Lloyd Wenger – Musical Biography
Lloyd was born in 1914.
His family relocated from the USA and homesteaded originally in
the Glenora area (southern Manitoba )
and then in the Winnipegosis area. He
was the only child born in Canada . Fiddle caught his interest at a young age but
he also played guitar and harmonica. He
played with Cliff Anderson (future brother in law) for many years and they both
married Duncalfe sisters of which 3 of the sisters could play piano and would take turns
accompanying them. Both Lloyd and Cliff
, Cliff’s bother Bert and another friend, Bill Laible had a group in the 1940’s
and called themselves “The Tobacco Chewers”.
They played for local dances in that Winnipegosis area. Cliff also played fiddle and guitar and would
trade off with Lloyd. Both briefly
worked on the extra gang for the railroad
in their younger years during the 1930’s depression time. As the rail job grew nearer to a town they
would book the local hall and play for dances.
Often, getting paid to play didn’t always come in the form of money but
instead occasionally a bottle of homebrew stashed behind the piano. Lloyd also sang in his younger years and his
influences were Jimmie Rodgers (the yodeling cowboy) and Hank Williams Sr. Lloyd
was also a huge fan of other fiddlers like Reg Bouvette, Al Cherny (Tommy
Hunter show) and Don Messer and his fiddling style was a mix of Old Time and
Metis style. He could also recite from
memory the poem the “The Cremation of Sam McGee” with an eerie edge to his
voice. During the 60’s he also attempted
a “working man’s” overdubbing music studio by using 2 compact cassette
recorders. He would record fiddle on one
cassette then record that cassette onto another cassette while playing guitar
creating a guitar/fiddle duet. Lloyd’s original fiddle didn’t have great
value but he played it for many years. It
had one large burn mark on it and the story was that it got to close to a wood
stove as he was trying to warm it quick to play for a dance they had travelled
to by “horse and buggy” transportation when living on the farm. That same
fiddle was severely damaged when Lloyd slipped on the ice when exiting the
stage in the RHJ arena after a Trapper’s Festival fiddling contest during the
early 1980’s, but like all things that needed repair in his life he had it all
glued and working in short order. In
Lloyd’s later years he played with family members in the local Legion in The
Pas and also occasionally played with his youngest son’s bands when requested
and was always happy “just to play”. He
also enjoyed the Saturday afternoon jam sessions at the local bars. Lloyd’s weary fiddle was laid to rest with
him in 2000.
