Ontario’s Country Music Pioneers:
Smokey Martin

The late “SMOKEY MARTIN” was born Lucien Rene Leger on March 15, 1926, in Cornwall, Ontario. He is remembered as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter who performed with the “Hal Lone Pine & Betty Cody” show.

Lucien Leger began his music career in the late 1940’s, and by 1950, he was asked to join the “Hal Lone Pine & Betty Cody” show, an act that had become a headline attraction in Hal “Lone Pine” Breau’s home state of Maine…so popular that their music reached into the Canadian Maritimes where they quickly became fan favourites.

Hal Breau’s wife, Betty Cote, was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec. They were the parents of the late Lenny Breau, who would become world-recognized as a master guitarist.

 

The group initially recorded at RCA Studios in Montreal in 1950-51 with Hugh Joseph producing their sessions.

Smokey Martin played several roles while with the Hal Lone Pine group. He was a guitar player, he provided comedic relief on stage, and he often was a “baby-sitter” to Lennie Breau…with Smokey providing rudimentary guitar lessons to the youngster who quickly blossomed into a “guitar wonder boy”.

Lenny Breau would later meet a tragic death on August 12, 1984, when his body was found in a Los Angeles apartment swimming pool, in what remains an unsolved murder case.

Smokey Martin was also a gifted songwriter, composing several songs, which Hal Lone Pine would attach his name to as a co-writer. At the early-1950 Montreal sessions, Hal Lone Pine recorded the Smokey Martin songs “Oh Lord Please Tell Me, Do”, “Little Jeannie, “A Hundred Times” and “The Waltz Of The Bride”, the latter released as a 78rpm RCA single in 1951. “The Waltz Of The Bride” song was later recorded by Edmonton-based Gaby Haas and by Stompin’ Tom Connors.

After coming off the road in the early 1960s, Smokey Martin worked the local Cornwall, Ontario, music scene performing with “The Golden Bar Rangers” and other groups. He also found time to record his own solo album “Love At First Sight” (London Records), which included six of his original songs and featured Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Famers, The Brisson Brothers. There was little promotion behind the album, and the London Records label released the package with amateurish front cover artwork, which didn’t help sales.

Smokey Martin’s guitar work has also been featured on an album recorded by Canadian fiddle great Johnny Mooring.

 

 

In his senior years, Smokey Martin also headed up “The Leger Family Band,” a popular group in their hometown that featured his sons Alan, Daryl, Brian, and Mark. Alan would go on to perform behind Country singer Tammy McRae; Daryl would become a member of Bruce Golden’s band, and Brian Leger (better known as “Bonzo” Leger) has toured behind Michelle Wright, The Dennis Whitty band, Ted & Leissa & River Road, among several other groups.

A full-page tribute to Smokey Martin was published in the April 2006 edition of Country Music News. Lucien Leger (Smokey Martin) passed away on September 20, 2019, in Cornwall, Ontario.