People
My deepest thanks to all the musicians who have played and sung on the tracks on this site for their virtuosity, musicality and patience. Their deep working understanding of the various American music genres I have been exploring has made the music possible, and they all contributed sensitive and imaginative ideas for their parts and wonderful structure and improvisation for the solos. My thanks also to Carlene Campbell for her work building the website, and to Anna Sirdevan for building an earlier version of the site.
William Dean Watson
CARLENE CAMPBELL
Carlene designed and created this website. She is a gifted communicator and compassionate administrator who was long valued for her work assisting constituents in a parliamentary constituency office in Toronto. Carlene is currently working in communications within a large Canadian music group.
FRANK EVANS
Frank is an exceptionally gifted clawhammer and Scruggs-style banjoist, and a wonderful singer. He provides lead voice and banjo for Toronto’s brilliant bluegrass band, The Slocan Ramblers, 2019 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year, alongside a number of the musicians playing on these tracks. He has also co created a wonderful banjo / fiddle duo album, Madison Archives, with Ben Plotnick, another contributor to tracks on this site. Frank’s music can be accessed here. You can find the Slocan Ramblers music, including their four fantastic albums, here.
ROB FENTON
Rob’s virtuosity on dobro, Weissenborn and lap steel guitars is an extraordinary boon to the music I have written, capturing the musical past explored in each song while adding poignant immediacy to its emotional outline. His dazzling solos energize the uptempo songs and his delicate fills sweeten the saddest ballads. Rob’s amazing playing and stylish singing are informed by great musical learning and a profound musical sensibility. Rob has worked with me on the arrangements of almost all the songs and co-produced the recordings. His arrangement and performance suggestions have time and again allowed my sometimes dimly perceived musical ideas the chance to come into focus and be realized. Rob is a multi-instrumentalist, playing pedal steel guitar, fiddle and saxophone in addition to the instruments he plays on this site. You can contact Rob at dobrorob@gmail.com.
KELLY GATES
I first met Kelly as a fine student in my criminology classes at the University of Toronto. She has gone on to become an established criminal lawyer in Toronto. When I discovered Kelly’s accomplishments as a singer and vocal coach, she offered to help me work on some singing problems I was experiencing. I can’t thank her enough for her advice and encouragement. Kelly is a wonderfully versatile singer with a voice of distinctive clarity and expression, beautifully displayed on the range of song styles I am exploring on this site. You can hear the power of Kelly’s voice, including tracks with her rock band The Diction, here.
ADRIAN GROSS
Adrian has the uncanny ability to identify exactly what a piece of music requires of the mandolin by way of rhythm, fills and solos. Steeped in bluegrass and its source musical genres, Adrian is the technically gifted, musically thoughtful mandolin virtuoso who provides driving rhythm and compelling solos for The Slocan Ramblers. He is an equally significant music educator, serving as a professor of music at Concordia University. Adrian’s music can be accessed here. You can find the Slocan Ramblers music, including their four fantastic albums, here.
CHARLES JAMES
The contribution of Charles’s bass parts to the performances presented on this site is beautiful and essential. Providing the songs with warmth, depth, structure and pulse, his judicious upright bass playing anchors the arrangements. Charles is a versatile bassist performing in a range of styles on upright and electric bass, and he currently plays bass with The Slocan Ramblers. Charles is also a talented and versatile composer. Charles’ music can be accessed here. You can find the Slocan Ramblers music, including their four fantastic albums, here.
GRAHAM MANSFIELD
Graham is a wonderful exponent of gritty Monroe-style mandolin; a quality which shines through on many of the tracks on this site. His versality allows him to make compelling contributions to less directly bluegrass-influenced honky tonk, Cajun and Western pop tracks, as well as the more formal ‘folk dance fiddle tunes’. Graham’s music can be accessed here.
WILL MEADOWS
Will’s mandolin is steeped in every nuance of bluegrass and traditional country music. His sparkling solos, eloquent fills and rock-solid rhythm are highlights of the music he graces. Will is a gifted singer with a special talent for bluegrass and country close harmony, and a multi-instrumentalist, performing as a guitarist and banjoist, as well as a mandolinist.
SCOTT METCALFE
Scott is a subtle, melodic keyboard player who has provided outstanding piano parts on some of the tracks on this site. His solo on A Demon Walks Beside Me is especially beautiful. Scott is also a music educator.
Scott’s music can be accessed on SoundCloud and through here.
