I'm from The Ottawa Valley and I heard Ward Allen play Maple Sugar so many times one Sunday afternoon at the Lakeside Hotel in Portage du Fort You could smell the Maple Sugar, Everyone who dropped in for a drink requested Maple Sugar and that day there were many who had a thirst for Ward's Fiddle music and a cold beer God Bless You Ward You were "The Greatest"
Wow,,,,,,all the fighting for a fiddle tune ??! My Dad would be proud ! He Met and played with Ward Allen,,,and my Dad was a big time fiddle player in the Ottawa Valley, Also. He told me many a times,,,Maple Sugar is the best Fiddle tune and the most famous by Ward Allen !!!!
Such a great Canadian classic. Nobody plays it like Ward Allen. It was a sad day in music when he passed away. Many have tried to copy, but none have mastered.
Believe me. I have heard many play Maple Sugar. But. No one can master it like Ward. I say ha was Canada best. I could listen to him all day proud to be Canadian.
Hearing Ward Allen play his own fiddle tune is just delightful. It's gotta be one of the happiest sounding tunes I've ever heard. Who could ever frown while listening to Maple Sugar? lol
Jesus boys I'm crying my eyes out!! Back in the early 60's my Dad came home with a second hand record player and one record and it was Maple Sugar with Back up and Push on he flipside. He never had a lot to be happy about in his life but he was happy that day, I will always remember the look on his face. I haven't heard this tune for 45 years.
I grew up in rural manitoba and this song has always stuck with me. I remember my grandpa trying to learn the fiddle with this song at 70. He passed on but I will always associate this song with him.:)
Ward Allen, from Kirkton, Ontario began playing the fiddle at the age of 12 performing with his brother, Lorne, who also taught him most of his repertoire. Allen won several fiddle competitions of the time, including the open class of the 1953 Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers' Contest. In 1954 through 1956, Allen toured with Canadian country great Wilf Carter and subsequently became a founding member of the Ottawa-based group, The Happy Wanderers, with “Papa” Joe Brown. Allen recorded three volumes of, ‘Ward Allen Presents Maple Leaf Hoedown’, which were posthumously reissued as, ‘The Best of Ward Allen’. Ward Allen passed away on August 3, 1965 at the age of 41.
One of the greatest Canadian fiddle tunes ever written and played by a great Canadian fiddler, Ward Allen!! Every fiddler that I know tries to replicate the wonderful style of Ward Allen!! I think that is one the most beautiful compliments that can be bestowed to an artist.. Thanks Mr. Allen
What great memories this brings, I had the privilege to work with Ward as a young singer with The Happy Wanderers in the Ottawa Valley, back in the 50s, so many try to imitate Ward but no one can play like he did
Ward Allen, Fiddler, composer, b Kirkton, near London, Ont, 11 May 1924, d Hull, Que, 3 Aug 1965. Allen began recording for Sparton in 1954, completing three volumes of Ward Allen Presents Maple Leaf Hoedown (SP-203, SP-210, SP-213), posthumously reissued in part as Best of Ward Allen (2-GRT 2230-1031). His recording of his own Maple Sugar was a hit in Canada and the USA in 1957. The tune, considered a classic of the Canadian fiddle repertoire, has also been recorded by many other performers.
My Dad (who lived near there in the late '30's and most of the '40's) told me this tune was composed by Ward at a kitchen party at a house (now gone) west of Staffa Ont. "First house on the Hibbert side of the townline on the Staffa road" is what he said.
I want it played at my funeral when the time comes, love fiddle music and danced many times to ward allen when he played with the barndance gang from wingham, ont.
these old fiddle music will always remind me of my great-grandfather.and great-grandmother...still to this day there still listening to there fave music.......loveuse
I play this song every day on the fiddle , it was a challenge at first and I admit I played ward allen over and over to get it like he plays it , theres something about this song that stands out and gives you the fever to play it , an awesome dance song and a classic heritage piece that ward gave to all Canadians to be proud of never realizing the impact of his song would have on people all over the world
Ward Allen Was Indeed A Great Fiddle Player And Another Great Fiddle Player Is My Father In Law "Clarence Edward Bush" When He Plays "Maple Sugar" It Is In The Same Style As Ward Allen And He Just Turned 95 January 20th 2011
My grandfather ,Ventrice Thomas bought a maple fiddle in 1915 for $5[a months wages then, he told me] and him and my Uncle Donald, on guitar used to play dances around the Interlake district in Manitoba during the 30's to help put food on the table.I remember him playing this and St Annes reel when I was young and we'd watch Don Messer on Monday nights having bannock with homemade jam and tea.Sure miss those days..Always remember you Granddad....
