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Country Trails
June
1995
The Cowboy Yodeler From The Pine Tree State
Life is full of little surprises!
I had just gotten back from church on
Sunday, January 29, 1995, when the phone rang. The caller identified
himself as Richard MacKenzie and asked if I had ever heard of his
father, Ken MacKenzie, who had been a country/ western singer on radio
and TV in Maine for several decades. I admitted I had not.
He went on to say that even though his dad
had been tremendously popular in Maine, northern New England, and the
Canadian Maritimes, he had never made any commercial recordings.
However, he had done transcription discs for radio stations and,
following his death in October 1993, a family friend discovered a box
containing 21 of these old discs, made in 1951 and 1952.
Most were covered with mildew and were in
pretty deplorable shape, but Richard gave them a good scrubbing in his
kitchen sink and took them to a sound engineer and following some
family debate and discussion, 21 songs were selected and made into a
cassette, I'm Following The Stars, by Ken and
Simone ("The Mrs.") MacKenzie. It is nothing short of great.
The songs are good, traditional country
and western songs, some associated with MacKenzie's favorite
performers, Wilf Carter and Bradley Kincaid. The duets with his wife,
Simone, are beautiful. And to top it all off, Ken MacKenzie is a
superb yodeler!
I suspect there may be others out there
for whom, like myself, Ken MacKenzie is not exactly a household name,
so let me spread a bit of enlightenment about the man. Born in Boston,
MA, November 18, 1918, Ken's dad bought him a guitar and a harmonica
when he was a teenager, and he began playing them at minstrel shows
and Grange meetings in the Concord, NH, area where he grew up.
Beginning in 1936, Ken began broadcasting
on WFEA in Manchester, NH-for the "princely" sum of $3.00
per show. Of course that did not come until he had been on long enough
to attract a sponsor! One of his biggest sponsors on WFEA was
Genest bread, each loaf of which carried a picture of Ken MacKenzie on
its wrapper.
Two years later he moved to Maine to work
with Buck Nation & The Cowboy Caravan. In January 1939, MacKenzie
began broadcasting on WGAN in Portland, ME, and later that year
he organized the first Country-Western Variety show in the State of
Maine, which began touring around the region, and with the exception
of some time off for Ken to serve in the U.S. Air Corp during World
War Two, the show continued through the 40's, 50's, and 60's.
When WGAN-TV went on the air in 1954, "The Ken MacKenzie
Show" went into TV and continued for many years. In addition to
his country music show, MacKenzie was also the host of two very
popular kids shows on WGAN-TV, "Adventure Land" and
'Mighty Ninety."
Later sort of in the mode of Gene Autry, Ken would lay aside his
guitar for a business career as Operations Manager for WGAN. In
1978 he was inducted into the Maine Country Music Association Hall of
Fame. Simone MacKenzie was inducted in 1984. Ken retired just four
months before his wife, Simone, died in 1984.
I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll have many more causes to say it
again, but it never ceases to amaze me and to make my day for me when
I learn of yet another superb country and western performer "out
there," that I had never heard of before.
One article states, "From the depths of the Depression to the
height of the Viet Nam War, Ken MacKenzie sang cowboy songs on Maine
radio and TV." It is truly good to get to know about this
talented artist and to be able to help spread the word about him and
his music. Send off and get one. You'll really enjoy it.
Copyright © 1998 MacKenzie
Family Productions
All Rights Reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form.
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