PROFILE
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Down the lane with Cornwall’s country music gentleman
After a few years touring with “Lone Pine” and three children later, Leger returned to his roots in Cornwall, which he claims was his biggest mistake. “There was no work here in 1951. There were no jobs, so I started playing at the Lloyd George Hotel five nights a week for $100 per week. I played with Charlie Heward and Gor- die Summers. When CKSF TV opened in Cornwall, Leger was the first performer on the network. “I got sponsors for my programs” explains Leger. “Each sponsor paid me three dollars a show. Sponsors like the Jim Clement grocery store, and the Marie Boisclair, Second Hand shop contributed.” Leger also played at the popular dance halls and clubs of the day with bands like “The Golden Bar Rangers, and with his band “Smokey and the Western Stars” at Hotel Ce- cile in Quebec. In the years that followed Leger joined the army for six years and was posted to Gag- etown, N.B., but then returned home with his family to Cornwall, and once again became known on the music scene with the release of his first album Love At First Sight. The al- bum featured six original tunes including Waltz of the Bride composed by Leger, as well as the talents of the Brisson Brothers. Waltz of the Bride was promoted by Hawk- shaw Hawkins down in West Virginia. The song was also later recorded by the late Ca- nadian icon Stompin’ Tom Connors in the 1970’s. “I remember when Connors was playing at the Water Street arena with Wilf Carter, and Connors invited me in for a beer. He told me he remembered the shows I played in Prince Edward Island along with Lone Pine , and that he was a kid who used to sit in the front row watching me perform on my D28 Martin. I thanked him for recording my song, and Connors kept in touch with me. On my 80th birthday, he sent me an autographed photo.” Now at 87, and seven children later, Leger looks back on his years with pride. His chil- dren, also part of the Cornwall music scene formed a band with their father in the late 1960’s, titled The Leger Family Band , and over the years they played at community events, stages, and weddings. Today Leger still plays shows here and there, and each year is fea- tured at Guy Lauzon’s garden party.
LISA ETHERINGTON- RUNIONS
Lucien Leger, more commonly known by his stage name“Smokey Martin,”reminisc- es about his life in the world of country music. The 87-year-old Canadian country music pioneer who contributed greatly to music in Canada has many a story to tell, and still plays many a tune, and while lis- tening to him you realize his words echo a unique time in Canadian country music history. Born March 15, 1926, Leger was raised in Cornwall, and grew up listening to country music on his parent’s radio. They tuned in to WWVA, the Victor Arthur show coming from WheelingWest Virginia. It was this music that inspired the young seven-year-old, and by the time he was 10, his parents bought him a seven dollar Lone Ranger guitar from the Sears catalogue. Leger never looked back and from that point on he started emulat- ing stars like Gene Autry, and became a self- taught guitarist. By the time he was 14 years old Gerry Kir- key started teaching him theory, and then Leger began to pursue his career in country music joining a local band, Will Gaylord and the Texas Ramblers. They played gigs locally and in Pembroke for three dollars per night. “The only problem was we had nights in Pembroke,” explains Leger, “and we drove there in an old three seater dodge loaded with musicians and gear. I sat on the floor and on cold nights it was drafty.” At 17 years old, Leger headed to Nova Sco- tia, recruited by Jack Adams who owned a production company out of Montreal. The young Leger, fairly new on the country mu- sic circuit worked for one of the largest fairs in Oxford, N.S. and played solo as a side act earning $ 21 a week plus room and board. Country music was gaining popularity in the 1940’s, so Leger convinced Gaylord to come to Nova Scotia and they re-formed the band playing various gigs on the East Coast. When the band left to come back to Cornwall, Leger stayed in Nova Scotia and to make ends meet he joined a circus running the Ferris wheel. “The money wasn’t great, but I enjoyed
Photo-Lisa Etherington-Runions
Pictured is Lucien Leger, otherwise known as “Smokey Martin” with a photo of him- self in the 1940’s, along with a photo personally autographed and sent to him by Stompin’Tom Connors
what I was doing,” said Leger. Then as luck would have it, Leger met Elly Rouche, a Moncton, N.B. who convinced him to go to Summerside, P.E.I. where he met up with Hal “Lone Pine”Breau. At the time Leger didn’t have a guitar because he sold it for
in Southern New Brunswick and Nova Sco- tia. The highlight of this time in his life was also playing alongside Lefty Frizzele in Fred- ericton, New Brunswick. American country singer Hawkshaw Hawkins also played for two weeks with the band, and later left and
food, so Breau lent him his D28 Martin, and when he heard Leger, he knew he wanted Leger to play with them. “ This is how I got my stage name “Smokey Martin,” said Leger.
headed to Nashville, Tenn. Hawkins died along with Patsy Cline in a plane crash in 1963. It wasn’t long be- fore Lone Pine and His Mountaineers gained
“The money wasn’t great, but I enjoyed what I was doing.”
popularity through radio stations such as CFBC in Saint John, and CKCL radio in Truro, Nova Scotia. “I remember it well it was 1949 and while in Truro I met the love of my life, Jean Eliza- beth Anderson. After going out for six weeks we eloped. We got married NewYear’s Eve in Cornwall. I wanted her to see my home, and then we returned down east. It wasn’t long before we started a family.”
Breau’s band “Lone Pine and His Moun- taineers” gained international fame, and Hal along with band members Betty Cody, his wife and yodeler and imitator, Smokey Martin, ace vocalist/guitarist, and Art Maher, guitarist toured the East Coast in Canada and the United States, winning several contests before returning to New Brunswick. There they performed in almost every community
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