by jon » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:25 am
Violins can have a powerful impact on a song. In earlier years, it was a surefire addition if you wanted a really sad song that people would cry along with.
Their impact was ratcheted up as album cuts started getting airplay around 1967, and violins also moved into the single versions of songs without trying to make the listener cry.
The late Cam(pbell) Lane was motivated to get back to some singing when I worked with him at CFPR Prince Rupert in 1972. I played him "Over the Rainbow" by Papa John Creech, a great violin instrumental, and it inspired him to get into the studio and sing to it.
A little later, there was the Maritime influence that added Fiddles to a lot of Canadian music. I remember seeing Bruce Cockburn in concert shortly after he added violin solos to his newer songs.
Though the late Stan Rogers was my favourite artist of the "Maritime wave". Stan died tragically in a flash fire on an Air Canada flight in 1983. One of his popular songs, "The White Collar Holler", was the first I ever heard about someone who worked with computers.