Back in the good old days we spemt many a night on the Quebec side drinking and dancing at the Forest Inn, The Maple Leaf and many other hotels to numerous to mention. Also did you ever attend the Dance Halls throughtout the Valley and March 17th at "The Douglas Hotel" I could tell you about many fun times all of Us had in the back seat outside the hotels and dance halls. Get me started and I could go on for hours LOL
Excellent video, brings back a lot of memories, not all comfortable because it gets real cold late at night boiling down the sap. Ward Allen plays the strings right off this fiddle and I have never heard a better rendition of this song. Wish we could have had him with us so we could dance to great music and keep warm at the same time. Thanks for putting this video up on YT.
Thanks for postin this. I've just recently discovered this great tune and am learning it on the fiddle. Nothing better than playing along with Ward Allen, the master, himself. Merci beaucoup. Bill
I love this - my grandfather used to take us kids to the sugar bush in New Brunswick just like this. The two Clydesdales - Dot and Mike - the sleigh and collecting the maple syrup. I love these tunes!
That's me! Grew up with this tune, my dad played in Old Tyme dance bands, country hall dances were never complete without Maple Sugar sometime in the night.
@@banaabekwegirl5731 😀😀😀 LIKE YOUR COMMENT WHEN OUR DAD AND BROTHER PLAYED THIS TUNE ON THE TWIN FIDDLES, THE DANCE HALL FLOOR WAS FULL. BEST VERSION THE COUNTRY TIGERS CANADA
If you walk up to Ward Allen's gravestone at Roys Cemetery, west of Russeldale, Ontario, you will see a fiddle engraved on it. I think of him playing this great song every time I see it on there.
Great respect for your research. I have recently seen this song described as a "French Canadian" piece, also not true. Ward Allen wrote this piece. He was born near London, Ontario though died in Hull, Québec. He won the 1953 Canadian Open Fiddle Championship in Shelburne, Ont. My grandfather played this tune accompanied by my mother on piano. Another classic of Ward's was "Back Up and Push". April Verch has an excellent youtube video explaining the different Canadian fiddling styles.
Good anaylyis but I though backup and push was a yankee song? Ward died falling down a set of stairs no doubt drunk; he had a metal plate in his head like my uncle who also had metal plate but he got his from shrapnel crossing the Rhine in in 44. Not sure where Ward got his but that man is somewhere out there in the universe, talent like that never dies.
I too love this tune. Reading some of these comments has made me smile such passionate remarks about it's origins lol! I too first came across it in Ali Bain's 50 fiddle tunes a good few years ago and couldn't play it properly.....Now thanks to the wonders of youtube and Ward Allen....I can!!! Tho' I hasten to add Not like the Master! I love and play all genres of music on my fiddle, anything I can get my head round...and fingers! I have really enjoyed playing along with Ward Allen, Don Messer, Ned Landry, and Patti Kustorok and I'm English from right in the middle of the UK. I don't know what nouveau fiddling is? apart from playing tunes too fast and getting over fancy which tends to spoil 'em (orange blossom special for one I've heard some murderous versions on here) Many thanks for the upload it's helped me no end.
I think your definition of "nouveau fiddling" pretty much nails it. People who think since they can do something in a tune they should. Showing off by thinking they're better than the music. Reminds me of the remark someone made about some "hotshot", "He knows a million tunes-and he can't play any of them." Cheers from the Pacific Northwest
Wow, thanks for posting! This is my very favourite fiddle tune. I heard it many times at kitchen parties while growing up back in Montreal and Gaspe area. It's the best!
Thank you so much for posting this. I am a 60 year old from Winnipeg and I have heard many fine fiddle players from Winnipeg play this great tune, but I must say that your version is probably the best I have ever heard. You are a true craftsman and a great musician.
