Freddy Dixon and The Straight 8 Showband Return To The Roots

It has been a lot of years since Freddy and his band have played the Old Mississippi Hotel on Bridge Street in Carleton Place. Freddy says, "If those stone walls could talk they would have a lot of great stories to tell. Like the time when we rolled into town and I went into the hotel to talk to Lorraine Lemay, a friendship that would last a lifetime. She told me she had heard we were pretty good and hired us for a gig on the spot. Lorraine was always ready to help some aspiring singer songwriters; myself, Ron McMunn, Ralph Carleson, Stompin Tom and many others. We all owe her a lot. We played there 2 weeks of the month for some 7 years. She was like a mother to us. She was always worried about me and the wild antics of my band. God bless her, she was inducted into the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall Of Fame as a builder in 2000."

Freddy Dixon and the Straight 8 Showband Still Rockin

Freddy says he loves to rock and the Straight 8 showband knows how. The band is from the Ottawa Valley and across Canada. This is a high energy show playing country, rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Terry Kittmer, Freddy's drummer says, "You never know what's going to happen next or what Freddy's going to say or do. He keeps us on the edge. It all makes for a lot of fun." Freddy says,"I come from the school of 'The Hawk' Ronnie Hawkins. Anything goes on my stage. I am a rockabilly artist from the Sun Record Era. There are not a lot of us left." Freddy laughs when he talks, says he sometimes thinks people think he's a bad cat. "My attitude is this. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it and that's for sure."