Appreciating local musicians
The 18th Music Achievement Awards will be held on Saturday, September 28 from 3 p.m. till 9 p.m. at The Hut. The recipients this time around are baseman Willie Fisk and drummer Robert Bubba Lacroix, two of our local talented musicians.
These honorees have been providing each one of us with some delightful musical moments during their career. They are rightly deserving of this honour and The Music Achievement Awards is making a point to recognize their talent and their contribution to the local music scene.
This all started 18 years ago when the late Bruce Neil thought that paying tribute to our local musicians was a must. It was decided that an annual event would be created to honour them, during a special day at the Army Navy & Air Force, in Lennoxville.
Peers, friends, fans and family will be on hand to salute the work of their musical heroes.
This year’s recipient Willie Fisk was raised in Lennoxville by his parents, Earle and Edna, along with his older brother, Lloyd. This is also where he chose to live his life.
“I still reside in Lennoxville with my wife, Linda. We have two children – April and Shawn. Then the family grew with a son-in-law, Eric and a daughter-in-law, Kallie and four grandchildren, Alyssa, Taylor, Mycah and Oaklen. Family is very close to our hearts,” he said in an interview.
After high school, Fisk worked in the printing business for MJB Litho and Metrolitho, and then became employed at Ingersoll Rand. After leaving Ingersoll Rand, he decided to open WF Renovations, doing home renovations and repairs from which he is now retiring.
As a young boy of 9 or 10, he started to develop an interest in music and by the age of 13 he realized that he really had a special love and passion for music. His father played a little fiddle in the home and to this day Willie Fisk still has that fiddle even though he doesn’t play it.
“My instrument of heart is my bass guitar but I also enjoy strumming along on rhythm guitar. I have never had guitar lessons, just self-taught. My brother Lloyd bought a Harmony Archtop guitar which I learned to play on so I guess you could say that was where it began,” said the musician.
“To this day, I’m still practicing and learning. I made my first bass amp from parts that were given to me. There were times that my parent’s living room became one of the places to practice with my buddies – Dave Gordon and Larry Dougherty. The skating shack at Atto Beaver was also a place where one could hear the boys jamming around. This practicing and jamming around lead to the formation of the band The Country Kings,” explained Fisk, the first band he played with. It included Dave Gordon, Larry Dougherty, Archie Sayer and himself. Their first gig was when he was barely16 at The Hut.
“I remember having to sneak in the back door and leave by the back door. When Archie left the band he was replaced by Johnny Pingatori. The Country Kings were together for at least 7 years. Bury was one of our frequent places to play. We boys had some pretty fun times creating great memories (good and bad),” he recalled.
Although he played regularly in his younger years, there came a time when he started having kids of his own. This changes life quite a bit so he had to take some time off to be home with them.
He was only playing short gigs and filling in on bass when a band needed someone. But still he kept honing skills on the bass and on the guitar. Fisk loves music for the love of music but through the years it gave him a lot of good times and memories that would last for a lifetime.
“When you play music you get to play in such a variety of places: community / town halls, July 1st Celebrations, Legions, tents, garages, dance halls, churches, bonfires, fairgrounds just to name some of them. Another plus are all the great people that you get to meet with new friendships quite often being made,” Fisk said.
If you asked this musician what his favorite musical genre is, he would definitely say Country, but more specifically Texas Country. Fisk has an appreciation for many of the country music artists.
“My favorite artists are Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, The Eagles, CCR and more recent adding artists like Dwight Yoakam, Blackberry Smoke, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Reckless Kelly, Kevin Fowler, Rhonda Vincent,” he said about the singers on his playlist.
When you have been playing music for over 50 years, you have many memories and once in a while they come to mind and take you right back in time.
“I remember good times playing with my father-in-law, Billy Graham and Tom Wheeler, Jerry Robitaille (one of his last jams was with the boys in Island Brook). Sid Prescott and myself played backup for Mac Wiseman from WWVA radio station.
There were also good friends like Bernie Lefebvre, Ron Clark, Bob Lasenba, Ronnie and Murray Ward. And I recall filling in with Steve Powers if Roger Goodsell was unable to play. Ross Roach, Terry Howell, Tom Kilbride, David
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