Rufus Guinchard (1899 to 1990) was a fisherman, logger, and carpenter from Daniel’s Harbour, Newfoundland, who played fiddle for dances along the Northern Peninsula for about 80 years. Folklorists found him in the mid-1970s, and he cut his first record at 77. He toured Japan, Australia, Europe, and North America in his final 15 years and became a member of the Order of Canada in 1986. With Émile Benoît, he is one of the two source fiddlers of Newfoundland.
Why Guinchard matters
Guinchard is the reason a large piece of Newfoundland’s fiddle repertoire survived. He learned tunes from older players in his outport in the 1910s, played them for dances for six decades, and then recorded them when the folk revival came looking. Kelly Russell wrote down 60 of his tunes in a 1982 book, and Guinchard’s own compositions, like Centennial Highway Reel, entered the repertoire of younger bands. Without him, the older Northern Peninsula dance tunes would be lost.
Life and career
Guinchard was born on September 6, 1899, in Daniel’s Harbour, on the west coast of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula. He was the oldest of eight children. He went fishing with his father Joseph at age eight and was trapping and logging by 14. At 11 he taught himself fiddle by watching his uncle John Peter Payne and practicing in secret on his father’s instrument. He learned his first tunes from John Peter Payne and Leonard Payne, the local fiddlers.
For most of his life he played for dances along the coast from Sally’s Cove to Flower’s Cove while working as a fisherman, logger, trapper, carpenter, and river warden. He married at 22 and raised a large family. Through the 1950s and 1960s he kept playing the old tunes at a time when few others did.
The folk revival reached him in the mid-1970s. At 75 he played concerts at Memorial University and the St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre. Breakwater released his first album, Rufus Guinchard, Newfoundland Fiddler, in 1977, with only his foot tapping for accompaniment. He toured with the Breakwater Boys and then with Jim Payne and Kelly Russell, playing festivals and expositions in Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia. His second album, Step Tunes and Doubles, came out in 1982 with Payne and Russell. He became a member of the Order of Canada in 1986.
Guinchard recorded Humouring the Tunes in 1990, with Jim Payne producing. He died on September 7, 1990, the day after his 91st birthday. Pigeon Inlet Productions reissued his recordings in 1995 as Fathers of the Newfoundland Fiddle, Volume 1.
Playing style
Guinchard held the fiddle in a way no teacher would allow. He rested it against his chest and right shoulder instead of under his chin, and he gripped the bow halfway up the stick. The grip came from his boyhood practice sessions, when he sat on the kitchen table with his feet on a chair and needed a way to hold the instrument that let him watch the door. He kept that setup for 80 years.
The short bow grip gave him a driving stroke built for dances, and his playing stayed strong into his late 70s, when he made his first record. His repertoire is dance music: jigs, reels, and the step tunes and doubles of Newfoundland set dancing. On his first record the only rhythm is his foot, and it never wavers. Learn the tunes with the dance in mind, because that is what shaped them.
Influences and legacy
Guinchard learned from his uncle John Peter Payne and from Leonard Payne in Daniel’s Harbour, and about half the tunes on his first record came from those older players. He composed others himself, including Centennial Highway Reel, which Figgy Duff and Red Island later recorded.
Kelly Russell and Jim Payne learned from him, toured with him, and documented his music. Russell’s book Rufus Guinchard: The Man and His Music came out in 1982, and his Kelly Russell Collection website carries the biography and field recordings. Guinchard’s tunes now sit beside those of Émile Benoît as the core of Newfoundland fiddle repertoire.
Signature tunes and songs
Centennial Highway Reel Uncle Harry’s Out of Shape Daniel’s Harbour Breakdown Uncle John Peter Payne’s Tune Parson’s Pond Jig Rowed Up in the Dory.
Essential recordings
Rufus Guinchard, Newfoundland Fiddler (Breakwater, 1977) Step Tunes and Doubles (Pigeon Inlet Productions, 1982) Humouring the Tunes (SingSong, 1990) Fathers of the Newfoundland Fiddle, Volume 1 (Pigeon Inlet Productions, 1995)
Awards and honors
Order of Canada (1986) Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council Award for Music
Watch and listen
Guinchard plays with Kelly Russell. Watch where his fiddle sits and how far up the bow his hand rests.
Guinchard in 1990, the year he died.
What to learn from Guinchard
Learn Centennial Highway Reel. It is his own tune, and it is the one younger Newfoundland bands play. Learn it by ear from his record, then check your version against the transcription in Kelly Russell’s book. The technique to steal is his foot. Guinchard recorded with no accompanist, and his tapping foot is the whole rhythm section. Play a tune with no backup and tap the beat out loud. If the tune holds up, your time is good.
Sources
Rufus Guinchard, Kelly Russell Collection Rufus Guinchard, The Canadian Encyclopedia Rufus Guinchard, Newfoundland Fiddler, Discogs Rufus Guinchard, Humouring the Tunes, Discogs Rufus Guinchard, Fathers of the Newfoundland Fiddle, Volume 1, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more Canadian fiddlers. Émile Benoît is the other source fiddler of Newfoundland. For the Cape Breton tradition next door, see Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald and Buddy MacMaster. Don Messer made the Down East sound national in the same decades Guinchard was playing outport dances.