Teenage fiddler opens for local legend
Larry Mercey Trio headlines Gale Church fundraising concert
IT’LL BE SOMETHING OF A
meeting of young and experienced musicians in a charity concert at Gale Presbyterian later this month. The Larry Mercery Trio will be joined by special guest up-and-coming fiddler
Leo Stock.
Mercey was a seven-time Juno Award winner during his time with his previous group, the Mercey Brothers. He founded the trio with George Lonsbury and Al Alderson in 2004. This will be their third time performing at the church in the last 10 years.
“It’d be mostly classic country music with a little bit of gospel,” Mercey said of what concert-goers can expect.
“We don’t use drums at all. We just feel that it is like us coming into the listeners living room, so that we’re not too loud – just like we’re just singing to them.”
At just 18 years of age, Stock has already won several awards, including being an Ontario Open Fiddle finalist, a Canadian Open Step Dance champion and a two-time Ontario Open Step Dance champion. While Stock has some natural talent, he has obviously worked hard to get to where he is. It is rare for someone that young to be among the top fiddlers, Mercey noted.
“To see young people at a concert like this, I’m an old guy, I’ve been at it for years and they enjoy seeing young people work at doing something they love. This is our first time working with Leo. To be as good as he is, he’s had to practice, he’s had to have worked at his trade.”
Stock originally started as a step dancer at just five years old. He was introduced to fiddle music through his dancing.
“When you do that because it’s the definitively Canadian style – you dance to Canadian fiddle music. I would go around to the contests and whatnot and dance to the music, and I was like, ‘man, this fiddle music thing is really cool.’ So I wanted to play the fiddle.
Stock started taking fiddle lessons at age nine,