BONNY LEA RIG. Canadian, Jig (6/8 time). Canada; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "Bonny Lea Rig" was composed by fiddler Robert Joudrey (1929-2005) of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. He was known as "The Fiddlin' Farmer", who worked a small beef famr in Lower Northfield. He taught himself to play in his teens listening to the Don Messer Show on the radio, and soon played for local dances, fiddle contests and other events. He also composed more than 100 fiddle tunes, some of which were played and recorded by various Canadian fiddle artists, including Messer, who played some of Joudrey's tunes on his CFCY radio show.
Additional notes Source for notated version : - Gus Longaphie (b. 1914, Little Harbor, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; in the 1990's resident of Souris) [Perlman].
Printed sources : - Corfield (Tunes from New Brunswick), 2024; p. 146. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 138.
