Jerry Holland

Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland passed away on July 16 at age 54 after a two-year fight with cancer.  He was not a contradance fiddler at all, but his tunes found their way into the Portland collections and Waltz books, and into Irish sessions as well.

From the notes for the CD "Cape Breton, Fiddle and Piano Music, The Beaton Family of Mabou", about fiddler Kinnon Beaton, who is from Jerry Holland's generation:

"The music was in decline when Kinnon began.  He and his good friend, the late John Morris Rankin, were probably the only two people of their generation in (the village of) Mabou to pick up the instrument.  Elsewhere, Jerry Holland, still living in Brockton, Massachusetts, eventually to move to Cape Breton, was learning the music, as was Brenda Stubbert, in Point Aconi, on the island's north side.  Without them, as the older generation of musicians stopped playing, the music might have vanished."

Kinnon writes: ".. They were all old (who were) playing the fiddle.  You just didn't see young fiddlers.  And shortly after, my folks came home from a concert in Glendale, talking about the young guy that would stepdance and play the fiddle at the same time.  That was Jerry Holland.  He was twelve, I think, or thirteen."