Canadian Classic: Perth County Conspiracy and The Great Scots

You know who Cedric Smith is…trust me you do. If you don’t recognize the name you would recognize the face. He’s a well known Canadian character actor appearing in many Canadian films, tv shows, and in the background of every American film shot here. He is probably best know as (sigh) Uncle Alec from CBC’s longrunning Road to Avonlea. He’s also a writer, a social activist, and a musician. In fact he headed a great Canuck freak folk band in the 60s/70s The Perth County Conspiracy (I first heard about them while reading up on my favourite poet Milton Acorn as he had collaborated on some of their lyrics) It’s great stuff: trippy, funny, catchy, patriotic, political, silly, and as you can guess uneven…but always listen. Their albums are hard to find but you can download their first album here, a live album here and download another as a podcast here

Who would you say is Canada’s Beatles ?
…..
I bet you wouldn’t say The Great Scots
but for a brief time in the 1960s this Halifax garage band was giving that lofty title by both our and the American press. They moved to California where they quickly found success buttttt….they had permanent visas to stay in the States which qualified them for the draft and one of their members was grabbed for the American military cutting short the band. Dude; they are just so good. The music is just so damn raw but at the same time they know how to play their instruments setting them apart from the other garage bands of the time. Download their album.