The Lost Dawg Singers Part 2

The spontaneous energy within the group was 'magic'. Soon others were recruited or arrived on the scene. Some living rooms were just not large enough to accommodate the group. I remember counting 34 Lost Dawg Singers in somebody's living room one night. We presented a 'hootenanay' in the Union Hall for the general public about 1963-64 and it was so welf received that another, and another, had to be held for packed audiences. We were on a roll! Hootenanays were also presented at the ski hill lodge, in the Odeon Theatre, and in Cranbrook.

Inevitably, in such a large group, there were the discussions and disagreements concerning our future direction. Whether to work on a broad repertoire for popular appeal or to stick with pure 'folk' music. And should that be pure traditional folk music, or some of the more contemporary stuff. Then we had to decide whether to continue to sing in our living rooms for our own satisfaction, or to accept the money which was being offered and sing to entertain others. After all, we could buy an amp, loudspeakers and mikes with the dough! Yes but who needs that stuff anyway! Of course, with 30 people involved, there were 40 opinions! It was a loose, unstructured group.

While the folk revival continued, the Bob Dylans, the Burl lves, the Chad Mitchells spawned new generations of modern folkies. We tried to sing like Ian and Sylvia, like Joni Mitchell, and Gordon Lightfoot. Lost Dawg Singers came ...and went. With others the novelty wore off. Troubadours dropped in for an evening as they were 'Passin' Through'. Remember the 'Couriers'? A natural evolutionary process saw small groups spawn-off to satisfy their more specific needs and for new kinds of music. New generations of Lost Dawgers emerged .•... and the metamorphosis continued.

The 'constant' in this scene over 40 years has been the sheer love of expressing feeling or telling a story ... through song. Many people in this community have been affected and Kimberley's life has been enriched by the contributions of all those who passed through the ranks of the Lost Dawg Singers.

George Zinovich