I just listened to don messers version and as much as i like some don messers early 30s stuff i must concede this version truly is the best ever. it captures the true feeling of this song and its genre
Hi, Thanks for this wondreful video! We lived in Vermont 7 years, and tapped a few trees behind our house. We loved the sugaring, and the fiddling there, this tune especially. M. MISSOUIRI CLEM
This is the best version I ever heard of this tune, which I know from local Franco American fiddlers here in Maine. I can hear Allen's influence in the older fiddlers here (many sadly have passed or are no longer playing). Interestingly, while in New Orleans I heard this tune in a Cajun style, only it was not a fiddle tune, it was a song, with French lyrics and fiddle breaks. I spoke with the musicians and it is a traditional song thereabouts.
I go overboard stressing the fact that this was a unique tune composed by Ward Allen in the best tradition of old timey music. Often people here in the US will play variations of the the song and say 'Hey this was a song brought over from the old country' but that is not true. The fact is old time music is still evolving as it is a people's music, work music and dance and fun music, like real folk music.
Thanks Tom Towle for posting this great fiddle tune.Mymom's dad(originally from Adjala Township,Ontario) used to play fiddle.As a kid,I watched Don Messer every week with him.Ward Allen, I believe was originally from Grey County,around the Chesley area.BTW,I am posting a link to an old audio of a Don Messer broadcast,in which the announcer states it is in fact,a Ward Allen song.-My dad was from a farm in Acadian Cape Breton-loved Messer's Jubilee.When I saw Stompin Tom his band opened with this.
I've never heard anyone attribute Maple Sugar to the southern Appalachians! Always thought of it as one of the true Canadian chestnuts. Such beautiful fiddling here.
Truly honored to have Bruce comment here. One of few fiddler alive that I respect (the other is Chirps). I saw you play at a house party in Chicago a few years back. My daughter is learning Pegn Awl the way you recorded it. Take care.
What I mean by the jerk-off fiddling style is best exhibited by the Orange Blossom fiddling style which is not so old tymey at all and more of a hotdog move. Not that I haven't pulled it off a few times. It is not a groove style or dance style fiddling and not so pure and honest to the melody and digging down into the real feeling of the tune. I guess I repeat, it is a hot dog move.
Ward Allen is our hero too...Not only was Ward & his wife Ann, one of our Father's "Hank LaRiviere/River's", good friend's... Ward inspired, our father to write the words of this great fiddle tune & call it Maple Sugar Sweetheart...I have a picture of Ward Allen holding fiddle in one arm, & his..."Canadian Championship Fiddle Trophy" in the other...I would like to post it for your viewing... I will get more info on how and where I can do that...thank you For uploading one of their great songs...sincerely, Hank's daughter...Suzanne Paton.
Thanks Mike...my father & Ward would have been proud to hear your words...With Ward on the fiddle playing Maple Sugar backup, and dad on his guitar singing, "Maple Sugar Sweetheart", they made a great recording team...it was a #1 hit for them playing across Canada. Also CKOY radio station, later named CKBY with DJ at the time, Ted Daigle, in Ottawa, ON., was a big supporter of Hank's & Ward"s music. ...Ward has played fiddle on many of my father's recordings...including Ned Landry, another amazing fiddle player... for more history on my father's musical history, please see hankrivers.com ... also, I have a song here on you tube, named " Highway of Hero"s in Loves Lost and Found "...bless you for sharing... FYI (Rivers/LaRiviere...my father recorded under both names, using the french version from 1937 to 60's, being "Hank LaRiviere". Then from 1967 into the 80's, RCA Camden record company ask my father, Hank, to use the english version of his name. On his, 1967 "Centennial Travels" Album, "Hank LaRiviere", became noted as Hank Rivers. Their reason...saying it was easier for th DJ"s to pronounce...making a big error...by not placing "AKA LaRiviere", on this album to share the name change with his longtime fans, this made it difficult for them to follow my father's music legacy. Hank's fans had no relative name to associate with. Today I am here to share with the public that Hank Rivers/ Hank LaRiviere is the same person with his music under both names right here on you tube...Hank And Ward still shares something to play & sing about...with warmest regards Mike...thank you again for sharing your story...All the best, Hanks daughter suzanne
I have been off line for quite some time due to serious health issues, but now back on I must first apologize to the spirit of Mr. Allen, and the poster of this video. Although I am admittedly quite outspoken on some things, I take pride in knowing the facts *before I speak out* I must confess that after much research myself that in this case i was off base as to the writer of this great tune. Another thing I take pride in is that ability :-)
Thanks for putting this up. It's always great to hear Ward Allen play "Maple Sugar". However, you can praise his music without taking swipes at others. I love old-time fiddling, but also love other types of fiddling. My grandfather, born in Cape Breton in the 1870's, played Cape Breton Scottish music that he learned from older fiddlers. The first commercial recordings of Cape Breton fiddling were made at least two decades before Ward Allen's first record in 1954. The Cape Breton style has changed somewhat over the years, but you could listen to a contemporary Cape-Breton-style fiddler and to early Cape Breton recordings and recognize them both as examples of a similar fiddling style, so I can't see how this music is "nouveau." Canada and the US are big countries, containing many fiddling styles with differing bowing techniques. I appreciate your enthusiasm for Ward Allen's Canadian old-time fiddling, but, again, it's unnecessary to attack others in order to praise your favourites.
