Maine Song and Story Sampler Artists

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  Walfred Hamari

  Walfred Hamari

  The son of Finnish immigrants, Walfred Hamari was born in the upper peninsula of Michigan in 1913. He worked in the woods of Minnesota, Michigan, and Maine, as well as on his own farm in Maine. He moved to Maine in 1947, when he and his wife bought a farm while on vacation. Walfred knew many Finnish songs and performed them at local dances for many years. He was a self-taught fiddler and accordionist, and he also played the hay scythe. Oscar “Doc” Tikander provided guitar and vocal accompaniment during this interview.

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  William Lawrence

  William Lawrence

  William Lawrence was one of Hugh French’s sources for his exhibit on the history of the Eastport, Maine. Born in 1889, Lawrence worked in the cannery as a young man, then in a local pharmacy and even studied to be pharmacist in Massachusetts but wasn’t able to finish due to health problems. French was not certain, but he thought Lawrence worked as a carpenter in Eastport after that.

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  Wilmot MacDonald

  Wilmot MacDonald

  Wilmot MacDonald was raised in Glenwood, NB, one of ten children. He grew up in a musical household, with two fine singers for parents. He favored the songs of his father from the lumbercamp tradition, and he learned many songs while working in the woods from the age of fourteen until shortly after he married. He worked as a well-driller, fireman engineer, and ran a boiler at Chatham Air Force Base until he retired around 1970. He was for many years the star of the Miramichi Folksong Festival, opening the festival many times with “The Lumberman’s Alphabet.” He was a favorite singer and storyteller, and good friend, of both Sandy Ives and Louise Manny, who founded the Miramichi Folksong Festival.