Harvey York Co, New Brunswick
Don Messer was born May 9th, 1909 in Tweedside New Brunswick, just outside of Harvey Station. As a young child he discovered his love for the fiddle and Scottish music. Don learned how to play the fiddle when he was five. As he got older he would play shows in the local area and later throughout southwestern New Brunswick. At the age of sixteen Don moved to Boston and lived with his aunt for three years. While there he received his only formal training in music.
When Don return to the Maritimes he began his radio career on CFBO in Saint John New Brunswick in 1929 when he joined the station staff. Don began putting together a small studio band of musicians and in 1934 they began a regular radio show for CBC on CHSJ under the name “New Brunswick Lumberjacks”. Don began making special appearances throughout the Maritimes and New England under the name “Backwoods Breakdown”.
In 1939 Don moved to Charlottetown PEI and started working at CFCY as a music director. he formed the "Islanders" and by 1944 the group was airing a show nationally on CBC radio. The show established itself as the most popular on Canadian radio during the 1940s-1960s and "Don Messer and His Islanders" began to tour outside of the Maritimes. “Don Messer and His Islanders” radio show ended 1956.
CBC television began airing a summer series called “The Don Messer Show” on August 7th, 1956. The show continued on through the fall as “Don Messer’s Jubilee” which carried on through out the 1960’s. In 1969 “Don Messer’s Jubilee” was cancelled with much protest.
On March 26, 1973 Don Messer died in Halifax Nova Scotia. A monument was erected in his memory in Tweedside. Also a fiddle stands in Harvey as a monument to Don Messer.