Ray Legere (born September 20, 1965) is a Canadian bluegrass fiddler, mandolinist, guitarist and band leader from

Sackville, New Brunswick Sackville is a town in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is home to Mount Allison University, a primarily undergraduate liberal arts university. Historically based on agriculture, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, the economy is now driven ...

. Legere has been named the Bluegrass Artist of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards for several years and is recorded on the Honour Roll at the

Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards The Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards, established in 1979, are presented annually by the Northern Bluegrass Committee at its Huntsville, Ontario festival. This event also hosts the annual meeting of the Bluegrass Music Association of Canada (BMAC ...

as the best Fiddle Player, after winning that title from 1996 to 2000. He has been inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, he was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for High Achievement in the Arts by the New Brunswick Arts Board.

Early life

Raymond (Ray) Legere was born September 20, 1965, in

Amherst, Nova Scotia Amherst ( ) is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of th ...

. His mother was a pianist and his father, who played fiddle and banjo, taught him to play the mandolin when he was ten years old. His focus at this time was old-time fiddle tunes, later learning some Louvin Brothers’ songs with older friends and listening to American bluegrass pickers."Ray Legere to be inducted into NB Country Music Hall of Fame"
''Amherst News Citizen Record'', September 8, 2016 In the summer of 1982, when he was sixteen, Legere was called unexpectedly to fill in for Bill Monroe of the Blue Grass Boys when the famous mandolinist became ill before a concert in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Legere saw this as a unique opportunity to play with fiddle player Kenny Baker and with the Blue Grass Boys. He also learned the valuable lesson that the show must go on when Bill Monroe returned to the stage to perform a few hours after his surgery.

Career

As a young man, Legere played in the Mountain Meadow Bluegrass Band in the late 1970s. In 1987, he joined the Lonesome River Band. In 1990, Legere played fiddle on the album '' The Lynn Morris Band''. In 1992 he toured with Michelle Shocked. In 1998, Larry LeBlanc of ''Billboard'' magazine named him as one of Canada's leading bluegrass musicians."Bluegrass Enjoys Popularity of Grassroots, Indie Population" In 2012 he performed at the Canso Stanfest. Legere joined the celtic fusion ensemble

Bowfire Bowfire is a Canadian musical group from Ontario, featuring multiple violins, led by violinist and composer Lenny Solomon. They perform an eclectic mix of classical music, jazz, bluegrass music, celtic music, rock music, and world music.

, and recorded on their self-titled CD, which was released in 2003. He toured with this group for several years."The Bowfire Group: Strings On Fire"
''All About Jazz'', By Gref Henry Waters. May 23, 2008 In 2014 Legere played mandolin on Jared Lutes' album ''A Matter of When''. and played fiddle on the album ''Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band''. His band Acoustic Horizon performed at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival. Legere also performed in the third video of the ''

United Breaks Guitars "United Breaks Guitars" is a trio of protest songs by Canadian musician Dave Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell. It chronicles a real-life experience of how his guitar was broken during a trip on United Airlines in 2008, and the reaction from ...

'' trilogy. Leger performed with the band Grasstic Measures on the 2016 festival circuit; that year he was also inducted into the New Brunswick Country Hall of Fame.

Discography

Raymond Legere

* 1991: ''The Common Denominator'' (Acoustic Horizon AHM 1015) * 1993: ''Back Against the Wind'' (Acoustic Horizon AHM 1016) * 1993: ''Maritime Fiddle Session'' with guest pianist Kimberley Holmes (Acoustic Horizon AHM 1017) * 1999: ''Squirrelly Moves'' (EMI Canada E21Y 20091) * 2002: ''Bluegrass in the Backwoods'' (Acoustic Horizon AHM 1019) * 2006: ''Ready to Jam'' (Acoustic Horizon AHM) * 2015: ''Southern Fiddling in the Kenny Baker Style''

Brakin’ Tradition

* 1992: ''Music Man'' (Brakin’ BTCD 001) * 1992: ''Powerfolk'' (Brakin’ BTCD 002) * 1996:''Presence in the Past'' (Brakin’ BTCD 003)

