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This musician and folk artist has literally leaned on music during these tough times—by creating the “crutch-jo.”

Leaning on music to get us through tough times

This past year has certainly been challenging for all of us. Lockdowns and social distancing due to COVID-19 have been dicult. I’ve managed to endure these diculties with music and tinkering in my workshop.

One morning as I was driving around looking for treasures that others had cast aside, I found an old wooden crutch, ironically in the same neighbourhood where I’d lived 60 years ago. As a musician and a folk artist crafting homemade canjos—my story, “For the Love of Music,” appeared in the April-may 2020 issue of Our Canada—i immediately saw the possibilities of what this old crutch could be transformed into. I eagerly went to work and turned the crutch into a six-string slide guitar.

I used some old guitar parts I had lying around, anchored the strings by modifying an old cheese grater and attached a small electric pickup. Since there is no fretboard, the “crutch-jo” is played with a slide. My choice is an old glass medicine bottle— works like a charm.

This project has been so rewarding to complete.

In a time when we all need something to lean on, what better than a crutch that can play a tune. A friend of mine once told me he always leans on music during tough times— with a crutch-jo, you literally can!

Noel can be reached at noelmarentette@ hotmail.com. Enjoy him playing his crutch-jo at rd.ca/crutch

Left from above: A recent pic of Noel; an acoustic guitar turned shelf used to store musical gear; threestring slide made from old knob and tube insulators; the completed sixstring crutch-jo.