You are sadly and badly mistaken. Ward Allen created a new tune with Maple Sugar there has never been anything like it. It was created on top of the music you mention but went beyond in true genius the likes of which we have not seen nor will we. I only attack those who are in error in order that the music of ward is not tainted with other genres of lesser talent.
WARD Allen was a great fiddle player i love his music Canada best.Esther Toronto Canada .
I remember the old days , grandpa on the guitar, my aunt on the piano, cousin on the banjo, and my dad on the fiddle......OTTAWA VALLEY FTW!
Amen
I'm from The Ottawa Valley and I heard Ward Allen play Maple Sugar so many times one Sunday afternoon at the Lakeside Hotel in Portage du Fort You could smell the Maple Sugar, Everyone who dropped in for a drink requested Maple Sugar and that day there were many who had a thirst for Ward's Fiddle music and a cold beer God Bless You Ward You were "The Greatest"
BRINGS BACK GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN I WAS PLAYING WITH MY DAD REALY LOVE THIS REELLLLL
Wow,,,,,,all the fighting for a fiddle tune ??! My Dad would be proud ! He Met and played with Ward Allen,,,and my Dad was a big time fiddle player in the Ottawa Valley, Also. He told me many a times,,,Maple Sugar is the best Fiddle tune and the most famous by Ward Allen !!!!
Such a great Canadian classic. Nobody plays it like Ward Allen. It was a sad day in music when he passed away. Many have tried to copy, but none have mastered.
Nice video. I had a great visit at a Maple farm last week.
He was number one in my book.....the best and he enjoys playing that fiddle
I could listen to this every day.
Believe me. I have heard many play Maple Sugar. But. No one can master it like Ward. I say ha was Canada best. I could listen to him all day proud to be Canadian.
I danced around our kitchen to this tune when I was just a young child...still love it!
3
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Hearing Ward Allen play his own fiddle tune is just delightful. It's gotta be one of the happiest sounding tunes I've ever heard. Who could ever frown while listening to Maple Sugar? lol
Jesus boys I'm crying my eyes out!! Back in the early 60's my Dad came home with a second hand record player and one record and it was Maple Sugar with Back up and Push on he flipside. He never had a lot to be happy about in his life but he was happy that day, I will always remember the look on his face. I haven't heard this tune for 45 years.
My Dad was a good fiddler and I heard this Maple Sugar many times and I still love it.
I grew up in rural manitoba and this song has always stuck with me. I remember my grandpa trying to learn the fiddle with this song at 70. He passed on but I will always associate this song with him.:)
I grew up in rural Manitoba, too, and loved chording to it when anyone was playing it on the fiddle! 😄
I always like ward allen he is the best fiddle player ever and still today 2021 ok
One of the greatest fiddle players ever
Ward Allen, from Kirkton, Ontario began playing the fiddle at the age of 12 performing with his brother, Lorne, who also taught him most of his repertoire. Allen won several fiddle competitions of the time, including the open class of the 1953 Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers' Contest. In 1954 through 1956, Allen toured with Canadian country great Wilf Carter and subsequently became a founding member of the Ottawa-based group, The Happy Wanderers, with “Papa” Joe Brown. Allen recorded three volumes of, ‘Ward Allen Presents Maple Leaf Hoedown’, which were posthumously reissued as, ‘The Best of Ward Allen’. Ward Allen passed away on August 3, 1965 at the age of 41.
