The Maine Academy of Country Music
would like to honor the musicians, disc jockeys, and behind the scenes people that have made a significant impact on

Country, Bluegrass, Gospel, and Country Humor

within the State of Maine, who have gone before us.

    
Barry Dean  1931-1979
     Barry Dean was born on June 1, 1931. The son of a rodeo cowboy and vaudeville performer Gary Mix, a nephew to Tom Mix. 
     Barry was always a performer and promoter. He performed on the high wire in a Trapeze Act, and also he broke wild horses. He tried the Rodeo as a young man. Barry served in the Armed Forces in Korea. He produced and promoted circus acts up and down the East Coast. Then he started booking Country Music Acts.
     He moved to Maine in the 1960's, and directly started booking singers and bands throughout New England. 
    He also was a great producer of "Country Music Shows". Barry and his wife formed entertainment and music attractions during the 1970's. Many hours were dedicated by this man to Country Music in Maine. Although he was very busy with his agency, he was never too busy to answer a call for help for a Jamboree, to Emcee or to entertain.
Barry Dean was insucted into the Maine Country Music Association Hall of Fame.
Barry Dean passed away in July of 1979

    Barry Dean was inducted into the Maine Academy of Country Music Hillbilly Heaven on September 23, 2007.

    
Lenny Breau 1941-1984
     Lenny Breau was born on august 5, 1941 in Auburn, Maine
     Lenny was the son of Country Music Artists Betty Cody and Hal Lone Pine. He took up the guitar at age seven and by the age of twelve performed regularly as part of Lone Pine's and Betty's traveling band. Billed as "Lone Pine Jr., the Guitar Wizard", he was lead guitarist for the band.
     Lenny left Lone Pine's Band around 1959 and began to perform with local Winnipeg Jazz musicians at such venues including "Rando Manor" and the "Stage Door". It was during this period that Lenny came under the musical guidance of pianist Bob Erlandson and began to receive a jazz education that he developed on the bandstand.
     In 1962 Lenny moved to Toronto, Canada and joined Don Francks and Ian Henstridge to form the group "Three" and performed in Toronto, Ottawa and New York. An album was recorded at a live club date in New York and the trio subsequently appeared on the "Jackie Gleason" and Joey Bishop" television shows.
     Lenny then returned to Winnipeg and became the main guitarist for many CBC Radio and Television sessions including "Teenbeat", "Music Hop" and his own "Lenny Breau Show". In 1968 he recorded two albums for RCA. The irst album was produced in Nashville by Chet Atkins and the second by Danny Davis.
     From 1969 through 1973, Lenny played primarily in Toronto and Ottawa. He worked as a sideman for Moe Koffman, Jimmy Dale, Beverly Glenn Copeland and Anne Murray to name a few. After doing a national tour with Anne Murray, he returned to Winnipeg and continued performing solo, in trios and as a sideman.
     From 1974 until his death, Lenny traveled extensively between Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto, Nashville, New York, Maine and Los Angeles.
     Lenny was found dead in the swimming pool of his apartment complex on August 2, 1984. Although his death was originally thought to be an accident, it was soon discovered that he had actually been murdered. The case remains unsolved to this date.

     Lenny Breau was inducted in Maine's Hillbilly Heaven on September 23, 2007.

    
Marcel Maurice Giasson 1928-1985
     Marcel Maurice Giasson (Little Mike, Shorty) was born on January 28, 1928 in Lewiston, Maine.
     Marcel learned to play piano from his mother, who was a piano teacher. He played his first "gig" at the age of four, when he backed up a singer at a church talent show. By the age of seven, he was regularly entertaining family and friends. He formed his first band "Mike and His Hillbillies" at age 12. The band featured a string bass, guitar, washboard and him on the accordion.
     He moved to Bangor at age 16, and joined Lone Pine & Betty Cody as a performer on their show. At that time, he was known as "Litle Mike", and was billed as the fourteen year old who could play fourteen instruments. He soloed was well as backing up Lone PIne and his with Betty Cody. He was also a disc jockey, and by the time he was fifteen, had his own radio show in Bangor.
     He toured with Lone Pine until he was old enough to join the military. He was in the Army Special Service, where he played the organ in the chapel, and entertained the amputees in the hospital.
     After returning home, he rejoined Lone Pine. He became a popular back-up artist working with Dick Curless, Gene Hooper, Doc & Chickie, Ken MacKenzie, among others. He played for over 1,000 weddings throughout his years. Plus played seven nights a week in the Lewiston/Auburn area.
     In 1979, 1980 and 1981, he was instrumental in putting together the Franco-American Festival in Lewiston, where he played fiddle, accordion and keyboard. During this time, having one of the most popular bands in that area, he was often called on to back up big name artists when they performed at the Lewiston City Hall.
     His las public performance was with his son's band, "Luke" in 1982 at the Livermore Falls/Jay Legion, 52 years after his first one, where he had performed weekly during the 1970's. That day he was on the stage withhis two sons, Mike and Bill. It was a fitting way to end his career.
     In 1981, he semi-retired because of complications with diabetes.
    He was inducted into Maine Country Music Association Hall of Fame in 1998, and as a Pioneer in the downeast Country Music Association in 2002.

