La Bolduc: Queen of Canadian Folksingers

Discover Library and Archives Canada

In this episode we explore the story of Mary Travers Bolduc. It is a rags-to-riches tale of a Quebec housewife who rose from impoverished obscurity to become a major 1930s recording phenomenon. This ordinary, traditional woman became a most extraordinary musical spokesperson for her time and her people, earning the title "Queen of Canadian folksingers. We sit down with LAC Music Historian and Archivist Rachel Chiasson-Taylor to discuss who La Bolduc was, what her influences were, who she influenced, and how her career, that started out of simple economic necessity and building on the music of her own roots, became the stuff of legend.