Ontario’s Country Music Pioneers:
The History of the “Ontario’s Country Music Pioneers”

Here’s a recap of the history of the “Ontario’s Country Music Pioneers” series. As you can see, we have now reached the 100 mark in the series (go-ahead, count ‘em!!).

The series, published in monthly newsletters on the Country Music Association Ontario website (www.cmaontario.ca), was launched in May, 2016 – the result of CMA Ontario Director and Past President, Bruce Good, approaching fellow Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame inductee, Larry Delaney, to provide formal coverage of the Ontario-based artists and builders who paved the way for the Canadian Country Music industry as we know it today.

Ottawa-based Larry Delaney was well-versed on the subject, as the long-time Editor and Publisher of the journal, “Country Music News” (1980-2012). Delaney has since delivered similar coverage with his Facebook posts, providing a comprehensive look back at the history of Canadian Country music.

Larry Delaney has been well recognized for his years of dedication to the Canadian Country music industry – an 11-time winner of the CCMA’s “Country Music Person Of The Year” award, and the recipient of the CCMA’s “Hank Smith Award Of Excellence” (2012). He is the recipient of the Country Music Association of Ontario’s “Country Music Person Of The Year” (2000), and the prestigious CMA Ontario “Impact Award” (2022). He is a 1989 inductee into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame, and a 1996 inductee to the CCMA’s Hall Of Honour, as an industry “Builder”. Larry and his wife, Joanne, were jointly inducted into the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993.

ONTARIO’S COUNTRY MUSIC PIONEERS: May 2016 to October 2025

Smiley Bates, Honey West, Joe Firth, Myrna Lorrie, Terry Carisse, Diane Leigh, Gary Buck, Gordie Tapp, The Mercey Brothers, Mike Graham, Colleen Peterson, David Thompson, Mickey McGivern, Ray Francis, Bob King, Orval Prophet, Donna Moon, Jack Kingston, Mary Bailey, Irwin Prescott, Al Brisco, Donna Ramsay, Jerry Warren, Frank Jones, Hank Rivers, Jack Bailey, Anita Perras, Don Cochrane, Ted Daigle, Dallas Harms, Terry Parker, Neville Wells, Ralph Carlson, Ross Allen, Harold MacIntyre, Julie Lynn, Ron McMunn, Johnny Burke, Alabama (Cdn.), Al Bruno, Larry Coad, Rhythm Sweethearts, Paul Weber, Bob Lucier, Marie Bottrell, Hugh Scott, Canadian Zephyr, Mike O’Reilly, Carroll Baker, Gordon Lightfoot, George Fox, Wendell Ferguson, The Good Brothers, J.K. Gulley, Sylvia Tyson, Wayne Rostad, Tommy Hunter, Randall Prescott, Jimmy Phair, Sneezy Waters, Cliff Edwards, Tim Taylor, Clint Curtiss, Shirley Eikhard, Gilles Godard, Ward Allen, Blake Emmons, Mike “Pepe” Francis, Jack Scott, Ron McLeod, Murray McLauchlan, Winston James, Colin Butler, Nancy Ryan, Fred Dixon, Jerry Palmer, Ron Sparling, Bobby Lalonde, Ken Reynolds, Ollie Strong, Terry Sumsion, Dan Paul Rogers, Con Archer, Cyril Rawson, Family Brown, Prairie Oyster, Roy Penney, The Post Family, Earl Heywood, Edward J. (Ed) Preston, Brent Williams, Paul Gurry, Mac Beattie, Molly-Ann Leikin, Mel Aucoin, Slim Gordon, Ken Post, Sharon Lowness, Ron Dann.