     On September 1, 1985, Marcel Maurice Giasson passed away. He left two sons, who are sill active in "Maine Country Music".

 Marcel Maurice Giasson was inducted into the Maine Academy of Country Music Hillbilly Heaven on September 23, 2007.

    
Jerry Pierce 1947-1986
     Born on January 5,1947 in Biddeford, Me. He was the son of Mary Pierce.
     He and his wife Jan, were well known from their appearances on Stacey’s Jamboree TV Show out of Bangor, Maine.
     He was born blind, and at age five entered the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA. The first few years at Perkins were very difficult ones for Jerry. His Mother and German Shepherd dog, Rex, had protected him up to this time, and for the first time in his life he had to learn to cope with every day problems and new surroundings on his own. He also found it hard to be away from his family for months at a time. The family did not have the funds necessary to travel the long distance to visit regularly.
     The Perkins School offered a course in the Science of Music, which proved very valuable to Jerry in later years.
     He left the Perkins School during his seventh year and returned home. He entered a Catholic School. This environment was extremely strict, and hard for Jerry to adjust to after the sheltered life at Perkins. The school felt that the guitar was the Devil’s instrument, and even forbid the girls speaking to him because he played the guitar.
     After he quit school, he started playing the guitar professionally. He soon learned that he could be self-sufficient, and hitched a ride to Connecticut where he joined a Country Band in the Britol area. This was a three piece band and they played mostly in bar rooms.
     He returned to Maine in 1967, and worked in the Portland area. The following year he moved to Bangor and was hired by Sleepy Willis, who at that time owned the Silver Dollar, to play six nights a week.
A great singer and musician who, at one time, had his own show on WLBZ in Bangor in the mid-1970’s. and worked many clubs in the Bangor and Brewer area.
     Blind Man’s Bluff, Jerry’s band, had become one of the most popular bands in the northeast by the late 1970’s. He was the lead guitarist for the Dick Stacy Jamboree Television Show in 1980. 
     Jerry married Jan Jessop, a native of Windsor, Nova Scotia, on December 18, 1983.
     Although he was blind, he had the distinction of being stopped by the police for driving a car. He volunteered at  Dial-A-Help, crisis line for many years.
     They say he sounded a lot like Dick Curless. And, at one time, had his own trio called “The Jerry Pierce Trio”, it featured Dave Peavey, Rick Curless, and himself.

     Jerry Pierce died in Florida in early 1986 following a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 39.

     Jerry Pierce was inducted into the Maine Academy of Country Music Hillbilly Heaven on September 3, 2007

    
Fred Pike Sr 1932-1977
     Fred Pike: October 27, 1932 to March 5, 1997
     Fred Pike of Cambridge, Maine was born in North Smithfield, Rhode Island on October 27, 1932. at the age of six months, his family moved to Oneco, Connecticut where he lived until moving to Maine in 1966.
He was exposed to music at a very young age. He was the next to the youngest of 12 children, all musically inclined and started to play tunes on the Piano at the age of five. He started to play stage shows and dances at the ripe old age of nine.
     In 1947, Fred and his brother Earl, formed the “Pike Brothers & The Pine Hill Ranchers.” After the band broke up in 1956, Fred teamed up with Randy Hawkins and formed the “Country Nite Hawks”. 
     It was at this time that Fred took up the 5 string banjo. It was a life long dream of Fred’s to play on the WWVA Jamboree. He recorded his first album in 1966 and after receiving good reviews, he was invited to play on the WWVA Jamboree.
     After the death of his niece, Earlene, who was vocalist for the Pike Brothers group, the Band broke up and Fred concentrated all his efforts on the “Kennebec Valley Boys”.
     In 1976, Fred and the Kennebec Valley Boys started the first Bluegrass Festival in Maine, and won the Maine Country Music award for Bluegrass Band of the Year. He later organized “Back Porch Bluegrass” and went on to win the 1977 Maine Country Music Award for Bluegrass Band of the Year.
     A pioneer in Bluegrass Music in Maine, he opened his farm in Cambridge to the Salty Dog Festival, which was an annual event until the death of his wife Sylvia in 1966.
     The banjo and flat-top guitar player rubbed elbows with the rich and famous having provided back-up to the likes of: Don Reno, Mac Wiseman, Bill Monroe, Dick Curless, Glen Campbell, Hank Williams Jr, Dolly Parton and others.
Fred recorded several albums and more than 141 45 RPM’s in his long musical career.
     He suffered a heart attack and passed away on March 5, 1977 while returning to Maine after vacationing in Florida.
Fred Pike was inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame on April 29, 1984.

