Friends of Fiddler's Green is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

group based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

founded in 1971 and still active as of 2024. The members of the group at the time of its first recording, 1981's ''This Side of the Ocean'', were Alistair Brown, Tam Kearney,

Grit Laskin William "Grit" Laskin (born August 23, 1953) is a Canadian luthier and musician, particularly notable for his high-quality instruments, acoustic guitar innovations (such as the "Laskin Armrest" and "Ribrest") and for his skill in the art of inlay ...

, David Parry, Ian Robb, Laurence Stevenson, and Jim Strickland. Another half-dozen former members from the band's first 10 years are listed on the back of the album. In all the years since, the lineup has stayed remarkably consistent, with only Jim Strickland having left the ensemble. David Parry remained performing with the group until his death in 1995, as did Tam Kearney until his death in 2013. Additions to the line up have included singer & musician

Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...

, and also Jeff McClintock on keyboards. Jeff was later replaced by Cherie Whalen, only to rejoin the band after Cherie's departure for family reasons. Due to ill health, Laurence Stevenson retired from the band in 2020 and esteemed fiddler James Stephens has stepped in. The name of the group is derived from Fiddler's Green, a mythical place of dancing and happiness. Tam Kearney and Jim Strickland, both Scottish immigrants living in Toronto in the 1960s, founded Fiddler's Green Folk Club on

Eglinton Avenue Eglinton Avenue is a major east–west Arterial road, arterial thoroughfare in Toronto and Mississauga in the Canadian province of Ontario. The street begins at Ontario Highway 407, Highway 407 (but does not interchange with the tollway) at the w ...

, behind the YMCA. Gradually a nucleus of musicians developed, initially doing warm-ups at the club, and then performing as a group. Ian Robb arrived from England, in the early 1970s. The arrival of other singers gave the group a distinctly Scottish flavor. David Parry was an enthusiast for mumming and brought a dragon's costume to the mix. At festival performances, the members may present English Mummers Plays, Morris Dancing or Scottish country dancing. The Vancouver Folk Music Festival documented a reviewer who claimed that Friends of Fiddler's Green were among the best British bands touring North America Although they are not typically a touring band, they have also performed in the United States. In the folklore of folk music, they are known as the inspiration for the Stan Rogers' song,

Barrett's Privateers "Barrett's Privateers" is a modern folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers, having been inspired after a song session with the Friends of Fiddler's Green at the Northern Lights Festival B ...

. In 2003 they were given the "Estelle Klein Achievement Award" at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals. The keyboardist for the group, Jeff McClintock, was arrested by the

religious police Religious police are any Police, police force responsible for the enforcement of religious norms and associated religious laws. Nearly all religious police organizations in modern society are Islamic and can be found in countries with a large Mu ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, probably in connection with his work with an otherwise all-female fiddle ensemble, the ''Frillyknickers''.

Discography

* 1981 ''This Side of the Ocean'' * 1994 ''Road to Mandalay'' * 1997 ''This Side of the Ocean'' (Expanded CD re-release) * 2015 ''Old Inventions'' * 2019 ''Live at The Flying Cloud Folk Club, Toronto: September 7th 2003'' * 2019 E Liked it All! David Parry In Concert With The Friends Of Fiddler's Green'' * 2019 A Compendium of Wonders: Live in London, Ontario, September 2019

References

External links

Bandcamp page

Friends of Fiddler's Green (an explanation)

Discography & Bio
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Discography & Bio
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Stewart Cameron page
{{Authority control Canadian folk music groups