Richard Francis Nolan (February 4, 1939 – December 13, 2005)"Corner Brook honours Dick Nolan"
''The Compass'', Jul 13, 2018 was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

musician, from

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Nolan was known for performing Newfoundland

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

night clubs. During his 50-year career he released more than 40 albums and recorded over 300 tracks. He is particularly known for his song "

Aunt Martha's Sheep ''Aunt Martha's Sheep'' is a song written by Terrence White and Arthur Butt of Perry's Cove and later re-written by Ellis Coles and performed by Dick Nolan. It was primarily viewed as a slight on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police the police force ...

Early life

Nolan was born in

Corner Brook Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,333 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

.
Media Sense: The Folklore-popular Culture Continuum
'. Popular Press; 1986. . p. 77. As a teenager, he performed in a local band, the Blue Valley Boys, and sang on a Corner Brook radio show."The Legendary Dick Nolan"
''ownhome Magazine'', Mar 26, 2008 Priscilla Boutcher, the former Mayor of Corner Brook, was Nolan's sister.

Career

In the 1950s, Nolan moved to Toronto, where he played with local bands and worked at several jobs. He began to record albums of the music of Johnny Cash and other country songs, earning him the nickname "The

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

of Newfoundland". His Blue Valley Boys, which included Corner Brook native Roy Penney, performed regularly at the Horseshoe Tavern, backing up visiting country singers. In the 1960s, he switched his focus to traditional Newfoundland music and released many albums. One album, ''Fisherman's Boy'', contained Nolan's signature song ''Aunt Martha's Sheep'' and went platinum in just three months. Another signature song of his was ''

I's the B'y "I'se The B'y" (also I's The Bye) is a traditional Newfoundland folk song/ballad. "I's the B'y" is in the Newfoundland English dialect, and translates to standard English as "I'm the Boy" or "I'm the Guy". The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame de ...

''. Two more gold albums followed; furthermore, he had a hit song in 1972 with "Home Again This Year".Glenn David Colton.
Newfoundland Rhapsody: Frederick R. Emerson and the Musical Culture of the Island
'. MQUP; March 2014. . p. 162. That year, he was the editor for the folk song collection ''Newfoundland Songs'', published by the Bennett Brewing Company.
Newfoundland songs and ballads in print, 1842-1974: a title and first-line index
'. Memorial University of Newfoundland; 1979. p. 41. He continued to release albums of country music and Newfoundland folk songs regularly for many years."Singing legend Nolan dead at 66"
''CBC News'', Dec 13, 2005 Nolan appeared at the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

and national television programs, was nominated for a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

, and hosted his own television series. In November 2005, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2009 Dick Nolan was posthumously awarded the Dr. Helen Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award by the

East Coast Music Association The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official WebsiteDick Nolan
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

, accessed August 31, 2019 *http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/arts/dick-nolan.php *http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/cns_enl/id/4199 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Dick 1939 births 2005 deaths People from Corner Brook Singers from Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian country singer-songwriters 20th-century Canadian male singers 20th-century Canadian singer-songwriters