On November 26, 2020, MMaP hosted the virtual launch of our latest Back on Track series CD, Doughboys and Molasses, Oh! Traditional Songs from the Gros Morne Region.

The album launch featured performances of songs from the album by Anita Best, Matthew Byrne, Fergus O’Byrne, Jim Payne, Stephanie Payne, and Daniel Payne, as well as introductions from project partners. The event was screened free of charge on MMaP’s YouTube channel.

Doughboys and Molasses, Oh! offers listeners a fresh perspective on the musical heritage of the Gros Morne region on Newfoundland’s west coast. Available on disc and digital download, the album features 22 carefully restored tracks originally recorded from local singers by folk song researchers in the mid-twentieth century.

Also included are four new performances specially commissioned for the compilation from musicians Anita Best, Matthew Byrne, Daniel Payne, and Jim Payne. The accompanying booklet explores the stories of the songs, the singers and the collectors, as well as the role of singing in family and community life.

“This album highlights a rich tradition of singing that is relatively little known outside the Gros Morne National Park area,” says MMaP’s Acting Director Dr. Meghan Forsyth. “Through these songs, we learn about musical and social connections that were—and are—so important to everyday life in this region of the province. It’s so exciting to see these archival recordings brought back to the area and into wider circulation through this project, and to hear some of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most celebrated traditional singers performing new renditions of songs collected in the region.”

Doughboys and Molasses, Oh! was produced by folklorist Dr. Anna Kearney Guigné for the Back on Track series. It is a coproduction of MMaP and the Canadian Museum of History, under the auspices of the Cultures of Sound Network, with generous support from Parks Canada.

If you missed the event, be sure to watch the video on our YouTube channel.