The Pied Pumkin was a band formed in 1973 in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with Rick Scott on dulcimer and vocals, Joe Mock on guitar and vocals and
Shari Ulrich on violin, alto sax, flute and vocals.
The
Kootenays were the Pumkin hotbed. The band formed the label Squash Records to release their albums
[Jamie Vernon, "Pear of Pied Pumkin", ''Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia'', 2012] after collecting $5 each from fans to finance the first album, ''Pied Pumkin String Ensemble'', recorded live at the Simon Fraser University Pub and released in 1975. Their second release ''Allah Mode'', was released in 1976 and included Mock's song "A Fear of Flying".
Ulrich left the band in 1976 to join folk artist
Valdy's band,
which was then signed to a recording contract with A&M Records under the name
The Hometown Band
The Hometown Band was a Canadian folk music group. They are best known as the backup band for Valdy.
History
The Hometown Band was founded in 1975 by Claire Lawrence, a former member of The Collectors and Chilliwack, as the back-up group for C ...
. "A Fear of Flying"—renamed "Flying" to avoid confusion with
Erica Jong's
best-selling book—became The Hometown Band's first single and the title song of their first album, released in 1976.
Scott and Mock continued touring and recording as the Pied Pear for another eight years. All three original members of the Pied Pumkin reunited in 1998 for a tour and the release of the album ''Plucking DeVine''. The live album ''Pied Alive'' followed in 2000. The band released a children's album, ''Pied Pumkids'', in 2007, and won the
Canadian Folk Music Award
The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards prog ...
for
Children's Album of the Year at the
3rd Canadian Folk Music Awards
The 3rd Canadian Folk Music Awards were held on December 1, 2007, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau
Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately acr ...
.
"Pied Pumkids will delight the kiddies"
''The Abbotsford News
The ''Abbotsford News'' is a Canadian community newspaper in Abbotsford, British Columbia published by Black Press. ''The News'' publishes more than 40,000 copies two times a week distributed across Abbotsford and also the adjacent municipality of ...
'', July 23, 2012.
Mock lives in France and returns to Canada on occasion for performances with the Pied Pumkin or Pied Pear. Scott has recorded several popular albums for children, while Ulrich has had a lengthy solo career.
References
External links
Pied Pumkin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pied Pumkin
Canadian folk rock groups
Musical groups established in 1973
Musical groups from Vancouver
Canadian Folk Music Award winners
Canadian children's musical groups