Warden Ambrose (Ward) Allen, born in Kirkton, Ontario, was a renowned fiddler and composer.
Ward Allen
1924 – 1965
Allen began playing the fiddle at age 12, often performing with his brother Lorne. After working as a harvester and logger in Manitoba and British Columbia, he returned to Ontario in the late 1940s and gained recognition by performing on the CKNX Wingham Barn Dance show. He won the 1953 Canadian Open Old Time Fiddlers’ Contest and toured Canada with Wilf Carter from 1954 to 1956. He also performed in Ottawa with the CFRA Happy Wanderers from 1955 to 1964 on CFRA radio and from 1964 to 1965 on CJOH-TV.
Allen started recording for Sparton in 1954, releasing three volumes of “Ward Allen Presents Maple Leaf Hoedown.” His tune “Maple Sugar” became a hit in Canada and the USA in 1957 and is considered a classic. Disc jockey Lee Moore of West Virginia used this tune as the theme song for his radio show on WWVA. Some of Allen’s other popular compositions include “Frank Ryan’s Hornpipe” and “C.N.E. Breakdown.”
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in 1965, the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and the North American Fiddle Association in 1994. Allen was a member of Local 180 at the time of his death at his home in Hull, Quebec.
Interesting links
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Ward Allen (The Canadian Encyclopedia)
Kevin James
