Ray Legere

Ray Legere (born September 20, 1965) is a Canadian bluegrass fiddler, mandolinist, guitarist and band leader from Sackville, New Brunswick.

Legere has been named the Bluegrass Artist of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards for several years and is recorded on the Honour Roll at the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards as the best Fiddle Player, after winning that title from 1996 to 2000. He has been inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, he was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for High Achievement in the Arts by the New Brunswick Arts Board.

Early life Raymond (Ray) Legere was born September 20, 1965, in Amherst, Nova Scotia. His mother was a pianist and his father, who played fiddle and banjo, taught him to play the mandolin when he was ten years old. His focus at this time was old-time fiddle tunes, later learning some Louvin Brothers' songs with older friends and listening to American bluegrass pickers.

In the summer of 1982, when he was sixteen, Legere was called unexpectedly to fill in for Bill Monroe of the Blue Grass Boys when the famous mandolinist became ill before a concert in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Legere saw this as a unique opportunity to play with fiddle player Kenny Baker and with the Blue Grass Boys. He also learned the valuable lesson that the show must go on when Bill Monroe returned to the stage to perform a few hours after his surgery. In 1987, he joined the Lonesome River Band.

In 1990, Legere played fiddle on the album The Lynn Morris Band. In 1992, he toured with Michelle Shocked.

In 1998, Larry LeBlanc of Billboard magazine named him as one of Canada's leading bluegrass musicians. In 2012, he performed at the Canso Stanfest.

Legere joined the Celtic fusion ensemble Bowfire, and recorded on their self-titled CD, which was released in 2003. He toured with this group for several years.

In 2014, Legere played mandolin on Jared Lutes' album A Matter of When His band, Acoustic Horizon, performed at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival. Legere also performed in the third video of the United Breaks Guitars trilogy.

Leger performed with the band Grasstic Measures on the 2016 festival circuit; that year he was also inducted into the New Brunswick Country Hall of Fame.

Dick Smith, Mike O’Reilly Band 1998: Dick Smith, Mike O’Reilly Band (New Era NE-CD 100) 2004: A Honky-Tonk Frame of Mind (New Era NE-CD 200) 2005: Life's Road (New Era NE-CD 300)

Bowfire 2003: Bowfire (Marquis Records)

Ray Legere and Mike O’Reilly 2011: Story Songs and Toe-tapping Tunes (Acoustic Horizon AHM)

Grasstic Measures 2016: Square Dance Town (GM 2016–1)

Also appears on 1990: Lynn Morris Band – with Lynn Morris 1990: Newmarket Gap, with Wyatt Rice 1995: The Young Mando Monsters Mandolin Artistry, Vol. 1 (VMP-CD0100, 1995) / Raymond Legere – Puddle Jumper and Cruisin’ the Autobahn. 1996: The Stanley Tradition: Tribute to A Bluegrass Legacy (Doobie Shea Records – DS-CD-1001) / Ray Legere – Gonna Paint the Town 2003: "The Time's Never Been Better", a singer/songwriter album by Pat Moore of Ottawa Canada, also featuring Dick Smith, Steve Pittico, Ken Kanwisher, Mike O'Reilly, Tracy Brown, Marty McTiernan and produced by Al Bragg 2004: Blue Roses – with Rita MacNeil 2007: Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band – with Bill Emerson/ Ray Legere – Fiddler's Green and There's no room in your heart (Rebel Records) 2014: A Matter of When – with Jared Lutes 2014:Drop Forge – with Jim Dorrie (2014)

Awards and honours 1983 – Winner – Open Mandolin Championship – Woodstock Ontario 1986 – Winner – Open Mandolin Championship – Winfield, Kansas 1989 – Winner – Old Time Fiddle Championship – Sackville, New Brunswick 1990 – Among the top ten – Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championship 1990 – Among the top ten – Grand Masters Fiddle Championships – Nepean, Ontario 1991 – Among the top ten – Grand Masters Fiddle Championships – Nepean, Ontario 1996 – Bluegrass Artist of the year – Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Music Awards 1996 – Bluegrass Artist of the Year – East Coast Music Awards 2003 – Bluegrass Artist of the Year – Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Music Awards 2003 – Bluegrass Artist of the Year – East Coast Music Awards 2016 – Inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame 2019 – Masters – Best Fiddle Player – Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards 2019 – Inducted into the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame 2019 – High Achievement in the Arts – Lieutenant Governor's Award

Legere is a five-time winner of the Eastern Division Bluegrass Awards in the categories of Mandolin and Fiddle Player of the Year, and has been honored with a Masters Award for each.