2003 Inductees
 

http://www.carrollbakersinger.ca

Carl Elliot was born on December 25, 1928 in Pleasant Hills, Nova Scotia. He started playing guitar and fiddle as a teenager for dances with his mother, Abbie and brother, Gerald in Economy where the family now resides. In 1947 he left Economy to go to Ontario to find work, and in the early fifties started playing in the fiddle Country Bands. While playing with Ramblin' Ross Allen he played fiddle on a recording by Ross Allan & The Homesteaders and then was asked to make an old time fiddle by "Arc Records". For this record he used his brothers, Merile, on guitar, Gerald, on fiddle & guitar, and Percy (Ace), on piano, along with Albert Walton on "stand up" bass. Carl recorded two albums on Arc, one on the "Point" label and later three albums with his sons, Bill and Mike. Bill (age 15), on guitar, and Mike (age 11), on electric bass, on the "Marathon" label, which were distributed across Canada. While living in Ajax, Ontario, Carl played country fiddle with Floyd Lloyd and later with "Gord Grills and the Road Rangers". Gord was the president of the Hank Snow Fan Club in that area for many years. In 1972, Carl and family moved back to Nova Scotia, where he had purchased a dance hall in Portaupique Beach and, with a family band, had old time dances for a few years. Carl has played all around the Maritimes and in Manitoba where he lived for a year, as well as in Ontario. He has played for dances, shows, weddings, clubs, and in church. He has composed several fiddle tunes, including "Allie's Hornpipe", Carl Elliott's Hornpipe and Glenda's Reel (named for his daughter, Glenda). Glenda's Reel is very popular and is played and recorded by several fiddlers all across Canada. He has recently composed four more tunes, including "The Pleasant Hills Waltz", "The Dugway Jig", "Roda G. Keel" and "Shiftin' Gears". (Carl was a truck driver for many years) These tunes will be on a new C.D., which he, Bill, Mike, and Glenda are now working on and hope to have it out in the near future. This C.D will have Bill on guitar, fiddle and banjo and Mike, also on fiddle, mandolin, piano and bass, and Glenda on snare drum. Carl has played a variety of styles on the fiddle over the years, including "Back UP Country", "Old Time" and "Swing" and has recently joined, along with his sons, Bill and Mike, The Birchmountain Bluegrass Band, which was formed by Larry and Mark Boutilier, twenty-five years ago. They are very busy with the Bluegrass Festivals all summer, and are enjoying it very much. He has also won the Maritime Old Time Fiddle Contest in Dartmouth, N.S., several times and has also been a judge in the Dartmouth Contest and others. He has been one of the best known fiddlers in Canada for many years. He and his brothers played in Ontario for several years and recorded on the Point and Arc labels. After returning to Nova Scotia, Carl continued to play and record with two of his sons in the band. He plays several styles equally well.

Hugh A. MacDonald, known as (Hughie number 11) and as "The Polka King" was born in Lanark, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. Antigonish is a musical crossroads of great importance and a starting point for the history of Canadian fiddle records beginning with Hugh being one of the first fiddlers to record Scottish fiddle music in Canada back in the 1930s.

Hugh was a pioneer recording artist and for his importance to the tradition and contribution to the music industry was awarded a Stompin' Tom Connors award at the 2001 ECMA's.

Hugh played the fiddle and the piano from a young age coming from a family of musicians. He recorded on 78 rpm in 1932 some of the most popular tunes, "The Honeymoon Polka", "The Crooked Stovepipe" and "The Starlight Waltz".

He recorded Scottish fiddle music in 1935 and 1936 on the Celtic Music label. He passed away in 1976 but has passed on his family's musical talents to his well-known grandchildren Kendra and Troy MacGillivray.

Eric Bowers was born in 1934 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia but moved to Fall River as a young lad. He is the oldest of nine children. As a boy he enjoyed country music and learned to play the guitar and sing. He started playing and singing in his mother's living room. His mother said he always wanted to be a singing cowboy and when he was 7 years old he made his first guitar out of his grandfather's cigar box and elastics. Eric spotted a guitar he really liked in Simpsons when he was young. His mother put the $35 guitar on her account and Eric promised to pay her $2.50 from his paper route every month. He still has this guitar today. Eric later moved to Stewiacke where he now resides. Around 1951, he met Carl Dalrymple and they performed together on the Eric Bowers Show on Truro CKCL radio station for 5 years. These shows were sent and played at radio stations in Windsor, Kentville, Antigonish, and Bridgewater. Around 1954 Eric performed on a CBC TV show called Roundabout. Eric is known for his popular Elvis routine, which he started in 1956 at the Casino Theatre in Halifax while doing a benefit show to raise money for the Springhill mine disaster. He also began playing dances in 1956 in the Sackville and Bedford areas. He played on Country Time with Vic Mullen and Myrna Lorrie and also appeared several times as a special guest on the Downeasters show in the early 60's. Eric formed his band in the late 60's, first known as the Country Music Makers and now known as The Country Folk. Eric and his band are very close and have kept the same band members through the years including Carl Dalrymple, Ron Hanrahan, and eith DeLong. He had his own radio program where he was a DJ for CHFX in Halifax and had the opportunity to personally meet several famous stars such as Johnny Cash and Charley Pride. Eric started playing clubs in Halifax in the early 70's. The first club he played was Harbour Lights Lounge now known as Little Nashville. Eric had the privilege to share the same dressing room and play the same show with Barbara Mandrell in the 70's in Halifax. He has also shared the stage with Don Messer and is good friends with Tom T. Hall. Twin City Records released a 45" in the 70's of Eric's, which included the first song he ever wrote entitled "I'd Give The World To Have You Near Me". The 45" is now a collector's item. In Eric's 60-year career he has performed on Cable television, several Exhibitions, and numerous benefit shows. He has played for the Arthritis Telethon in Truro for almost 20 years. He has been a judge at many talent shows and been involved with a number of presentations through CHFX. Eric was inducted into the CHFX Country Music Hall of Fame and received the Trail Blazer Award from the Nova Scotia Country Music association.

Eric is an avid Hank Williams fan. He is also a Hank Snow and Elvis Presley fan and his favorite song happens to be "Satisfied Mind" by Porter Wagoner. Eric currently performs all over N.S. in senior's complexes, variety shows and festivals. Eric and the Country Folk are still a popular attraction at the Nine Mile River Jamboree where they have been performing for over 35 years.