Russell Warren

Russell Warren was one of the greatest fiddlers of his generation with a style that can be described as classic West-Prince (probably the two living players with the closest styles to Warren's are Victor Doucette and Jackie Biggar). These recordings were originally made on reel to reel tape on several occasions during the 1950s and 60s at the studios of CJRW in Summerside under the direction of radio personality Lowell Huestis, who also played piano accompaniment. As Huestis tells us, these recordings were then used regularly on the West Prince Party Line show, which ran weekdays around noon-time for about thirty years from roughly the mid-1950s into the 1980s. Most of the tunes represented are still popular throughout PEI. The versions are truly vibrant, showing a tremendous strength of playing and a rare command of triplets and ornamentation.

Unfortunately, the original reel to reel recordings did not survive, and all that has come down to us are a couple of rapidly deteriorating cassette copies. Despite the poor fidelity, the high quality and originality of the playing shines through.