Southern Ontario artist Marty Allen, named after the late Marty Robbins, was born into a blue-collared middle class family and weaned on Sun Record artists Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. “It was a simple sound, yet energetic and commanding” states Allen who received his first guitar at the age of eight. Although not musicians themselves, his parents possessed a real love for music. “There was always music playing in the house and Sunday mornings we would hear the gospel music crackling from the hi-fi”.
Apprenticeship years entailed sitting in with family neighbor Russ and Uncle Jack playing everything from Letter Edged in Black to the Wildwood Flower at Saturday night parties.
After graduating “honky-tonk 101” Marty went on to form his own band playing the taverns and beer-joints. He has released five independent albums since then: Daybreak’s Coming (2000), Marty Allen (2001), Living Life (2002), Blue Church Road (2005), and recently the Sun Sessions (2009) receiving airplay and performing various festivals.
In March of this year Allen got a chance to record at the legendary Sun Records Studio in Memphis Tennessee where B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all got their start. Recorded live off the floor the record captures the energy and feel of those early 1950’s recordings, drawing from Sam Phillips philosophy. The album consists of five originals and three covers which include Sun label mates Cash, Perkins, and Texas good old boy Junior Brown.
Marty Allen can be found playing to fans and winning the unconverted over with his band the Cadillac Cowboys.
The Peace River Band will also be appearing on stage. They have been many places this fall, including Marshville in Wainfleet and the Balls Falls Thanksgiving Craft Show. Here's a short biography of their group.
In May of 2006, Mary Lou was teaching at an elementary school in Fort Erie, Ontario. She was looking for some musicians to perform with, and got the number of a musician named Kirk Ritchie from the owner of a music store. Little did she know how much her life would change with that one phone call. Kirk had a bluegrass gospel band called Peace River and was looking for some more musicians. His mission was to spread the message of love and hope with bluegrass music. She went to a rehearsal and was asked to come back and play a gig with them the following week. From there, they continued to rehearse and the band grew from four to six members. They travelled all over the Niagara Region and into Greater Buffalo. Sadly on October 15, 2006, Kirk suddenly passed away. He was only 57. The band played for his memorial and then spoke of keeping Kirk's vision alive. The band regrouped and added some new musicians and have been playing for private functions and festivals ever since. We continue to celebrate Kirk's life with bluegrass music...
Tickets for the 7:30 pm performance are available from all team members as well as from Clarences Service Center and Wellandport Home Hardware. Refreshments will be available.
