File: lowejudy06-oh-elliottwightdance_M.mp3
Speakers:
JL – Judy Lowe
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Tell me about how got started playing with Elliott [Wight]?
JL: I went to the dance, I was 19, at the Junior Farmer's Hall in North River, which was the old community hall in North River. There was a piano three and Elliiott said, "Judy, you play, why don't you play along with us?" But of course the piano wasn't in tune with their instruments so they tuned down to the piano because it was flat. So I played that night and he asked me if I would continue to play with them. I believe that was a Wednesday night. So I played there Wednesday night[s], and then David Thomson, who was another fiddler in the community and he played [there] Saturday nights, so he asked me to join then on Saturday nights. So I played Wednesday and Saturday nights for a time. And I don't know how long it would have been, maybe three years. That was fun! You always knew what you were doing on those two nights, so you always had something to do. And of course I still enjoy playing. I started in >62 with Elliott and I played till 2005, I guess. And I remember many times people would say this, "You know, when you go to Elliott's dances you can't sit down, you have to get up on the floor and dance. He just had the excitement in his music that not many fiddlers had, that I heard or know of. I don't know, it was just his way of playing. He played things faster than some, and maybe not as fast as others, but he just had a nice rhythm going in his old-time tunes and people would want to get up and dance. And the floor would be full. In that North River, the Fire Hall that's there now. That would hold about 80 couples and the floor would be full all the time: the old-time dance. We would be filling the hall, and we played there every Saturday night. We would fill the hall B Well, when I would come to play at maybe – Cause the dance didn't start till 9:30. I would have to wait at the bottom of the stairs, 'cause I couldn't get up, 'cause there was so many people lined up to get in. And that went on for a number of years. It was that popular.