Ray Legere and Roger Williams

* 1994: ''A Decade Later'' (Acoustic Horizon AMH 1018) * 1996: ''River of No Return'' (Strictly Country SCR 47)

Dick Smith, Mike O’Reilly Band

* 1998: ''Dick Smith, Mike O’Reilly Band'' (New Era NE-CD 100) * 2004: ''A Honky-Tonk Frame of Mind'' (New Era NE-CD 200) * 2005: ''Life's Road'' (New Era NE-CD 300)

Bowfire

* 2003: ''Bowfire'' (Marquis Records)

Ray Legere and Mike O’Reilly

* 2011: ''Story Songs and Toe-tapping Tunes'' (Acoustic Horizon AHM)

Grasstic Measures

* 2016: ''Square Dance Town'' (GM 2016-1)

Also appears on

* 1990: ''Lynn Morris Band'' – with

Lynn Morris Lynn Morris (1954–2017) was a Christian fiction author. She was the daughter of Gilbert Morris and co-wrote with him on most of her books. Books by Lynn Morris Cheney Duvall, M.D. Series This series was co-written with her father, Gil ...

* 1990: ''Newmarket Gap'', with Wyatt Rice * 1995: ''The Young Mando Monsters'' Mandolin Artistry, Vol. 1 (VMP-CD0100, 1995) / Raymond Legere – Puddle Jumper and Cruisin’ the Autobahn. * 1996: ''The Stanley Tradition: Tribute to A Bluegrass Legacy'' (Doobie Shea Records – DS-CD-1001) / Ray Legere – Gonna Paint the Town * 2003: "The Time's Never Been Better", a singer/songwriter album by Pat Moore of Ottawa Canada, also featuring Dick Smith, Steve Pittico, Ken Kanwisher, Mike O'Reilly, Tracy Brown, Marty McTiernan and produced by Al Bragg * 2004: ''Blue Roses'' – with

Rita MacNeil Rita MacNeil (May 28, 1944 – April 16, 2013) was a Canadian singer from the community of Big Pond on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossover Top 40 hit in 1987 and was covered by Anne Murray t ...

* 2007: ''Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band'' – with Bill Emerson/ Ray Legere – Fiddler's Green and There's no room in your heart (Rebel Records) * 2014: ''A Matter of When'' – with Jared LutesBob Mersereau
"Jared Lutes – A Matter Of When"
''East Coast Music'', Wed, March 12, 2014, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. * 2014:''Drop Forge'' – with Jim Dorrie (2014)
''East Coast Music with Bob Mersereau'', CBC New Brunswick. Wed, June 4, 2014.

Awards and honours

* 1983 – Winner – Open Mandolin Championship – Woodstock Ontario * 1986 – Winner – Open Mandolin Championship – Winfield, Kansas * 1989 – Winner – Old Time Fiddle Championship – Sackville, New Brunswick * 1990 – Among the top ten – Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championship * 1990 – Among the top ten – Grand Masters Fiddle Championships – Nepean, Ontario * 1991 – Among the top ten – Grand Masters Fiddle Championships – Nepean, Ontario * 1996 – Bluegrass Artist of the year – Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Music Awards * 1996 – Bluegrass Artist of the Year – East Coast Music Awards * 2003 – Bluegrass Artist of the Year – Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Music Awards * 2003 – Bluegrass Artist of the Year – East Coast Music Awards * 2016 – Inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame * 2019 – Masters – Best Fiddle Player – Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards * 2019 – Inducted into the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame * 2019 – High Achievement in the Arts – Lieutenant Governor's Award Legere is a five-time winner of the Eastern Division Bluegrass Awards in the categories of Mandolin and Fiddle Player of the Year, and has been honored with a Masters Award for each.

References

External links

Official Website – Ray LegereArtist BioNew Brunswick fiddler Ray Legere set to be inducted into Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame – Saltwire August 3, 2019Fiddler Ray Legere honored by home province – Bluegrass Today December 4, 2019

Ray Legere & The Alan Jeffries Band – Bluegrass – King's TheatreBluegrass Music Association of Canada – Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards Show Honour Roll Inductees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legere, Ray Canadian bluegrass fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers Canadian mandolinists Musicians from Nova Scotia Living people 21st-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 21st-century Canadian male musicians 1965 births