THE FIRST CROW
by GARRY FERGUSON
01 HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANADA
02 SHANTIES
03 BERNIE BEDORE
04 FLOUR POWER
05 COAL OIL OR KEROSENE
06 THE FIRST CROW
07 SITTIN’ UP
08 CANADIAN FOLK SONGS
09 POST OFFICES
10 KILTS AND TARTANS
11 RENFREW COUNTY FIDDERS ASSOCIATION
12 THE BALLAD OF THE CLASSIC
13 OUTHOUSE FLOWERS
14 LOG DRIVERS
15 WHATEVER IT WAS
16 POTASH
17 YOU’RE A TWIT
18 SCAMMERS
19 LEAVING
20 THE TUNE THE COW DIED ON
21 A PROMISE IS A PROMISE
22 WATER WHELPS
23 CROCHETY OVER BULLFROGITIS
24 BEARS
25 LOW IS NOT SO BAD
26 CHINOOKS
27 THE GREAT FIRE OF OH-THREE
28 SUNDAY-MORNING DANGERS
Garry Ferguson follows up his first chronicling of Madewaska Valley tales with another collection: The First Crow/ Backroads, Rumours and Recollections filled with his own reminiscences and those as told by his grandfather and other fascinating characters inhabiting his youthful world. Each year, Garry Feguson awaited the return of the crows much like a five-year-old awaits Santa Clause’s return, he says, because the very first, Caw, spelled anticipation to—the rebirth of his little wedge of this planet. Whether he’s writing about the Renfrew County Shanties—one room log hovels with dirt floors, or about the characters like Bernie Bedore who “not only created the large body of mythology surrounding that tough, old giant from the square-timber days but has also given us a wealth of songs, poems and stories about other Valley characters and places,” Garry does not fail to hold us enthralled with the “men who went to shanty and the women who stayed behind to run homesteads and raise families forged in the hardships of an unforgiving time in an unforgiving land.”
READ GARRY'S PROFILE