One of the greatest Canadian fiddle tunes ever written and played by a great Canadian fiddler, Ward Allen!! Every fiddler that I know tries to replicate the wonderful style of Ward Allen!! I think that is one the most beautiful compliments that can be bestowed to an artist.. Thanks Mr. Allen
What great memories this brings, I had the privilege to work with Ward as a young singer with The Happy Wanderers in the Ottawa Valley, back in the 50s, so many try to imitate Ward but no one can play like he did
Ward Allen, Fiddler, composer, b Kirkton, near London, Ont, 11 May 1924, d Hull, Que, 3 Aug 1965. Allen began recording for Sparton in 1954, completing three volumes of Ward Allen Presents Maple Leaf Hoedown (SP-203, SP-210, SP-213), posthumously reissued in part as Best of Ward Allen (2-GRT 2230-1031). His recording of his own Maple Sugar was a hit in Canada and the USA in 1957. The tune, considered a classic of the Canadian fiddle repertoire, has also been recorded by many other performers.
We were playing it today at a gathering for the Elders lovin me some Maple Sugar everyone knows this song and peeps love to dance to it :-)
I seen Ward live in 59 or 60. I never forgot , this is the best fiddle song ever. Brings back fond memories. THAnKS
Et depuis ce temps que nous entendons avec fièrté ce morceau. Vive la Canada. Il faut être fière.
An uplifting and happy tune very well played. I had no idea of its Canadian origin.
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This is by far the best tune to chord to! My favourite fiddle tune of all time!😁
My Dad (who lived near there in the late '30's and most of the '40's) told me this tune was composed by Ward at a kitchen party at a house (now gone) west of Staffa Ont. "First house on the Hibbert side of the townline on the Staffa road" is what he said.
this song is the exact song we marched my grandpa in tht box. very very good song. RIP Elmer Leo Roy your legacy lives on in all of us.
I want it played at my funeral when the time comes, love fiddle music and danced many times to ward allen when he played with the barndance gang from wingham, ont.
SUPER TUNE BY WARD ALLEN
OUR DAD AND BROTHER PLAYED TWIN FIDDLES
THIS TUNE FILLED THE DANCE FLOOR
THE COUNTRY TIGERS CANADA
DEC 28 2019 FILL THE DANCE FLOOR
THE COUNTRY TIGERS CANADA
FEB 16 2020 ENJOYING
SUPER FIDDLE PLAYER GREAT TUNE
THE COUNTRY TIGERS CANADA
WARD ALLEN PLAYS THE VERY
BEST VERSION OF MAPLE SUGAR
THE COUNTRY TIGERS CANADA
WE KEEP ENJOYING THIS
GREAT FIDDLE PLAYER MUSIC
OCT 06 2024 YAHOO
THE COUNTRY TIGERS
CANADA❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Stunning fiddler and what a wonderful video Takes me back to my childhood on the farm
these old fiddle music will always remind me of my great-grandfather.and great-grandmother...still to this day there still listening to there fave music.......loveuse
I lived in Vermont for 7 years, and loved this song, as well as many others popular there. This takes me back, and with pleasure.
Thanks
Ward Allen, an amazing fiddle player and great Canadian. This is my favourite fiddle tune.
Love this rest in peace your wonderful music will never be forgotten!
Whata great sound Ward Allen makes with his fiddle. Super awesome imo.
I come from the Ottawa Valley, saw him live many times. One of the best!
Love that song - I play it on the piano or accordion with a group of jammers - it is such a fun song and Ward Allen is the master
I play this song every day on the fiddle , it was a challenge at first and I admit I played ward allen over and over to get it like he plays it , theres something about this song that stands out and gives you the fever to play it , an awesome dance song and a classic heritage piece that ward gave to all Canadians to be proud of never realizing the impact of his song would have on people all over the world
My father was heavy into fiddle music, every tune I hear brings an ear to ear smile to my face - specially if I've heard it countless times before.
