Feature Article July 31, 2002
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A musical family love-in at Snow Roadby David BrisonThe Abrams family put on another wonderful concert at the John Thomson Hall in Snow Road on Sunday. Once more, the hall was packed tight and people were standing outside listening in through the windows.
The Abrams have at least two abiding passions: family (their own and others) - and music. The monthly concerts are a demonstration of the many ways they find to combine the two:
The host band, Abrams Family and Clarendon Station, has son Brian (guitar and vocals), along with his father Wayne, who also sings and plays guitar, and mother Mary, who joins both men in three part harmony. Then there are the young fiddling sensations, John (11) and James (9) who appear with both their father Brian and proud grandfather Wayne;
Last month, they had the boys violin teacher, Jessica Halliday, who performed with her father and sister;
This month, singer songwriter David Bradstreet ended his last session with a song he wrote, Renaissance (Lets dance that old dance one more time), accompanied by his daughter Alice, 15. David got a Juno for this song, which was popularized by Valdy.
Mary and Waynes other son Steven appeared on stage with David Bradstreet and sang one of his own songs, Lanark Lament, written at his parents home near Snow Road.
The musical family theme got a boost this week in a move that surprised Wayne Abrams. Waynes cousin, Lyle Burnett, heard about the Snow Road concerts through the story in The Frontenac News last month. He noticed a resemblance between 11-year-old John Abrams and his great-grandfather (Waynes grandfather) Alvanly Van Abrams. Van, a mica miner from Desert Lake, and his wife, Lena (a Cox from Coxvale) had 13 children. He played the violin and his 100-year-old violin had hung for years in his son Hubs (Waynes uncle) home. Lyle arranged to have Vans violin presented to the fiddling Abrams boys by Hub Abrams himself. John Abrams accepted it and said that he and his brother, Would make sure it would continue to be passed down over the generations.
The Abrams Family and Clarendon Station group has been joined by mandolinist, Bob Burtch. Bob also sang with another Bob, Bob Slater, who form a group called The Roberts. To further complicate matters, Wayne Abrams has been asked to play bass for The Roberts!
Among many gems, The Abrams Family and Clarendon Station performed, for the first time, John Prines Paradise (Daddy wont you take me back to Muhlenberg County). Brian, Wayne and Mary sang three-part harmony, part of it unaccompanied, and it was this months musical winner for this reporter.
