introduce you to whom ever you need to meet, tell you what you need to know, collect your dues and issue your membership card.
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