I am learning to play the fiddle and I can only deam of doing it this well. Canadians are great.
Ward Allen Was Indeed A Great Fiddle Player And Another Great Fiddle Player Is My Father In Law "Clarence Edward Bush" When He Plays "Maple Sugar" It Is In The Same Style As Ward Allen And He Just Turned 95 January 20th 2011
Ward Allen. WHAT A PLAYER
My grandfather ,Ventrice Thomas bought a maple fiddle in 1915 for $5[a months wages then, he told me] and him and my Uncle Donald, on guitar used to play dances around the Interlake district in Manitoba during the 30's to help put food on the table.I remember him playing this and St Annes reel when I was young and we'd watch Don Messer on Monday nights having bannock with homemade jam and tea.Sure miss those days..Always remember you Granddad....
Ward Allen is my hero .he is the best fildder player that Canada had there will never be anyone play like Ward Allen Canada best
this is the best. I love this tune. have loved it for years.
What a fantastic tune. Ward Allen plays it the best!
Back in the good old days we spemt many a night on the Quebec side drinking and dancing at the Forest Inn, The Maple Leaf and many other hotels to numerous to mention.
Also did you ever attend the Dance Halls throughtout the Valley and March 17th at "The Douglas Hotel" I could tell you about many fun times all of Us had in the back seat outside the hotels and dance halls. Get me started and I could go on for hours LOL
He was and still a Icon for the Canadian Fiddle Players , Good on you for giving so much Joy to Others , Trevor.W.bacelli,Biloela Qld Australia.
Not only fine performance by the one who wrote this legendary song, but the best back up playing you can find too.
Excellent video, brings back a lot of memories, not all comfortable because it gets real cold late at night boiling down the sap. Ward Allen plays the strings right off this fiddle and I have never heard a better rendition of this song. Wish we could have had him with us so we could dance to great music and keep warm at the same time. Thanks for putting this video up on YT.
Thanks for postin this. I've just recently discovered this great tune and am learning it on the fiddle. Nothing better than playing along with Ward Allen, the master, himself. Merci beaucoup. Bill
awesome fiddling and nice accompanying video -
I love this - my grandfather used to take us kids to the sugar bush in New Brunswick just like this. The two Clydesdales - Dot and Mike - the sleigh and collecting the maple syrup. I love these tunes!
my dad use to play this tounee love it thank you for sharing my friendssss
I just started learning this tune for a classic country band. Hard to believe you guys are so punk about it. Rock and Roll!
Vintage, most of the people who heard this music live in a dance hall, cry when they hear it.
That's me! Grew up with this tune, my dad played in Old Tyme dance bands, country hall dances were never complete without Maple Sugar sometime in the night.
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one of my Father's favorite tunes
Beautiful..
If you walk up to Ward Allen's gravestone at Roys Cemetery, west of Russeldale, Ontario, you will see a fiddle engraved on it. I think of him playing this great song every time I see it on there.
Thanks for posting. This song always brings a smile to my face.
yes yes....WARD ALLEN WAS ALWAYS MY HERO.....
Great respect for your research. I have recently seen this song described as a "French Canadian" piece, also not true. Ward Allen wrote this piece. He was born near London, Ontario though died in Hull, Québec. He won the 1953 Canadian Open Fiddle Championship in Shelburne, Ont. My grandfather played this tune accompanied by my mother on piano. Another classic of Ward's was "Back Up and Push". April Verch has an excellent youtube video explaining the different Canadian fiddling styles.
Good anaylyis but I though backup and push was a yankee song? Ward died falling down a set of stairs no doubt drunk; he had a metal plate in his head like my uncle who also had metal plate but he got his from shrapnel crossing the Rhine in in 44. Not sure where Ward got his but that man is somewhere out there in the universe, talent like that never dies.
fantastic!
I had the amazing opportunity to meet Ann Allen as Ward knew my great grandfather who was also a fiddler.
Thank God for Ward Allen.
Magician..! Like so much this fiddle harmonic quick playing...
