HILLBILLY NIGHT REGULARS INSIST ‘SHOW WILL GO ON’
Cloud of uncertainly hangs over weekly celebration of old-time country music
The lights went out Monday on Hillbilly Night at the Wheel Club.
Relax, it was just a power blackout. It would take a lot more than that to snuff out the resolve of members of the Old Time Country Music Club of Canada, who made their way out on one of the most bone-chilling nights of the winter to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Hillbilly Night at the Cavendish Blvd. club. The spirit of their hero, Hank Williams, clearly conquers all.
Besides, power isn’t a problem for these musicians. One of the cardinal rules of Hillbilly Night is that any instruments requiring an electric boost from an amplifier — save for the steel guitar — are verboten. Drums are also banned.
The other stipulation is that there can’t be any crooning or plucking of any country or bluegrass tune written or performed after 1965, when it was deemed by these purists that Nashville took an electric turn for the worse.
The big fear for Hillbilly Night enthusiasts is that the lights will go off permanently for them at the Wheel Club, which has hosted their weekly Monday soirees for 23 years. Last week, it was reported that the future of the club would be in jeopardy at the end of this month unless a deal could be worked out with interested parties.
Dick Hearn, who rents and operates the facility but is planning to retire at month’s end, said Monday night he remains hopeful, but a deal has yet to be arranged.
“We’re praying for the best, but we’re prepared for the worst,” said Hearn, while pouring shots of Irish whiskey at the bar. “I’d love to stay on, but I’m about to turn 83 and I’m getting a little long in the tooth, so it would be nice to retire while I still have my health.”
A decision will have to be made by Jan. 31, but Hillbilly Night is guaranteed at least one last evening at the club on Jan. 28.
The Monday night gatherings were founded by the legendary Bob Fuller (who died last June) at the now-defunct Blue Angel on Drummond St. The leadership torch was eventually passed to Jeannie Arsenault, who’s been a Hillbilly Night regular for 45 years.
“I’ve only missed 10 Mondays in all that time,” Arsenault proudly stated before taking to the Wheel Club stage, and prior to the power outage.
Joined by noted guitarist and music prof Craig Morrison, veteran fiddler Bill Bland and the incomparable Bloodshot Bill on bass, Arsenault did an inspired take on the classic I Fall to Pieces, immortalized by Patsy Cline in 1961.
“Now, don’t go reading too much into me doing that song,” Arsenault informed me after leaving the stage to approving hoots and hollers and cowbells from the audience. “I’m definitely not falling to pieces over our future at the Wheel Club. Sure, everything is still up in the air, but either a deal will be worked out here or we’ll find another place. We’ve survived moves from the Blue Angel to Spurs to here.
“The show will always go on. It’s not for nothing that we’ve lasted 53 years. And it’s not just us old-timers keeping it going. Look at all the young folks who show up to sing and play and dance. This is hillbilly heaven for us all.”
True enough. And who would have ever bet that an old-time, anglo, country music event would have lasted 53 years in this town, continually drawing some of the most proficient players around?
Many apart from Arsenault, it seems, had no doubt.
“There’s just such a purity to these nights and such an abundance of heart,” said Morrison, a regular for 34 years. “There’s just no pretence about Hillbilly Night. It’s all about the ambience of these evenings. It’s certainly not about the decor here, which looks more like your grandmother’s basement.
“I’m hopeful about finding a new venue if we lose this one. Many of us have feelers out, if need be. There’s just too much community and tradition and goodwill around Hillbilly Night for it to disappear.”
The buzz is that Royal Canadian Legion halls in Lachine and N.D.G. could be interested in taking over Hillbilly Night.
Bobby Dove, a prodigiously talented singer-songwriter and musician, is a relative newcomer to the scene, having attended faithfully for the last seven years.
“It’s like an amazing melting pot of that old-time music with all these worlds colliding, and it has allowed me to really grow as a musician by playing with some great pros,” she said. “I also feel there’s a revival amongst my generation for this kind of music — young people who have also come to appreciate the music of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie.”
Then the power went out. And up to the stage leaped Dove, Arsenault, Bloodshot Bill, Bland, Morrison and others. And in the dark, they broke out into an absolutely rousing rendering of Williams’s I Saw the Light.
Yup, ya gotta believe Hillbilly Night will make it through many more Mondays.