Wow, thats a close as were gonna get as far as "straight from the horse's mouth" Hi Joe. Welcome to Mudcat, where we can be curmudgeons on a daily basis if we like.

The Travellers were responsible for half of my repertoire by the time I was twenty. Although I often heard them compared (only) to the Weavers by critics, they had a unique sound and seemed to be infinitely more spontaneously funny in live performance. My guess is they've probably recorded more than 20 albums and did one of union songs that is a classic, and from which I learned a song called "Yahee Miners", that I still sing on a regular basis. I first saw them at a tiny club in Montreal called the "Finjan" and in a way was sorry that they only played big venues by the time I reached Toronto. In that intimate setting, they were electric. Like many other vocal and instrumental folk bands through the 70s and 80s, they were often plagued by "Rock and Roll" soundmen in larger venues, and the nice harmonies didn't show as well as they could have. Joe(bass) is one of the funniest guys I've met in the music biz, and I wish my fellow Mudcatters could get a chance to hear one of his stories.

It would be great to hear Jerry's account of how the "Canadian words" came about, (and if Oscar Brand really DID have a hand in them) but Travellers still sing a fine "Canadian" song (that Oscar DID write) called "Something To Sing About" that captures the spirit of Canada (only in my opinion folks) better than "This Land..."

Rick