Canadian Country music artists

The Maritimes, parts of Ontario and BC shared a strong folk tradition similar to that of the Appalachian region, and country music found ready acceptance in Canada.

Country and Western Music

Country and western music roots lie in the British folk tradition, particularly as preserved in the rural mountain areas of the southern United States. Pop music, black music and the demands of commercial recording and radio have also influenced C and W music.

Folk Roots

The Maritimes, parts of Ontario and BC shared a strong folk tradition similar to that of the Appalachian region, and country music found ready acceptance in Canada. Country music was first popularized by fiddlers such as Don Messer and George Wade, who started their careers on radio in the late 1920s. The Canadian Victor Record Co signed Wilf Carter in 1932, and his success prompted Victor to sign Wade (1933), Hank Snow (1936) and Hank LaRivière (1941).

Carter, Snow, and later Earl Heywood introduced a unique style of country music that uses a lower, less nasal-sounding voice with clearer enunciation and fewer of the blueslike slurs and high whining sounds that dominate much American country music. Canadian singers have continued to rely more on the traditional ballad and story songs than on the "cheatin'" and barroom songs often preferred in the US.

The Great Depression, WWII, a more mobile population, the success of the "singing cowboy" movies, the number of US radio stations with access to Canada, the increasing number of pop adaptations in country music and national radio shows and tours all increased the popularity of country music throughout the 1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s.

Movement to the United States

Canadian artists have been hampered by the sparse population and the regional nature of the country. Until the mid-1950s country artists relied on live radio shows, extensive regional touring in clubs, and barn dances and local television appearances to earn a living. With a shortage of places to perform and the absence of good recording studios, numerous artists, including Ray Griff, Stu Phillips, Lucille Starr and Ronnie Prophet, followed the lead of Hank Snow and moved to the US.

In the 1960s the instrumentation and singing style on country records became more pop-oriented. Artists such as Anne Murray, R. Harlan Smith and Shirley Eikhardt received airplay on commercial radio, while rock-oriented music, reflected in the Good Brothers, Prairie Oyster and Colleen Peterson, gained a wider audience. The urban folk boom of the 1960s fostered artists such as Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLauchlan and Bob Ruzicka, who have both a strong urban and a strong country appeal. The folk-music boom also introduced bluegrass, the jazz of country music, and traditional Canadian fiddle music to a much larger audience. In the 1990s there continued to be a strong crossover feeling to Canadian country music, with such new artists as Rita MacNeil, Quartette, Colleen Peterson, Ashley MacIsaac, The Rankins and The Barra MacNeils, whose roots are in folk music, and who appeal to country audiences in particular and Canadian music audiences in general.

In 1986 the CRTC released a comprehensive study, The Country Music Industry in Canada, in response to the Canadian Broadcasters Association's request for lessened restrictions on Canadian content. Based on its findings, the CRTC ruled that the regulations should remain in place.