COUNTRY QUEBEC

« Country Music has been popular in Québec for decades, the genre having developed its own festivals, stars, and repertoire. A few exceptions notwith-standing, however, home-grown country artists of recent years have been mostly mediocre, sometimes even being personifications of kitsch. That hasn’t always been the case. Country Music was being recorded in Québec as far back as the 1920s and the style, replete with yodeling and allusions to horses and trains, reached an apex after WWII. Well over half of the 50 tracks on Country Quebec, a double-CD compilation, are from the 40s, many of them Québecois versions of American songs. Each CD ends with an original English song from the mid-20s, namely Wendell Hall’s « It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo » and Vernon Dalhart’s « The Prisoner’s Song », followed by their Québec renditions. The three biggest stars of early Québec country, namely Willie Lamothe, Marcel Martel, and Paul Brunelle, are well represented. La Bolduc, here referred to as Mary Bolduc, also shows up in a 1936 duet performance, using the « Red River Valley » melody for her tribute to mothers-in-law. She’s one of merely four women singers included. Almost half the song titles refer to the West and half of those actually include the word « cowboy » in their title. The songs offer a fascinating glimpse at how popular American culture quickly transcended language barriers and permeated foreign cultures. The music isn’t sophisticated and is sometimes bland, but much of it has a certain charm, wich is more than can be said for much of the Québecis country music of more recent decades. » Paul-Emile COMEAU – DIRTY LINEN Presse du Canada