Don
Randell was a fixture on the country music scene in Newfoundland for close to 60 years. Born (1924) and raised
in Port Rexton, where
as a boy he took piano lessons and taught himself to play fiddle, Don moved to St.John's in 1941.
Before long he joined The Reveliers, an early
country band that played on VOCM, then teamed up with Ralph Bishop
for the
Ralph and Don radio show on VONF. Later,
with brother Mac Randell, Eric Dicks and Cec Lawrence, Don formed
the Happy
Valley Gang, who did a Friday-night show on VOCM and personal appearances
around Newfoundland. Ted
Blanchard replaced Mac Randell and he and
Don becamee Newfoundland's best-known fiddlers in the 1950s and ‘60s,
through the Dipsydoodlers, CBN’s
Saturday Nite Jamboree and All Around the Circle on CBC-TV.
Don
took part in numerous other radio and TV shows and also found time to play in
the Hal LaFosse
Orchestra, a popular dance band. He and Ted Blanchard were part of The
Shamrocks who made the first
commercial recording of fiddle music from Newfoundland in
1957. Don was a member of the bluegrass
band Crooked Stovepipe from 1976 to 2001 and did studio work for other
artists. He is a recipient
of the Newfoundland and
Labrador Arts Council Honour Award and the Stompin’ Tom Connors Award from the
East Coast Music Association
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