Guitarist Mickey McGivern, born in the eastern Ontario community of Pembroke, was one of Canada's busiest session musicians in the country field during the 1960s and 70s, recording for the RCA Victor, Quality and low-budget Arc labels. He also released several albums under his own name on Arc, including Ring of the Twelve String Guitar.
This album probably dates from the mid-60s, seeing how it includes a version of Walk Right In, which was a huge hit for the Rooftop Singers in 1963. Although the song was originally a country blues recorded in 1929 by Cannon's Jug Stompers (Gus Cannon, the leader of the group, was the composer), not many people were familiar with it before the Rooftop Singers waxed it.
Mickey McGivern's version is available below.
Walk Right In
McGivern still lives in the Pembroke area and in 2011 celebrated his 80th birthday. The Pembroke Observer newspaper covered the celebration at an area tavern and included a brief video. Check it out. Be warned, however, that the sound quality is less than ideal.
Here's another brief performance video of McGivern from YouTube, date and place unknown, although it's obviously of relatively recent vintage.
I knew Mickey and nothing ever surprised me when it came to his playing.Greatest guitarist I ever knew.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. The only thing that disappoints me about this LP is the poor recording quality. The Arc label was notorious for its cheap pressings.
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