MIKE MEZZATESTA
Mike is a multi-instrumentalist, excelling at mandolin, guitar and fiddle. His mandolin playing, often sweet and graceful, is nevertheless grounded in the vernacular simplicity of folk music forms, and can drive the rhythm when required. Mike plays alongside Andrew Collins, another mandolin virtuoso, in the Juno nominated Andrew Collins Trio. Mike’s contribution to the Andrew Collins Trio can be accessed here.
BEN PLOTNICK
Fiddle has always been the heart and soul of traditional country music, providing the melodic inspiration for every instrumental and vocal approach. Ben’s incandescent fiddle playing is steeped in this originary power, his intensely sympathetic contributions always bringing the music home. At the same time, there is an ambitiously experimental edge to Ben’s musicality. Before he moved to Nashville, Ben’s work with Toronto Western swingers The Double Cuts demonstrated his versatility, and his performances with The Fretless, and in duos with his partner cellist Kaitlin Raitz, and with banjoist Frank Evans explore the frontiers of traditionally inspired music, while never abandoning fidelity to the musician’s craft. Ben’s music, including his collaborations with The Fretless, and with Kaitlyn Raitz in Oliver The Crow, can be accessed here.
DARRYL POULSEN
Just as I was becoming hooked on bluegrass and traditional country music, I heard The Slocan Ramblers, Toronto’s brilliant bluegrass band, play a number of events near my midtown home. When I decided to write and record my own songs for this website, Darryl Poulsen, their exceptional guitarist, was the first Toronto musician I talked to. He introduced me to Rob Fenton and Will Meadows, his bandmates in a bluegrass trio they called The Sudden Valley Boys who were performing weekly at a Toronto venue that is sadly no longer operating. The generous enthusiasm for traditional music that shines through Darryl’s succinct, dynamic solos and subtle rhythm playing infused the conversation whenever we talked about the music and musicians I was exploring. His insightful rehearsal of my songs helped them come to life, and his performances on the recordings for this site enable them to breath. Darryl’s music can be accessed here. You can find the Slocan Ramblers music, including their four fantastic albums, here.
NATE SMITH
Nate is an incredibly versatile and sympathetic fiddler. He is especially at home in the Anglo-Celtic / American and French folk traditions, styles with strong echoes on this site, but he also has wonderful command of the genres furthest from those roots which are explored on this site; notably honky tonk and Western swing. Nate’s contributions to the ‘folk dance fiddle tunes’, which are based on fiddle melodies and counterpoints, are especially significant. Nate has completed an exceptional solo album project, Let It Rest Let It Rise, in which the Anglo-Celtic influence shines through. He is joined by John David Williams
playing clarinet in the French folk inspired four piece band Vinta (John plays diatonic accordion on this site). Nate’s music can be accessed here. The music of Vinta can be accessed here.
SARI TEITELBAUM
Sari was a serious student of the cello in her teens and early twenties, before devoting herself to a career as a lawyer and to family life. After a long gap, she took up the cello again and has for several years been reacquainting herself with playing the instrument, to great effect evident in her contribution to this site.
ADAM WARNER
Adam is a sensitive, skilled, song-oriented drummer. For his contributions to the ‘Riding The Pickup’ electric honky tonk tracks on this site, we are not using the full range of his capabilities – the drum accompaniments are simple snare patterns – but Adam still delivers the right beat in the right way to bring the music to its deftly percussive completion. Adam’s music can be accessed here.
WILLIAM DEAN WATSON
Born in London, England, William studied sociology at the University of Leicester and received a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge. He moved to Toronto, Canada in 1993 and taught at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto for thirty years until his retirement from regular teaching in 2022. His teaching and research focused on the intersection of criminal justice and mental health. He began composing and recording the songs and writing the essays that appear on this site in 2014.
JOHN DAVID WILLIAMS
An extraordinary multi-instrumentalist and music savant, John performs as clarinetist alongside Nate Smith’s fiddle in the French folk music inspired four piece Vinta, but is also a talented diatonic (Cajun) accordion builder and player. On the ‘Country’s Cajun Cousin’ tracks on this site, John’s extraordinary
accordion playing is essential to the successful articulation of the Cajun sound. John’s music can be accessed here. The music of Vinta can be accessed here.
ALAN ZEMAITIS
Alan is an incredibly versatile keyboard player at home supporting rock, funk and jazz outfits with equal facility. His contributions to the honky tonk tracks on this site highlight his gift for bar-room country rhythms and incisive piano solos that would cut through the din of stomping feet and clattering whiskey glasses. Alan is a dedicated teacher with a degree in jazz piano. A wide range of Alan’s keyboard work can be accessed here.