I too love this tune. Reading some of these comments has made me smile such passionate remarks about it's origins lol! I too first came across it in Ali Bain's 50 fiddle tunes a good few years ago and couldn't play it properly.....Now thanks to the wonders of youtube and Ward Allen....I can!!! Tho' I hasten to add Not like the Master! I love and play all genres of music on my fiddle, anything I can get my head round...and fingers! I have really enjoyed playing along with Ward Allen, Don Messer, Ned Landry, and Patti Kustorok and I'm English from right in the middle of the UK. I don't know what nouveau fiddling is? apart from playing tunes too fast and getting over fancy which tends to spoil 'em (orange blossom special for one I've heard some murderous versions on here) Many thanks for the upload it's helped me no end.
I think your definition of "nouveau fiddling" pretty much nails it. People who think since they can do something in a tune they should. Showing off by thinking they're better than the music. Reminds me of the remark someone made about some "hotshot", "He knows a million tunes-and he can't play any of them." Cheers from the Pacific Northwest
Wow, thanks for posting! This is my very favourite fiddle tune. I heard it many times at kitchen parties while growing up back in Montreal and Gaspe area. It's the best!
Thank you so much for posting this. I am a 60 year old from Winnipeg and I have heard many fine fiddle players from Winnipeg play this great tune, but I must say that your version is probably the best I have ever heard. You are a true craftsman and a great musician.
Very good.
I just listened to don messers version and as much as i like some don messers early 30s stuff i must concede this version truly is the best ever. it captures the true feeling of this song and its genre
I think of my grandma every time this was our dance miss her every day
A great tune. It got a lot of airplay years ago on WWVA Wheeling by DJ Lee Moore the coffee drinking nighthawk. I love it.
Lordy, THIS is so great.🎻👍🤠🇺🇸
Hi, Thanks for this wondreful video! We lived in Vermont 7 years, and tapped a few trees behind our house. We loved the sugaring, and the fiddling there, this tune especially.
M. MISSOUIRI CLEM
Love Maple syrup and maple necks on my guitars!!!!
this warms my heart so deeply - just love it.
Great he is a great fiddler
This is the best version I ever heard of this tune, which I know from local Franco American fiddlers here in Maine. I can hear Allen's influence in the older fiddlers here (many sadly have passed or are no longer playing). Interestingly, while in New Orleans I heard this tune in a Cajun style, only it was not a fiddle tune, it was a song, with French lyrics and fiddle breaks. I spoke with the musicians and it is a traditional song thereabouts.
I go overboard stressing the fact that this was a unique tune composed by Ward Allen in the best tradition of old timey music. Often people here in the US will play variations of the the song and say 'Hey this was a song brought over from the old country' but that is not true. The fact is old time music is still evolving as it is a people's music, work music and dance and fun music, like real folk music.
Best version of this song I've heard. Its a delight
Best Version I’ve heard of “Maple Sugar”
What a playrt
BEST RENDITION IN MY BOOK
Just to let you all know, their great music lives on in the Pembroke area, The biggest fiddleing contest and guitar picken town...
Thanks Tom Towle for posting this great fiddle tune.Mymom's dad(originally from Adjala Township,Ontario) used to play fiddle.As a kid,I watched Don Messer every week with him.Ward Allen, I believe was originally from Grey County,around the Chesley area.BTW,I am posting a link to an old audio of a Don Messer broadcast,in which the announcer states it is in fact,a Ward Allen song.-My dad was from a farm in Acadian Cape Breton-loved Messer's Jubilee.When I saw Stompin Tom his band opened with this.
I thought ward allen came from woodham/ kirkton area
I'm learning to play this now, slowly slowly. Not fit for public, but I love to play it anyway.
I've never heard anyone attribute Maple Sugar to the southern Appalachians! Always thought of it as one of the true Canadian chestnuts. Such beautiful fiddling here.
+Bruce Molsky
What do you figure he means by “jerk-off” bowing?
Does he mean double shuffle/hokum?
Truly honored to have Bruce comment here. One of few fiddler alive that I respect (the other is Chirps). I saw you play at a house party in Chicago a few years back. My daughter is learning Pegn Awl the way you recorded it. Take care.