     Fred Pike's untimely death was on March 5, 1977

Fred Pike Sr was inducted into the Maine Academy of Country Music Hillbilly Heaven on September 23, 2007.

Lucky Tim Farrell
Lucky was a floor consultant, but his true love was playing the fiddle, which he did for more than 60 years. He was self-employed. He loved to hunt and fish, driving his motor home to the Jackman area to outfish Dad (Carl Rideout). He and his wife, Kandy, owned and organized Weeks Mills in Music festivals for community purposes, which they did for 15 years.

He was well-known for his fiddle playing. He had been playing the fiddle since the age of 8, when he played backup on WRDO radio in Augusta. During his high school days, he and his brother Tommy put together a road show and played Grange halls, churches and high schools in the area. After high school, he went to work for Curly O'Brien on Channel 2 in Bangor. He worked with Shorty Thomas and the Country Caravan and Fred Pike and the Kennebec Valley Boys on Channel 5, doing double shows with many artists such as Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, Bill Monroe, Doc Williams, Little Jimmy Dickens and many others. He played for the Porter Wagner show while traveling in Canada. In more recent years, he had played from Maine to Florida with several bands and in 1979 was backup for Doc Williams in Wheeling, W.Va. He spent time in Nashville doing studio recordings and worked with the legendary Buddy Spicher on his radio show, playing the twin fiddle.

Tim won the New England Fiddle Championship in 1970. In 1981 he won the Maine Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year. He was awarded Maine's Best Country Music Songwriter and Best Recording by Down East Country Music Association in 1982, Instrumentalist of the Year 2009, Living Legend 2009, Proclamation from State of Maine and many other awards. He had recorded two singles and six CDs




Ebb Lovely
He was born April 16, 1924, in Castle Hill, the son of Claude and Hannah (Hilton) Lovley.
He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Ebb married Mattie Ann Hafford in 1947. Ebb was a country music entertainer for 40 years and recorded two albums. He was Known as New Englands Country Gentleman.  Ann was always there to support him through his musical career. The Ebb Lovley Band performed one-hour shows in 1956 and 1957 for WAGM television. In 1993 he was inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame by the Down East Country Music Association. In 2004 he was grand marshall of the Memorial Day parade in Mapleton. He owned and operated Lovley’s Service Garage for 33 years in Mapleton. He was a member of Mapleton Lions Club and was King Lion in 1967. He was also a member of Presque Isle Elks Club.



Doc Williams
"I don't know if the state of West Virginia had a better ambassador than Doc Williams," Country Music Hall of Famer Bill Anderson said "You thought of Doc Williams, you thought of Wheeling, you thought of the Jamboree," Anderson said, referring to Jamboree USA, one of radio station WWVA's most popular programs.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914 as Andrew John Smik, he quit school in the 10th grade to help support his family. He worked alongside his father in the coal mines but left to to play music, where he used the stage name Williams. His grandmother bought him his first professional guitar in 1933 and he started performing at square dances in small Pennsylvania towns.

After forming the Border Riders, Williams started broadcasting a daily show on WWVA in 1937. He and his wife Chickie became the Jamboree USA headline act that could be heard on AM radio all the way to Canada.

"That station came in clear as a bell," said Williams' daughter, Barbara Smik. "In those days radio was a very, very powerful medium."

Smik, who took over her father's business dealings a few decades ago and wrote a book about him, said she still gets calls from fans in Canada.

"I hear from these children now of many parents that have already passed on, the World War II generation, that took them to Mom and Dad's concerts," Smik said.

She said they took their act to northern Maine and beyond.

"That's how they made their living," Smik said. "They reached out to people with entertainment and goodwill. Dad would book his show into these little communities, and that's what he enjoyed doing, especially Canada. The Canadians remained amazingly loyal."

Williams' rendition of "The Cat Came Back" sold more than 1 million records on a Toronto record label.

Anderson recalled attending one of Williams' shows in Roscoe, N.Y., in the mid-1970s. Anderson was looking to add a musician to his own band and had heard that one of Williams' band members was interested in moving to Nashville, Tenn.

"I bought a ticket. Doc did not know I was there," Anderson said. "I sat in the back of the auditorium and was thoroughly entertained. I was afraid I made Doc mad when I hired him, but he was very nice and he was glad to see the young boy get a chance to come to Nashville. Doc was a gentleman, he really was."

