Stanford Chicoyne showing me a picture of Keith and his cousin, Verna Chicoyne, singing together. (Photo by Glenn Patterson)

While much of Gaspé’s population is in the woods this week moose hunting, I spent this rainy Tuesday catching up on tapes I’d been meaning to transfer to the computer for awhile. Several Barachois residents have recently loaned me tapes of the late Keith Chicoyne who passed away last December and I decided to spend the day catching up on these tapes.

I’ll have much more to share and say about Keith’s music in the future, but for now here’s just a little context: Keith was from Barachois West (in a section colloquially referred to as “the Ridge”) and was a prolific poet and songwriter, modelling his sound after singers like Jimmie Rodgers, Wilf Carter, Hank Williams, and Hank Snow. His music encompasses a wide range of themes including shipwrecks and disaster songs; Western tales of gunfighters and gamblers; hommages to his country music heroes; local Gaspé characters and events; and at least one about extraterrestrial exploration.

Towards the end of a tape I just finished transferring, a song came up that was just so perfect for this part of the season—when so many are in the woods with family trying to get a moose—that I had to share it right away. “Uncle Norman’s Folly” tells of Keith’s uncles Norman, Victor, and Clem and their misadventures in moose hunting. I hope you enjoy and have better luck than they. There’s a few lessons to be learned here, I’m sure.

Thanks to Stanford Chicoyne and Glenn Maloney for the information and music respectively.

I took this photo of a picture of Keith’s father and uncles (Norman, Victor, Clem, Whitmore, Stanford) the other day at Stanford (Jr.) Chicoyne’s place in Barachois West. Apologies for the glare.

fonds: Glenn Maloney (GM-CS-003)