What I mean by the jerk-off fiddling style is best exhibited by the Orange Blossom fiddling style which is not so old tymey at all and more of a hotdog move. Not that I haven't pulled it off a few times. It is not a groove style or dance style fiddling and not so pure and honest to the melody and digging down into the real feeling of the tune. I guess I repeat, it is a hot dog move.
OK, that clarifies.
kelamuni
Great 😃😃
my aunts will dance to this hammered lol
I'm not Canadian, but I love the Fiddler's!!
He made good music one of the greats
Perfection.....
luv this song awsome
i love it
Ward Allen is our hero too...Not only was Ward & his wife Ann, one of our Father's "Hank LaRiviere/River's", good friend's... Ward inspired, our father to write the words of this great fiddle tune & call it Maple Sugar Sweetheart...I have a picture of Ward Allen holding fiddle in one arm, & his..."Canadian Championship Fiddle Trophy" in the other...I would like to post it for your viewing...
I will get more info on how and where I can do that...thank you For uploading one of their great songs...sincerely, Hank's daughter...Suzanne Paton.
Your father did a lovely job of adding words to this great tune. I think I'll go give it another listen.
Thanks Mike...my father & Ward would have been proud to hear your words...With Ward on the fiddle playing Maple Sugar backup, and dad on his guitar singing, "Maple Sugar Sweetheart", they made a great recording team...it was a #1 hit for them playing across Canada. Also CKOY radio station, later named CKBY with DJ at the time, Ted Daigle, in Ottawa, ON., was a big supporter of Hank's & Ward"s music. ...Ward has played fiddle on many of my father's recordings...including Ned Landry, another amazing fiddle player... for more history on my father's musical history, please see hankrivers.com ... also, I have a song here on you tube, named " Highway of Hero"s in Loves Lost and Found "...bless you for sharing...
FYI (Rivers/LaRiviere...my father recorded under both names, using the french version from 1937 to 60's, being "Hank LaRiviere". Then from 1967 into the 80's, RCA Camden record company ask my father, Hank, to use the english version of his name. On his, 1967 "Centennial Travels" Album, "Hank LaRiviere", became noted as Hank Rivers. Their reason...saying it was easier for th DJ"s to pronounce...making a big error...by not placing "AKA LaRiviere", on this album to share the name change with his longtime fans, this made it difficult for them to follow my father's music legacy. Hank's fans had no relative name to associate with. Today I am here to share with the public that Hank Rivers/ Hank LaRiviere is the same person with his music under both names right here on you tube...Hank And Ward still shares something to play & sing about...with warmest regards Mike...thank you again for sharing your story...All the best, Hanks daughter suzanne
GORD SUE Paton
GORD SUE Patp
just love it very good tounne ya hooo thank you
I have been off line for quite some time due to serious health issues, but now back on I must first apologize to the spirit of Mr. Allen, and the poster of this video. Although I am admittedly quite outspoken on some things, I take pride in knowing the facts *before I speak out* I must confess that after much research myself that in this case i was off base as to the writer of this great tune. Another thing I take pride in is that ability :-)
Love this so much!
Good tune reminds me of talent shows and dances where I grew up
the good ol' days
That house must have had fine water and air in it!
Not to mention drinks besides plain water.....
Thanks for putting this up. It's always great to hear Ward Allen play "Maple Sugar". However, you can praise his music without taking swipes at others. I love old-time fiddling, but also love other types of fiddling. My grandfather, born in Cape Breton in the 1870's, played Cape Breton Scottish music that he learned from older fiddlers. The first commercial recordings of Cape Breton fiddling were made at least two decades before Ward Allen's first record in 1954. The Cape Breton style has changed somewhat over the years, but you could listen to a contemporary Cape-Breton-style fiddler and to early Cape Breton recordings and recognize them both as examples of a similar fiddling style, so I can't see how this music is "nouveau." Canada and the US are big countries, containing many fiddling styles with differing bowing techniques. I appreciate your enthusiasm for Ward Allen's Canadian old-time fiddling, but, again, it's unnecessary to attack others in order to praise your favourites.
You are sadly and badly mistaken. Ward Allen created a new tune with Maple Sugar there has never been anything like it. It was created on top of the music you mention but went beyond in true genius the likes of which we have not seen nor will we. I only attack those who are in error in order that the music of ward is not tainted with other genres of lesser talent.