The Rainvilles

- Morris & Dot

In the late 1950's a new duo appeared on the country music scene known as THE RAINVILLES, playing for dances, doing stage shows and working on radio. They shared many a stage with well known performers from both Canada and the U.S. They also broke into TV in Sudbury, Ontario where they performed for the next four years.

Moving to the Niagara Falls area in 1964, Morris studied and received his music teaching degree. While he was in the process, he and Dot continued to entertain in various nightclubs and cocktail lounges pleasing audiences with their country and folk songs of various types.

It was during this time that The Rainvilles began writing some of their own material and in March 1967 went in to Sound Canada studios in Toronto and recorded four songs. Three of those songs were their own compositions. In May 1967, a Phil Gariepy song entitled I Got What I Wanted was released and went on to quickly reach No. 1 on the R.P.M. Country Charts in Canada. The song also went on to No. 82 on the Pop charts. This recording led to an appearance on Carl Smith's "Country Music Hall" later that year. Now singing Country, Folk and Pop Music, they soon found themselves in great demand around the country

In 1968, 70 and again in 71, The Rainvilles won the R.P.M. Gold Leaf Award for being No. 3 running for best Canadian Country Group. The year 1970 also saw them sign with Melbourne (Rodeo) Records. "Fortunate Son" and "Wrote A Song" both charted in the Top 10 on the Canadian Country charts during that year. Their first album "The Rainvilles" was released in 1971 with "When We Tried" charting in Canada.They were now doing a lot of touring in Canada and also appeared on CBC's "Country Time" out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their second album "Polar Bear Express" was released in November, 1972. This led to another single "Polar Bear Express" climbing up the charts in Canada. This song was also used for a few years in TV ads for the Polar Bear Express train running from Cochrane, Ontario to Moosonee at James Bay. Another song from that album was released in Quebec only and it was called "Je suis allez en Ontario".

Dot and I started playing music in 1956 and married in 1959. We have been involved in music is different capacities ever since.

Hank Williams, Hank Jr., David Allan Coe, The Mamas and the Papas, The Eagles, Kris Kristoferson, Ray Charles, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Merle Haggard, John Prine, J.J. Cale, Bill Monroe, Gordon Lightfoot, etc.

Martin 00018, 1957 Fender Strat, Peavey Bass, Maestro Mandolin, Casio Keyboard, Tascam 488, Hohner Harmonicas, Audacity software, etc.

I have to thank Soundclick for all the hard work that they must do in order to keep this site performing so well.

A special Thank You also goes out to Len Amsterdam from Toronto for digging all over the internet to uncover some of those original Rainvilles tracks. This is much appreciated because it brought them all back to life again.