First CD for Otter Lake “Valley Girl”

First CD for Otter Lake “Valley Girl” - theHumm August 2022

By Sally Smith

“I truly am a girl from the Valley. I don’t complain… I just do it. I never look back.”

Dorothy Goubault’s determination, she says, comes from her parents who brought her up with “phenomenal values. My father used to say if a man can do it, you can do it. Don’t ever take a back seat.”

And so she hasn’t.

About seven months ago she embarked on her latest project — to make a CD. This one, her first, is a tribute to and in memory of Gerald Arthur McBride, her true companion for many years. He died on February 13, 2020.

The words “when will I see you again” became a mantra for Dorothy over the next couple of months. She visited friends and relatives and when it came time to say goodbye at the end of each visit, that phrase was inevitably on the tip of her tongue.

Her CD, When Will I See You Again, is anchored by the song of the same name. Early one morning at her home on Otter Lake, the words flowed. “Mist was over the water, the sun was coming up, it was early in the morning… the loons were singing.”

In the other nine tunes Dorothy plays melody, with Don Reed playing harmony. She adds, with a catch in her voice, “the fiddle tunes are tunes I played for Gerald’s service.”

Dorothy has sung throughout her life and has some 200-plus fiddle lessons under her belt, so while she was comfortable with the musical aspects, she was less comfortable with the actual performance.

“I’m not a performer. I’ve never done anything like this in my life. I’ve never played fiddle in public… while Don Reed has played for the world,” Dorothy says, a certain awe and respect in her voice.

With encouragement from a girlfriend, Dorothy set off for Westport and Summit Sound Inc. where she met Dave and Kathy Daw. Magically enough, Kathy, Dorothy’s girlfriend, and Dorothy, all came from “up there” — the Valley — an immediate connection.

Even more magically, if anything good can be said about Covid, the slow-downs and lock-downs gave people a certain drive to get back to work.

“When do you want the CDs?” Dave asked Dorothy.

“For Christmas,” she answered

And so they were.

By mid-November the tracks were being done. “I didn’t have a clue what I was doing,” Dorothy remembers. “I was a bit anxious.”

“Don — who’s a very shy man,” Dorothy remembers, “asked if I had my fiddle with me”. “I’d like to know how you bow,” he said. “I nearly fainted, but brought in my fiddle, hands shaking. I only had a couple of hundred lessons under my belt!”

“Dorothy, I know what the other people can do. You’re the wild card,” Dave added.

“I told Dave I was a good soldier,” she recalls. “Tell me what you want and I’ll do it.”

Dave explained about “tracks” and how the metronome would “count her in.” Dorothy knew what a metronome was but had never used one. She grabbed all the information, stuffed it into her bag, picked up her violin and headed home. There she made copious notes for herself before beginning on her twelve-hour marathon to do the song and nine tunes.

Dave welcomed her back to Summit Sound early the next week, where she followed him to the sound booth.

“I got into the booth backwards,” she remembers, hooting with laughter. “They got me turned around, but I couldn’t hear anything.” She stops, rolls her eyes, still laughing. “Dave has the patience of Job,” she grins, eyes twinkling behind red-rimmed glasses.

“I sang it through. There were a couple of glitches.” The glitches were soon cleared away, “and then the nine fiddle tunes. By two o’clock things were done.”

That’s the CD story (there’s more in the liner notes); the book is next. Dorothy’s working on it, so stay tuned.

All net proceeds from the CD and upcoming book will go to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Check out the Heart Institute fall quarterly for Gerald’s story.

Anyone interested in purchasing a CD ($20), is asked to contact Dorothy by email at dorothymgoubault@gmail.com .

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First CD for Otter Lake “Valley Girl” - theHumm August 2022