06/04/2026
On the Banks of a Daydream
by Davy Weale
RED volume 20
It’s a Friday afternoon in April, I’ve just returned home from a two hour trip down memory lane with musician Garth Proud, and music is on my mind. I’m thumbing through my vinyl record collection, looking for my copy of Gene Maclellan’s 1970, self-titled album; one of the most prized in my collection. I find it, pull it out, flip it over and sure enough there he his, Garth Proud, his name beside the song “On the Banks of a Daydream.” I put the record on, ease into a soft chair, close my eyes and listen.
When someone tells me they’ve co-written a song with legendary Canadian songsmith Gene Maclellan, they’ve got my attention. “Banks of a Daydream” comes on and I recall the story as Garth told it just a few hours earlier.
It happened on the set of the old Sing-a-long Jubilee, in the late 1960’s – which Gene and Garth were both part of at the time. There was a break in taping and the musicians were lounging around, bidin’ their time, when Garth grabbed a guitar and started noodling around on a bit of a bossa nova riff. Gene, who was nearby, overheard what Garth was doing and made his way over, “Hey man, that sounds nice, like we’re on a beach or on the banks of a daydream,” Garth recalls Gene saying. That night, Garth took the riff home with him, worked out a bridge for the tune, brought it back the next day and Gene did the rest. According to Gene, Garth was the only co-writer he’d ever worked with on a song.
Many years before that episode, Garth’s musical journey started out in Charlottetown, where he grew up. His was not a particularly musical family per-se, his dad played the harmonica and his grandmother played the organ at church, but it was his older sister Faye that perhaps had the most influence, exposing him to the early rock-and-roll and rock-a-billy sounds of artists like Elvis, The Everly Brothers, The Ventures, Booker T and the MG’s, to name a few.
His brother-in-law, Murray Mayhew, loaned him his first instrument, an old Harmony guitar. At the age of thirteen he bought his first guitar out of the Sears catalogue along with a Silvertone amp.
His first band was called The Tempos, which consisted of an ensemble of school friends from Queen Charlotte Junior High: Richard Hancox, Bill Lea, and Gus Houston. They played together for a couple of years. Garth recalled their first gig with a chuckle, it was a dance in the Queen Charlotte gymnasium in front of their peers. They were nervous as hell, but they pulled it off, and got five dollars each at the end of the show. The Tempos wouldn’t last long, but you have to start somewhere, and for Garth a musical journey was begun.
These were the days of the legendary Rollaway club, a Charlottetown hot spot for live music and dancing and Garth was a regular. To him, and many others undoubtedly, The Tremtones, who were the house band at the Rollaway at the time, were rock-stars. Garth recalls sneaking out to the Rollaway and sitting in front of the bass player, George Halliwell, and studying every note he played. Having no formal musical training, this was how he learned; a keen ear and plenty of determination. George and Garth would become friends, and eventually, Garth would get the call to sub in for George when he needed a night off. It felt like being called up to the big leagues, being upon that vaunted and revered Rollaway stage. It was a big step, and probably didn’t hurt in the getting girls department, but still, there were no illusions of a music career at this point in time. In fact, he was planning to attend the vocational school out by UPEI to do a business and commerce course, with the hopes of one day opening up a men’s wear shop, much like his cousin Wayne had done with Proud’s Shoes.
But Garth wasn’t interested in school, and his grades reflected it. One of his English teachers, Mrs. Baker could tell that Garth was struggling a bit with academics, and knew it was due largely to his preoccupation with music. Rather than punish him for his distracted nature, Mrs. Baker encouraged him to pursue music, and convinced him it was a viable career option, and relayed stories of her own friends who were professional musicians. It meant a lot to Garth at the time. Indeed, his trajectory was not the haberdashery, but the stage, and though he didn’t quite know it yet, he soon would.
