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maine experience > web extras > mpbn's staff fiddler plays a few mellie dunham tunes


MPBN's Staff Fiddler Plays A Few Mellie Dunham Tunes

Mellie Dunham of Norway, Maine literally fiddled his way to fame and fortune back in the 1920's after being invited to play with Henry Ford's Country Dance Orchestra in Dearborn, Michigan. MPBN producer Frank Ferrel, producer of this segment and a fine fiddle player in his own right, talks of the direct connection he felt to his subject when he sat down to play a couple of Mellie's original tunes along with Lona Bedard, Mellie's 90-something grand-daughter and a piano player who still performs weekly in Norway. Together they play a song called "Red Wing," which Mellie would have played regularly at his performances. Hear Ms. Bedard give Frank an enthusiastic "right on!" at the end of the tune.

 

   

Funding for production of Maine Experience was provided in part by: Elsie Viles, Cynthia Crocker, the Richard Bresnahan Family, Harry and Susan Konkel, the Borman Family Foundation, Henrietta Farnum Stewart, Randy Phelps and Pamela Daley, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, Judith and Joe Kaminski and Calista L. Harder.