Ron Gillis - Ceilidh In The Sky - Click HERE for a free copy

North Sydney poet and songwriter Ron Gillis has been writing down his personal glimpses of Cape Breton for over 23 years. Ron is a retired postal worker and he began his writing with “Poet’s Companion” which he pitched to Tommy Hunter but the show went off the air that season.

   Ron was born in Grand Narrows and moved to Iona when he was only two years old. His father was a station agent for CN and Ron was at the centre of the community happenings in Iona.   He used some of those memories in his poetry, “Barra Connection” and “Village Boy”  being two examples of that influence.

   Ron has over 80 poems and stories in his repertoire and he received funding from ACOA to produce a cassette tape of some of his poems that he turned into songs. His original “Lyrical Expressions” produced by Joe Bushell at Island Recording in Frenchvale then evolved into a CD of the same name.

   Ron credits Shane MacLean, Allie Bennett and Fred Lavery with producing and polishing his poetry into Cape Breton songs.   When he retired from his postal job, Ron continued writing and his latest project was “Ceilidh In The Sky” which is a tribute to legendary Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland.

   As we talked at his North Sydney home on Monday, Ron clearly remembers that he was in Baddeck when he heard of the passing of Jerry Holland on the radio.   The inspiration for “Ceilidh In The Sky” came immediately to him and by the time he got home to North Sydney, he had memorized the lyrics and wrote them down.

   The next weekend he read his poem on CBC’s Weekend Morning Show with host Stan Carew.   Over the Summer it was read on seven different radio stations including K-LEE RADIO and The Scottish Voice on Radio Centreville in Montreal.

   Over the past several years, he pitched “Ceilidh In The Sky” to over 100 performers with no success.   Finally Ron decided he wanted to commit the poem to  audio and proceeded to complete it himself. He approached Kim Lantz of Coda Recording on Keltic Drive in Sydney, and after many emails he was able to get Shawn MacDonald on board.

  Shawn composed “Charlotte’s Theme” which is used as the undertrack for the project. Pat Chafe accompanied him on the piano.  Cape Breton entertainer and music entrepreneur, Max MacDonald, joined the project to do the narration. Ron was very pleased with the entire project.

   You can also get a free copy, courtesy of Ron Gillis, on the K-LEE RADIO website (www.kleeradio.com). Just follow the “CEILIDH IN THE SKY” link on the website and download a copy of this beautiful poem set to music.