Bell Island Pony – The Rowdymen

The ROWDYMEN are Gerry Finn, Greg Hawco, and George Masswohl, a band dedicated to the preservation and propagation of the music of the people of Newfoundland.

“Bell Island Pony” is the first release from THE ROWDYMEN.

Comprised of Mirvish’s own Mayor of Gander, Come From Away Toronto’s George Masswohl (vocals), percussionist Greg Hawco (bodhran/bouzouki/vocals), and guitarist Gerry Finn (guitar/vocals), The Rowdymen are a band committted to the music of Newfoundland and Labrador and inspired by the spirit of her people.
“The song Bell Island Pony was offered to us by Blair Harvey, a longtime friend and colleague of Greg and Gerry’s from the Newfoundland music scene. Blair is widely acknowledged to be one of Newfoundland’s finest songwriters. The second Gerry played Blair’s demo of the tune for us, we all just sat down and started working on our interpretation.

It’s about the horses that worked in the iron ore mines off of Bell Island, NL before machines took their place. They were born and spent their lives hauling ore beneath the ocean floor, many of them never to be exposed to the light of day. Life in the pit was hard. For these horses, it must have been the hardest of all.”
Blair co-wrote the song with Steve Cochrane. The video was shot by us and put together by Emmy nominated editor Paul Winestock.

We were extremely fortunate to be joined by CFA fiddler and CCMA nominee Linsey Beckett, and legendary bassist for Tom Cochrane, Jeff Jones. The track was produced in Cabbagetown, Toronto by The Rowdymen and mixed by Ken Friesen (Great Big Sea, The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo…you get the picture:).

Find them on Facebook:   The ROWDYMEN