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| Photos by DeAnne Smith |
Bob Fuller's Hillbilly Nite, dedicated to old-time country music, could be the best kept secret in Montreal. That is, if it weren't already a world-famous open mic night celebrating its forty-first year.
"We've had more publicity than all the clubs put together," Fuller says, his thick, white mustache curling up as he grins. Hillbilly Nite, which began at the Blue Angel bar in 1966, takes place at The Wheel Club every Monday night around 9 pm. Many of the patrons and performers have gathered here for decades, creating a close-knit community where newcomers are welcomed with warmth, enthusiasm and sticks of red licorice.
"It's a nice place, a little bit like a David Lynch movie," says a university student, taking notes for her Rock n' Roll Music and Its Roots course. "It's really obscure but nostalgic at the same time."
The Wheel Club does seem a bit like a movie set, perfectly charming in its details: Christmas lights strung up on the ceiling, checkered tablecloths, flowered wallpaper and a wooden sign that reads Raised on Country Sunshine. Musicians in cowboy hats and boots pluck and strum under an Old Time Country Music Club of Canada banner stitched with red and blue stars. Three painted wagon wheels separate the stage from the dance floor, where people of all ages stomp, clap, and sing along to songs of country legends like Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.
Craig Morrison, ethnomusicologist, Concordia professor and a regular performer at Hillbilly Nite, bridges the generation gap by sending his students to the club to interview old timers and get a feel for authentic country music. Students spread the word and help keep Hillbilly Nite thriving.
"It's a nice place, a little bit like a David Lynch movie," says a university student, "really obscure but nostalgic at the same time."
"There ain't another place like it in all of Canada," says autoharp player and singer Leona Dionne, also known as Miss Dynamite. Like many of the regular performers, 76-year-old Dionne has recordings for sale at the door.
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Performers, required to play songs written before 1965, sign up with Jeanne Arsenault, Hillbilly Nite's sociable hostess. When Arsenault's not line-dancing, chatting with friends, or playing upright bass and guitar with the house band, she's selling 25 cent tickets for the midnight raffle. Winners pick from a rich collection of CDs packed in antique suitcases.
If Fuller likes a particular song's rendition, he rings a cowbell. It's a high compliment from the man so devoted to keeping old-time country music alive that he's missed only three nights in Hillbilly history.
Set to a backdrop of fiddles, banjos and pedal steel guitars, Hillbilly Nite could be called one of Montréal's most treasured cultural events. The folks who have been strolling in for years know it's just a good ol' time. No one needs to know the differences between western swing, rockabilly, honky tonk and bluegrass to be greeted with a friendly "Hi, how are ya?" and asked to dance.
Hillbilly Nite takes place at The Wheel Club, 3373, boul. Cavendish (below Sherbrooke), in NDG. Every Monday night at 9pm; admission is free.
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