A pioneering female Canadian country singer, Myrna Lorrie Petrunka could perhaps be considered Ontario's equivalent of Brenda Lee, a precociously talented gal who swept to the top of the charts as a teen and kept up with the industry as an adult. Discovered in 1954, Myrna Lorrie scored an immediate Top Ten hit in America with "You Are Mine," which she recorded when she was only fourteen. With guidance from Canadian superstar Hank Snow, Lorrie headed to Nashville and toured the US with several major country stars, and recorded a string of classic country singles for a few different labels, including late-'Fifties sessions cut with producer-guitarist Chet Atkins at RCA Nashville. Ms. Lorrie led her own touring road show through much of the 1960s, as well as pursuing a career as a television host, where she became a fixture in the Canadian country scene for several decades. Here's a quick look at her work...
Discography - Best-Ofs
Myrna Lorrie "Myrna Lorrie" (Harmony Records, 1970) (LP)
Myrna Lorrie "Child To Woman" (Musicor Records, 1971) (LP)
This ten-song reissue recaps a bunch of her earliest recordings but sadly does not include her 1955 hit, "Are You Mine." Still, there are plenty of other great tunes to enjoy... Or, maybe just get more band for your buck and track down the more generously programmed Bear Family retrospective below. Note: this oddly-titled album originally came out on vinyl back when Ms. Lorrie was performing on the CBC, and was reissued a couple of decades later on CD (pictured here) with the same creepy title, but a different track order.
Myrna Lorrie "Hello Baby" (Juke Box Pearls series) (Bear Family Records, 2012)
A superior profile of Canadian country singer Myrna Lorrie, gathering twenty-two of her early classics released when she was a singles-only artist. This fab collection concentrates on her early work, much of it teen-oriented and full of vigor; this reissue has great sound quality as well as Bear Family's trademark attention to archival detail. Cool beans!
Discography - Albums
Myrna Lorrie & Vic Mullen "It's Countrytime" (MCA-Canada, 1970) (LP)
(Produced by Cy Bird, Ian Jacobson & Cy True)
A country duo formed by singers Myrna Lorrie and Vic Mullen, both regulars on the CBC-TV music show, Countrytime, which aired from 1970-74. They are backed by the program's house band The Hickorys, which consisted of Loran Baker on bass, Teddy Carroll (drums), Len McDonald (steel guitar), Ken Meisner (fiddle), Ron Naugle (guitar) and Stan Taylor on lead guitar, with Vic Mullen as their musical director. The Lorrie-Mullen team toured extensively in the early 'Seventies, including a Canadian package show with the Family Brown. The Hickorys also released an album of their own a couple of years later, 1972's Vic Mullen Presents The Hickorys, possibly with a slightly different lineup
Myrna Lorrie "Blue Blue Me" (Sibley Records, 1989)
Links
Hick Music Index
