Waltons were 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 ...

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band, active primarily in the 1990s. The band released three studio albums during their career, and won 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 ...

for Best New Group at the

Juno Awards of 1994 The Juno Awards of 1994, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 20 March 1994 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Roch Voisine was the host for the ceremonies, which were taped that aft ...

."Juno about the Waltons?". ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation,''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. History ''The Hami ...

'', March 24, 1994.

History

The band was formed in Regina,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

in 1987, by vocalist/guitarist

Jason Plumb Jason Forrest Plumb is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and mixer who resides in Regina, Saskatchewan and was the lead singer and front man of the Waltons. He currently performs as a solo singer-songwriter with a backing band, The ...

, bassist Keith Nakonechny and drummer David Cooney. The band was originally known as "Neurotic Paperboy", before changing to The Waltons; the name was derived from the fact that Plumb had been given the nickname "Walton" by a bandmate in an earlier musical project, although Plumb sometimes joked that the band hoped to be sued by the producers of the television series ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book ''Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 film ...

'' for the free publicity. They released two independent demo cassettes, '''89 Demonstrations'' and ''Demo Sandwich'', in 1989 and 1990, before moving to

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 ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in 1991."Waltons keep on the move". ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'', January 14, 1994. They released their debut album, ''

Lik My Trakter ''Lik My Trakter'' (pronounced "like my tractor") is the first album by the Canadian band the Waltons, released in 1992. Initially released independently, it received a national release on Warner Music Canada; it was released by Sire Records in the ...

'' ("like my tractor") independently in 1991. That year, they were nominated for two

CFNY-FM CFNY-FM (''102.1 the Edge'') is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 MHz in the Greater Toronto Area, licensed to the suburb of Brampton. CFNY plays an alternative rock format. Owned by Corus Entertainment, its studios are in Downtown ...

CASBY Award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The ...

s for Most Promising Band and Best Western Canadian Band. They signed to

Warner Music Canada Warner Music Canada is the Canadian division of Warner Music Group. The label previously operated as WEA Music of Canada, Ltd. (French: ''WEA Musique du Canada, Ltée''), often shortened to WEA Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of WEA Internationa ...

, which rereleased ''Lik My Trakter'' in 1992. Todd Lumley also joined the band that year, playing keyboards and accordion. The album became their commercial breakthrough, spawning the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

hits "Colder Than You", "In the Meantime" and "The Naked Rain", and won a CASBY Award for Best Debut Album in 1992."Waltons don't mind losing freedom". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', February 4, 1993. In 1993, the band toured Canada as an opening act for

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

. In 1994, the band won a Juno Award for Best New Group, as well as a

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects ...

Award to mark "In the Meantime" being one of the most-played songs on Canadian radio in the previous year. Also that year they released the ''Simple Brain'' EP, which comprised the title track, which the band had written for the film soundtrack ''

Naked in New York ''Naked in New York'' is a 1993 American romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Algrant and starring Eric Stoltz, Mary-Louise Parker, Ralph Macchio, Jill Clayburgh, Tony Curtis, Timothy Dalton, and Kathleen Turner, and featuring multiple cele ...

'', as well as covers of

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...

's "The Boxer" and

Weddings Parties Anything Weddings, Parties, Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Austr ...

's "Under the Clocks". In 1994, Cooney left the band to pursue other interests, and was replaced by Steve Pitkin for the recording of the band's 1995 album ''Cock's Crow'' and by Sean Bryson thereafter. ''Cock's Crow'' was produced by

Michael Phillip Wojewoda Michael Phillip Wojewoda is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has been nominated for eight Juno Awards and has received one for Recording Engineer of the Year and one for Producer of the Year. History Wojewoda began recording bands ...

, and included two songs co-written with

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ma ...

's John Mann and

Geoffrey Kelly Geoffrey Kelly (born October 23, 1956 in Dumfries, Scotland) is a Canadians, Canadian rock musician. He played guitars, flutes and bodhrán for the folk rock band Spirit of the West, for whom he was also the lead vocalist on some songs: Geoffrey ...

. Wojewoda won the Juno Award for

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non- classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

for his work on the Waltons' song "End of the World" and

Ashley MacIsaac Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac (born February 24, 1975) is a Canadian fiddler, singer and songwriter from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at the Juno A ...

's "Beaton's Delight". In 1998, the band released '' Empire Hotel''. A live album, '' Liv'', was released in 2001, following which the band went on hiatus; after four years of inactivity, during which Plumb recorded the solo album ''Under & Over'', the Waltons formally broke up after headlining a final

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

show at Regina's

Wascana Centre Wascana Centre is a 930-hectare (9.3 km2/2,300 acre/3.6 mi2) urban park built around Wascana Lake in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, established in 1912 with a design from renowned architect Thomas Mawson. The park is designed aro ...

in 2005. Plumb subsequently launched the new band Jason Plumb and the Willing, whose albums included ''Beauty in This World'' (2007) and ''Wide Open Music'' (2009), the latter of which included both new songs and some rerecordings of Waltons songs."Cheerleading a Plumb job; New CD includes live material, well-known solo songs". ''

Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is the daily newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Li ...

'', June 11, 2009. On the 2007

Rheostatics Rheostatics are a Canadian indie rock band. They were formed in 1978, and actively performed from 1980 until disbanding in 2007. After a number of reunion performances at special events, Rheostatics reformed in late 2016, introducing new songs a ...

tribute album ''

The Secret Sessions ''The Secret Sessions'' is a tribute album to Canadian indie rock band Rheostatics, released March 16, 2007 through the web label Zunior. The album was released to coincide with the band's farewell show scheduled for March 30, and features Canadia ...

'', Plumb appeared with Barenaked Ladies on a live version of "Legal Age Life at Variety Store".

Discography

* ''89 Demonstrations'' (1989) * ''Demo Sandwich'' (1990) * ''

'' (1992) * ''Simple Brain'' (1994) * '' Cock's Crow'' (1995) * '' Empire Hotel'' (1998) * '' Liv'' (2001)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waltons, The Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Musical groups from Regina, Saskatchewan Canadian alternative rock groups Canadian folk rock groups Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year winners 1987 establishments in Saskatchewan