Mardi has suggested that I share the background on this tribute song with Ewen so that he will appreciate why I put the blog together and hopefully retain a family memory. I thought it would be OK if I shared it with you all.
Smiley Burnett wrote the words to Riding Down The Canyon while driving with Gene Autry from Sedona to Phoenix. Autry had made him a $5 bet that he couldn't complete it before they reached Phoenix.
The two of them collaborated on getting the song to market and Autry made it a Western favourite.
When I was young, our dad played Guitar, but more usually Tipple (a Spanish instrument resembling a Ukelele), together with a Harmonica. He played at all the corn roasts which were a summer staple and at kitchen parties in our home.
He also played with two different groups of guys from Dofasco and I used to enjoy listening to them play and laugh. Riding Down The Canyon was often on the playlist and I really liked it. I was invited to join them with my accordion sometimes.
Dad died when I was fourteen and Roger was just two. A year later I gave up playing the accordion.
Fifty years after that, Roger invited me to join a camp-fire band consisting of fishing buddies Barry Kopysh, Maurice Hughes, Paul Kennedy and Roger. We started playing together on fishing trips and now meet occasionally to "practix". I told the guys about Riding Down The Canyon and it made into our "Rep-a-twire"
but it obviously means more to Roger and me than just a nice Western song about a trail ride.
........and now you know the rest of the story.
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