Williams never followed the route to the Grand Ole Opry.

"Doc wasn't a major recording artist. He didn't have national hits," Anderson said. "He just confined himself to that area of the northeast and Canada. He just had a great way of communicating with the people. He didn't necessaarily try to go beyond that. He found his niche and he played to that."

Despite opportunities to go elsewhere, Williams considered Wheeling and West Virginia his home, Smik said.

Chickie Williams died in November 2007 at age 88. In 2008 the state renamed a section of road in Wheeling the "Doc and Chickie Williams Highway; Country Music Royal Couple."

The husband and wife were inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.


Gene Hooper
Born and raised in Machias Gene Hooper got an early start on stage. He was 6-years-old when he began performing on the top of some old blueberry boxes in his hometown. "His sister used to hold a megaphone in front of him and that's how he got started," recalls his widow Florence Hooper. "He used to love to entertain even at that age."

From there a career in music was born. One that lasted around 70 years. Hooper crossed paths with some legendary country stars like Johnny Cash, Ricky Scaggs, and Reba McEntire. His music took him all over New England and throughout Canada but his wife says there's no doubt what his favorite venue was. "Right here in Maine. He just loved to play grange halls. He loved his grange halls and he played every one here in Maine I think."

Known as "Genial Gene" and the "Kennebec Cowboy Hooper always had a close connection to his audience. "This was my favorite part about my father, on stage, was his approach," says his daughter Joline Hooper-Sprague. "When he walked on stage to face his audience and the mic it was quite an awesome thing to see."

Doreen Winslow
Born in Rockland, October 28, 1960, she was the daughter of Milton and Ruth Young Wooster. Educated in Thomaston, she was a graduate of Georges Valley High School.

Following high school, Doreen earned her C.N.A. Certificate from Kennebec Valley Technical College. She worked in several area nursing homes, and her family remembers she greatly enjoyed her job. Patient care was her number one priority.

Doreen was an inspiration to all who knew her. She had many friends in the country music field. She was proud to be one of the founders of the Maine Academy of Country Music, and was very active in the association.

She love to fish, and took great joy in animals of all kinds, especially wild life. Feeding the wild turkeys in her back yard was a favorite pastime. She was an avid NASCAR fan and her favorite driver was Mark Martin. Following the New England Patriots and New York Yankees brought her great joy.

On October 9, 2010, she married Dane Winslow at the Word Of Life Church in Waldoboro.

One of Doreen’s greatest pleasures was spending time with her family. She also enjoyed baking.



Conrad Fyfe
Conrad was born on Nov. 2, 1937, in Harris, R.I., to Helen Proux and Arthur Fyfe. He and his family moved to the Pittston area when he was 4 years old. Conrad entered the U.S. Air Force in 1957 and served honorably until 1960.
His employment history includes the Boys and Girls Club of Gardiner, Maine School Administrative District 11, Webber Oil, F.N. Boston Fuel, Gardiner Fuel, Williams Construction and Warren's construction, among others.
His passions included fishing, spending time with family, and of course his music. As a talented musician from the age of 8 years old, Conrad was especially proud of the Freedom Riders, the family band he kept active for 40-plus years until his untimely passing.
Conrad cultivated a love of music in his children at an early age and that love continues to grow with each generation. He was also a proud member of the Maine Academy of Country Music.



Ginger Mae Dyer
FRANCES MAY ‘GINGER MAE’ DYER.She was born April 29, 1929, in Bangor, a daughter of John and Minnie (Barry) Cairns.
She graduated from Portland High School. Frances was a member of Pleasant Street Christian Church, Downeast, Pine Tree and Maine Country Music associations, and was a key performer with the bands "Country Spirit" and "Ginger Mae and The Western Play Boys." She was named Top Yodeler of the Year in Branson, Mo., and belonged to the Academy of Country Music and Maine Country Music Hall of Fame. She was also a member of Dusters Antique Car Club.


William 'Bill' G. Giasson
Was born in Lewiston, Dec. 29, 1950, the son of Marcel and Lucienne (Meservier) Giasson. He was educated in Lewiston elementary schools and was a graduate of Edward Little High School, Class of 1969.
He later served his country in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam Conflict. Following his service, he attended the University of Southern Maine, where he received his bachelor's degree in social work and his master's degree in education.
Bill was most recently a third grade school teacher at Winthrop Grade School, where he taught and inspired students for the past 19 years.
A musician for all his life, Bill had a strong passion for music whether it was playing or teaching. Bill also loved being with his children and grandchildren.
He was a longtime member of DECMA and led a support group for families for 15 years.