The Flippin’ Fiddler cannot recall how many years he has performed in Melfort.
But he can add another show onto that total with a show at the Melfort United Church on May 20.
Scott Woods, along with his fellow fiddler and sister Kendra Norris and the rest of his band have loaded up the bus for another year of touring around Canada and the United States.
The two-time winner of the Canadian Open Fiddle Contest, two-time winner of the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championship, as well as Fiddle Entertainer of the Year wowed crowds in Melfort, not only with his fiddle playing but also his tricks with tumbles and barrel rolling included in the show.
Woods and company have already spent a month on their bus travelling around and it is places like Melfort that really make them feel like home, said Woods.
“The hospitality is second to none. They always treat us so well.”
This seems to be a Western Canadian trend, said Woods, since as soon as they cross the Manitoba border the crew is overwhelmed with the hospitality they receive.
“The pace kind of slows down and everybody is just very accommodating.”
This has been around the 15th time in Melfort and the crowd has become like family to the band, said Woods, which makes stops feel like home.
“It helps to be away for that long and still be comfortable.”
One lady in particular has made it a tradition to invite the band back to her condo for cinnamon buns which gives that at-home feel to their stop, said Woods.
Saskatchewan’s love of traditional fiddle and country music is not lost on Woods and he said that he always sees how much people enjoy his style, which is a lot like Bob Wills and Don Messer.
“They seem to eat that up when we come to the west,” said Woods, adding that Saskatchewan and Alberta are his best markets.
Travelling to Alberta, Woods also sees a lot of east coast transplants out that way that also have a love of fiddle music.
While his focus is on the country sound, the influences of Don Messer does come with a cleaned up version of the mainland east coast sounds of Irish and Scottish influences.
“He played it very sweet and lyrical, so clean, and that was what he had what was so unique.”
The band started with Woods’ father and was very much a family tour for a while with Woods’ mom, dad, three siblings and himself all being part of the tour.
Two of his siblings have since gone on to other careers, while his mom retired from touring at the age of 73.
By the mid-1980s, Woods’ father was pushing him towards being the headliner and changed the Woods Family Band into the Scott Woods band.
“I didn’t want to speak on the mike... but he pushed me to tell a joke and introduce the tunes and it’s very comfortable for me to do that,” said Woods during his 2016 tour.
Woods’ father stayed on as the manager and did a lot of the backstage tasks, which he liked better, said Woods.
With everyone busy with different careers, the Woods family still gets together at Christmastime to jam together as a family.
As well as playing instruments, some of the band members include other things into their show. At 25 years old, Patrick Linton is a champion step dancer and does dancing demonstrations for the show which was in no short supply during the show, even stealing the show from Woods during the final number.
