On July 12, Grateful We’re Not Dead played for a dance in the Middleville Agricultural Hall in Middleville, Ontario. The dance was a fundraiser for the Middleville Trinity United Church. Two things made this event special for GWND.

The first was the other musicians appearing on stage with them.  From the late ’50s until the mid ’80s, Don played in a country dance band called the Mississippi River Boys.  MRB played for dances all round Eastern Ontario.  Needless to say, over that period of time, Don worked with quite a few different musicians.  On July 12, GWND had the unique pleasure of three of those musicians sitting in with the band. Walter Cameron (vocals, bass, rhythm) worked with Don during the ’60s and ’70s;  Jim Hildred (lead, rhythm, vocals) was with MRB in the early ’70s, and Rick Legree (fiddle, piano) was there in the ’70s and ’80s).

The second thing that made the night special was the dedication of Bruce. Early on the morning of July 7, Bruce had a heart attack and ended up in Kemptville Hospital. On Wednesday he was transferred to the Heart Institute at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa. During the procedure to insert a stent, Bruce mentioned to the surgeon that he was in a band and had a gig on Saturday night. He asked if it would be OK to play. The surgeon said he couldn’t see why not. So on Saturday night he was on-stage as usual. Now how many bands have members that dedicated to performing? So here’s a big “Well played” to Bruce from the other members of Grateful We’re Not Dead