Marc Audet Music

Performing fort Parks Ontario at the Algonquin Park Visitors Centre was a treat.  Riverdrive Dance is song 3 in the folklore show FORGOTTEN MEMORIES OF THE OTTAWA VALLEY. This song of the men of the 1800s and early 1900s that put their lives at risk in running logs down the flooded raging rivers of spring during the annual spring log drives. This song was inspired from exploring the ruins of riverdrive camps and wagon roads along the Dumoine River in Quebec (www.friendsofdumoine.ca). Spring log drives happened on Riviere Dumoine for 120 years, from Grande Chute to DuFoe’s Stopping Place (which is now submerged in Holden Lake ... view also the video for my song Holden Pond for the story of the flooding of the villages and stopping places ). 

Performing with the cathedral sound of a church is one thing that I love to do. Here is my song Another Chance performing at St Barnabas Church in Deep River on June 21 2024.

Another Chance, from the 2019 album The River and the 2023 EP Open Water,  is an introspective song about somehow going back in time to make life decisions a second time, if that was somehow possible. With a second take on life, would you follow the same track?  

After 40 or 50 or 60 years of life, active living and mortality takes on a different meaning and importance. By that time in life, sickness and perhaps health scares have come and gone, friends or family members have passed away much earlier than is fair, and aches and pains start to affect your daily routines. At that point, every day is special, and appreciation for those days, both good and less good, is an important value. 

It’s just another day. The skies are sometimes grey. But it is a day … which I … most appreciate. 

I Appreciate is reflective of skipping down the street on a warm rainy night with appreciation for every single day. This is track 6 on the 2024 album THOSE DAYS.  This studio recording features Brian Hebert on Fiddle, Jenna Steele with harmony vocals, Peter Brown on piano and Pete Beaudoin on percussion.

The minimum contingent of NORTH RENFREW is a duo father-son act with an open sound and beautiful arrangements, thanks to multi-instrumentalist Bradley Audet. The Ballad of Rose McKenna tells of the perils of frontier living where young Rose McKenna was killed in an accident at he Stonecliffe homestead. The song was performed for descendants of the family and they loved the song. AS a songwriter, performing the song for the family was a milestone moment.  The video was recorded 2025 September 13 at La Fab sur Mill Centre Culturel in Chelsea Quebec.

Here's a radio interview that talks about the folklore show Forgotten Memories. Radio station CJHR 98.7 FM was kind to broadcast this interview a few days before a house concert at Little Red Wagon Winery, a fantastic presenter that features many musical acts. Thanks for listening!

Stone Fences is a song about immigration and farm land development in the mid-1800s. There was a dire need for more farming to support the booming logging industry. Settlement roads were crudely built and incentives for immigration were established, drawing people from different areas of Europe. The Opeongo Settlement Road stretched across the Ottawa Valley, and from this road were plots of land available for immigrants to develop. Those that met the requirements for the incentive earned the title to the land, but not without unimaginable hardship from turning forested stony hills into marginal farmland.

Riverdrive Dance pays tribute to the riverdrive men of the 1800s and early 1900s that put their lives at risk in running logs down the flooded raging rivers of spring during the annual spring log drives. This song was inspired from exploring the ruins of riverdrive camps and wagon roads along the Dumoine River in Quebec (www.friendsofdumoine.ca). Spring log drives happened on Riviere Dumoine for 120 years, from Grande Chute to DuFoe’s Stopping Place (now submerged in Holden Lake ... view also the video for my song Holden Pond for the story of the flooding of the villages and stopping places from the damming of the river). The song was recorded during a show for Parks Ontario at the Algonquin Park Visitors Centre 2024 August 05.

HALF WAY THERE is about an old abandoned Depot Farm and Stopping Place off a tote road that ran from Deux Rivieres to Brent in Algonquin Park. For decades, horse-drawn sleighs and wagons travelled this rugged primitive road conveying men and materials to lumber camps where giant pine trees were cut for eventual export to England. The farm was run by Xavier Pilon. Only ruins remain today. The song, written by Marc Audet, and recorded on his 2024 album THOSE DAYS, is performed by NORTH RENFREW duo.

THE MAYFLOWER is the story of the tragic sinking of the Mayflower steamship on 12 November 1912 during a November gale on Lake Kamineskeg of the Madawaska River system. This was Canada's worst inland marine accident for quite some time. Three men survived the sinking (during a November gale) by clinging to a coffin that floated from the sinking ship. There was no lifeboat because it had been taken from the steamer just before her final run for that year (to pick up the coffin). 

North Star tells the story of a German pilot from WWII who escaped from a POW (prisoner of war) camp in the remote interior of Algonquin Park (Nipissing River). What is remarkable about this individual is he traveled from the POW camp using only the north star to guide him. He traveled only at night and hid during the daylight hours. After 3 days (nights) he reached the CNR (Canadian National Railway) line, where he hopped onto a slow-moving train that was headed west. The rest of the story is told during the show. Jake Pigeon of Brent in North Algonquin told me the story after a trip up the Nippissing where I had visited what Jake told me was the POW camp.