Jeannie Arsenault, heart of Montreal's Hillbilly Night, leaves lasting musical legacy

CBC

5 days ago

Hillbilly Night in Montreal's west end has carried a tune decade after decade, with toe taps, guitar strums, dancing and timeless songs filling the Wheel Club every Monday evening.
But the long-running musical soiree will strike a tender note Monday as regulars celebrate the life of Jeannie Arsenault — a beloved presence since the mid-1970s whose dedication, harmonies and warm smile helped keep the tradition alive.
"Jeannie was what my mother would call a real pip," said Roger Haughey, who has been attending Hillbilly Night for about 25 years.
"She was somebody who had a bright, positive, no-nonsense attitude. She was very proud of her Prince Edward Island heritage."
Arsenault, who was 81, came to the Montreal area around 1974 with her husband and three boys, according to longtime friend William "Bill" Bland. He said the couple later divorced, and she raised the boys on her own, working a variety of jobs.
It wasn't long before she discovered Hillbilly Night, where she became a mainstay for 50 years.
Hillbilly Night was first held at a club called the Blue Angel downtown. Monday nights were slow, and house band member Bob Fuller was given free rein to do as he pleased.
So, interested in bluegrass and traditional country, Fuller started Hillbilly Night in 1966, an open mic night with a live band playing strictly country music from before 1965. Fuller felt music after that point was becoming too urbanized, Bland said, but the cutoff was later extended to 1969.
In 1993, the weekly event moved to the Wheel Club, a basement-level watering hole on Cavendish Boulevard, just south of Sherbrooke Street in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood.
Participants are welcome to pick up instruments or sing along with the band, and Arsenault was among those on stage, keeping rhythm on her guitar or singing one of hundreds — some say thousands — of songs in her mental catalogue, said Stephen Comtois, who has been filling in for Arsenault as host since she started battling cancer last fall.
"She was our mentor after Bob Fuller passed on. She would encourage people to not always play the same songs. Learn a newer old song, something you haven't played before," said Comtois. "Just to keep the material fresh."
A musical host who welcomed all
If Arsenault wasn't on stage, she was greeting visitors, learning about their musical backgrounds and encouraging newcomers to pick up an instrument or take to the mic. She helped keep the night moving, avoiding dead air between sets by telling stories or working the crowd, said Comtois, a participant for more than 15 years.
Bland said Arsenault, who lived in Châteauguay, Que., had a particular talent for singing harmony — something she'd been doing since childhood. He, Fuller and Arsenault took on plenty of paid side gigs together in the 1980s, performing at shopping malls, legion halls and seniors' homes.
"The music is easy to understand. It's unpretentious. We sang songs people knew," said Bland. As for his longtime friend, he added, "She didn't have a big ego. She was just pleasant. Good with people. Very good with seniors."
While participation has ebbed and flowed over the years, Comtois said Hillbilly Night began attracting a younger crowd in the early 2000s. The tradition moved online during the pandemic and saw a dip once businesses reopened, but the crowds are now returning.
Encouraging musicians to perform
William "Bill" Knitter started going most Mondays in 2010. A self-described back porch folk song singer, he had more time after retiring and began participating. He still remembers meeting Arsenault. He was at the Wheel Club with his daughter when she walked over, asked where they were from and whether they wanted to sing.
"She encouraged me. She pointed out there was a huge box of songbooks, mostly produced by Bob Fuller, over by the band," Knitter said. "And that's how I first met Jeannie. Very welcoming. She performed that ritual almost every Monday night. She kept an eye out for newcomers."
She would always take to the mic and ask if people wanted to sing a few songs. Knitter said Comtois is now carrying on her tradition of encouraging participation and sticking to the pre-1970 repertoire. It's said Arsenault only missed 10 Mondays in nearly 50 years, though she attended less often after becoming ill.
Blake Eaton, who has been participating since the early 2000s, said Arsenault "was a very special person."
"Jeannie Arsenault had a way of being everywhere at once the whole night," Eaton told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.
"She was the heart and soul of the whole thing. She was the one who would greet you at the door. She was on the dance floor … and she was always on stage. She played the guitar. She had fantastic rhythm."
Arsenault died last Monday, around the time she would normally have taken the stage at the Wheel Club. Comtois said her life will be remembered this Monday as performers are invited to say a few words.
She is survived by her three sons, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.