Magic In The Music

Book excerpt: In the 1980s, Manitoba country-rock group The C-Weed Band scored a half dozen Top Ten hits on the country music charts beginning with their #1 hit single "Evangeline". As an Indigenous band, they broke ground for other Indigenous artists on the Canadian music mainstream. Starting out in the tough Main Street Winnipeg bars, the band faced daunting odds including poverty, discrimination, and racism throughout their rise to success. The members of The C-Weed Band, whose nucleus was the three Ranville brothers - Errol, Wally and Don - from rural Eddystone MB prevailed, earning the admiration of a legion of dedicated fans and respect from fellow musicians not only across Canada but in the United States, Europe and China where the band toured to great acclaim. This is their story, told by the members of the band themselves as well as associates, contemporaries, and friends. It's been a long, strange trip but The C-Weed Band triumphed and are still performing to adoring crowds everywhere.