Dayna Manning

Born and raised in Stratford in a musical home– her father a music teacher at Northwester Secondary School – Dayna Manning took to the form at a young age. Set to self-produce her first album at the age of 16, she was signed by EMI and would release two albums. She toured with the first season of Lilith Fair and was nominated for the 1998 Juno Award for Best New Artist. After eight years, she parted ways with EMI and released her third album, Folkyo, on her own label, LeParc Records.

For more on Dayna see  Dayne Manning

In 1957 the three would form The Revols with fellow locals Doug Rhodes and Jim Winkler in Ken Kalmusky’s parent’s basement on Queen Street in Stratford. As 14 and 15 year old kids, they would eventually join Ronnie Hawkins and go on together and individually to pave international music history. Richard Manuel would go onto play with Bob Dylan and later form The Band. Ken Kalmuskyended up playing bass with Ian & Sylvia and The Great Speckled Bird. While John Till joined Janis Joplin’s last band in 1969.

Song:  The Revols - Studio Demos 1957

*  For more see   Revols

Stratford’s quintessential music man, Jack Hayter picked up a saxophone at age 12 and entertained people his entire life. You’d be hard pressed to have missed Jack Hayter’s music growing up in Stratford, whether it was in the 1930s playing in big bands at the Casino (now the Tom Patterson Theatre), dances at the Winter Garden dance hall (upstairs of 31 Market Place), with his 1939 Casino Band out front of Watson’s Bazaar on weekends or on The Barge all summer long, the sound of Jack’s saxophone filled Stratford for generations.

For more on Jack  see Jack Hater

Though Soylent Green was made up of modest individuals their contribution to the Stratford music scene was anything but. Releasing a number of independent albums on cassette, curating a compilation CD chron-icling the Stratford music scene of the mid-1990’s and engineering lo-fi recordings for other local bands, Soylent Green took the DIY ethic to heart and provided a blueprint for other local bands to follow. Under the moniker Lungbutter the band’s sound continued to evolve yielding even more compelling albums and live performances. The band will forever be held in high esteem for their music and their immeasurable influence on the local music community.

Song: SOYLENT GREEN - "Leaves of Three" 

Aptly described as “a loose-knit lump of lunatic fringe”, the Perth County Conspiracy(does not exist) was an amorphous outgrowth of Stratford’s seasonal Black Swan

Coffee-House. Touring during the Swan’s off-season The Conspiracy played across Canada in halls and clubs large and small,schools, prisons and the like. In February of 1975 in an atypical example a six member troupe attended an International Festival of Political Song in East Berlin as guests of the people of the German Democratic

Republic. The six people pictured here spent three weeks performing in concert halls and work-places along with songwriters from some 40 (mostly socialist) countries. Portrayed in the mural are Larry “Fretless” Brown, Richard Keelan, Harry Finlay, Paul Gellman, Dorit Learned and Cedric Smith. 

Song: Perth County Conspiracy "CBC" 1970 *So Many Things*

 In 1961, under the banner “JAZZ – ESPRESSO– PEACE”, The Black Swan Coffee-House (Harry W. Finlay, proprietor) brought to Stratford its first espresso machine and regular after-theatre music, poetry, dramatic readings and untrammeled discussion of issues of the day. Migrating from 380 Ontario Street (1961) through 32 Downie Street (1962-63), and 42 Wellington Street (1964-65), the swan finally settled at 31 Market Place for a decade, and around it there grew a community of sorts.

Song: Cedric Smith & Terry Jones - Lining Up To Go (1975) .Cedric Smith played in the Perth County Conspiracy band  which often played inthe early days of the Black Swan.

For more on the Black Swan see   Black Swan Coffee House

The Wheezing Dogz were Stratford’s first seminal nowave/art/punk band. They performed a handful of per-formances at art galleries, stags and warehouse parties in 1978 and 1979 in and around Stratford. They released two successful 7" EPs in that time. They took a short hiatus until the mid-1980s, when they reformed as the https://sites.google.com/view/streestofstratford/market-place#h.ftqd4r8jwfb4to release one LP on Gravelvoice Records in the USA. Members of this band can still be found around the area playing in various bands.

Song: Behavioural Modifications" - ACME Warehouse -July 18 - 1981 

In the 1930s there was always a band playing in Stratford, if it wasn’t at the Casino (now the Tom Patterson Theatre) or at the pavilion in Queen’s Park, it was at the Winter Garden dance hall on Market Place (upstairs of 31 Market Place).

The Otto Henderson Band, comprised of Tommy Murdock, Herbie Fink, Walter Kalmusky, Bill Carter, Jack Purdue, Otto Henderson, Julia Brodhagen Smith and Erlyn Wilker, was just one of the many bands that could be heard playing live regularly on Stratford’s CJCS radio station.