// by Larry Delaney // (#85 in the Ontario Country Music Pioneers Series) Family Brown, an Ottawa Valley-based group achieved a level of success that has gone unmatched in the Canadian Country music industry. Their trophy shelf is filled with Juno Awards, “Big Country” and Canadian Country Music awards, the CMAO’s prestigious Impact Award, among many other accolades. During the 1980’s they were named CCMA’s Group Of The Year on seven occasions. Family Brown were inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1997, and earlier, were inductees of the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1991. The Family Brown act was assembled in 1968 by Joe Brown. He had performed for years first as a member of the Nova Scotia-based […]

// by Larry Delaney // (#84 in the Ontario Country Music Pioneers Series) The Canadian Country music landscape is filled with gifted, creative songwriters. Right at the top of that list is Ontario-bred songwriter, CYRIL RAWSON – the man has 1,155 working titles filed in the BMI Song Registry, and likely tons more sitting in his guitar case waiting to be finished. Music has surrounded Cyril Rawson throughout his years. He was born in Newcastle-On-Tyne, England, and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, where his family operated Rawson Music Stores in town and in nearby Lindsay. Cyril was given the opportunity to be part of that lifestyle, but chose to devote his talents to the songwriting sector of the music industry… There wasn’t much of a learning […]

// by Larry Delaney // (#83 in the Ontario Country Music Pioneers Series)     Singer/songwriter CON ARCHER was born Conrad William Archer, November 8, 1941, in Bourlamaque, (Val D’Or), Quebec. He later moved to Orillia, Ontario where he first worked as a barber, and then pursued a singing career, initially performing with the local group, The Fairlanes, singing Country and Gospel music.  By the early 1970s, Con Archer headed up his own group, “The Sundowners”, and began his recording career, which would see him release seven albums and a series of nationally-charted hit singles. A debut album, “The Many Moods Of Con Archer”, was released on the Dominion Records label in 1970. The album was produced by Jury Krytiuk and recorded in Nashville studios. The […]