By Jay Scott Kanes

Born on Prince Edward Island, Kanes is the author of Island Toes A’Tapping, a book about the music and musicians there.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, Canada -- One of Atlantic Canada’s leading bands, the Celtic-influenced Fiddlers’ Sons, refuses to let summer end on schedule. Singer Eddy Quinn and his cohorts lead a summer-long concert series near Montague, PEI. They aim to “add another month to summer” by continuing their weekly shows through October. Any Fiddlers’ Sons performance is worth every penny of the admission price, so the longer this band plays the better for everyone within earshot.

Elsewhere, another entertaining season soon winds up across Canada’s smallest province. When I visited back in July, the ceilidhs, concerts, dramas and comedies were in high gear. Sometimes, I attended several shows per day.

Which one ranked as the best? That’s tough to say. There’s no shortage of contenders. At the Victoria Playhouse, a poignant one-man play, And Stockings For the Ladies, starred Zach Fraser and told how a Canadian military man tried to help Germans rebuild their lives after the Second World War.

On other stages, the musical highlights came fast and furious. They starred Leon Gallant, the Ross Family, Cynthia MacLeod, Rodney Savidant, the Arsenault Sisters, Keelin Wedge, Nathan Wiley, Tim Chaisson, Gordon Belsher, Sandra Jones, Mike Pendergast and Richard Wood, among others.

What show disappointed the most? That’s easier. When award-winning fiddler Kendra MacGillivray played in Summerside, some less-capable cohorts, would-be comedians, badly weakened the event.

But overall, the caliber of PEI performers remains outstanding. With each visit, a person hankers to return for more.



Award-winner Kendra MacGillivray
needs a stronger supporting cast.


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