One night while Garth was playing at the Rollaway, Brian Ahern – a well-known guitar player and band leader – dropped in for a listen. Long story short, he and Garth hit it off. Brian was a guy with some music scene clout. He offered Garth an audition for a bass playing gig on the CBC television show, Frank’s Bandstand. Garth hopped in his Nash Rambler and set off for CBC studios in Halifax. He recalls his meeting with Frank’s Bandstand producer, Manny Pitsen, “Who paced around and looked me over with a discerning eye, like he was buying a horse, of course with camera shots in mind, and eventually said, “’ Yeah, he’ll do.”’
Garth Proud, an eighteen year old, self-taught musician who couldn’t read charts, just landed a gig on national television. He moved to Halifax where he was able to crash at his sister’s apartment. He remembers vividly his first rehearsal, amongst so many top notch musicians, as a terrifying experience. He was raw. He played the bass guitar with a pick. During the rehearsal the saxophone player, Keith Jollimore, noticed this and informed “You’re a bass player man, throw away that pick,” and he did. It was a great and daunting life transition he was undertaking, and luckily there were a couple of kind bandmates who took him under their wing, befriended him, and showed him around Halifax including all the musical hot spots. It would soon feel like home.
CBC studios was a major player on the national music scene in those days. There was a lot going on, including a music variety show called The Singalong Jubilee, who’s musical director was none other than, Brian Ahern. In time Garth got the gig on the Jubilee, where he would be a mainstay for the next ten years, playing a part in launching the careers of artists such as Catherine McKinnon, Shirley Eikhard, Freddy McKenna, Jim Barnett, Bill Langstroth, Gene MacLellan and Anne Murray.
If you’re telling me stories of auditioning Anne Murray on the Sing-a-long Jubilee, and backing her on bass when she premiered her version of Gene MacLellan’s song Snowbird, again, you’ve got my attention.
There are too many stories to share from the Jubilee years. Garth found himself in great musical company, backing up, touring and recording with a lot of musical legends. As Anne Murray’s fame blossomed, she moved on from the Jubilee and made her way to Toronto, along with Brian Ahern. The two would work closely for many years, and go on to record eleven albums together.
It’s but a tiny glimpse into the inner workings of the revered maritime music machine of the late 60’s and 70’s, and Garth was no small part of that machine – a steady bandmate and highly proficient musician, the Garth Prouds are often overlooked for their musical contributions, while praise and fame are heaped upon singer songwriters. But make no mistake, their role in making the machine run smoothly is vital.
Things were winding down with the Jubilee, but it’s far from the end of Garth’s musical journey. When Brian Ahern left the Jubilee, there was an opening for a guitar player. Georges Hebert got the job, and though their time together on the Jubilee would soon end, they would develop a friendship that remains to this day - still playing music together frequently.
Georges would also make his way to Toronto to accompany Anne, and Garth was invited to be a part of that ensemble, but he declined. He didn’t want to be stuck in Toronto.
At about this time, he was offered a job as a maritime sales representative for Yamaha. That was a gig that would last for the next thirty-three years, until he retired in 08’.
When you’re a good guy and a consummate professional, in any business, it seems that one thing often leads to another. And so it did for Garth. The right people came along at the right time, and Garth made the right impression, and made a hell of a lot of beautiful music and great friends on the journey.
Anne and Garth remain good friends to this day, and I thought I’d end the piece with the story of Anne’s final concert in Springhill, Nova Scotia. It wasn’t known to most at the time that it was to be her final concert. Garth was in attendance, and after the show, Anne sent someone to fetch him and bring him back to the green room. There, the old friends shared a warm reunion and carried on like old times, when Anne, seemingly out of the blue, declared that this was to be her last concert; the last stop on a career journey that made her famous and took her all over the world, and to cap it all off, she wanted to share the moment with a man, a musician, a friend who was there when the journey began.
(picture: Garth on the set of Singalong Jubilee, far right, top.)
A PEI storytelling magazine that was launched, October 2010.
