Ray Legere

Ray Legere (born September 20, 1965) is a Canadian bluegrass fiddler, mandolinist, guitarist and band leader from Sackville, New Brunswick.

Raymond (Ray) Legere was born September 20, 1965, in Amherst, Nova Scotia.

His mother was a pianist and his father, who played fiddle and banjo, taught him to play the mandolin when he was ten years old.

His focus at this time was old-time fiddle tunes, later learning some Louvin Brothers’ songs with older friends and listening to American bluegrass pickers.

As a young man, Legere played in the Mountain Meadow Bluegrass Band in the late 1970s.

In the summer of 1982, when he was sixteen, Legere was called unexpectedly to fill in for Bill Monroe of the Blue Grass Boys when the famous mandolinist became ill before a concert in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

Legere saw this as a unique opportunity to play with fiddle player Kenny Baker and with the Blue Grass Boys.

He also learned the valuable lesson that the show must go on when Bill Monroe returned to the stage to perform a few hours after his surgery.

In 1987, he joined the Lonesome River Band.

In 1990, Legere played fiddle on the album The Lynn Morris Band.

In 1992 he toured with Michelle Shocked.

Legere has been named the Bluegrass Artist of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards for several years and is recorded on the Honour Roll at the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards as the best Fiddle Player, after winning that title from 1996 to 2000.

He has been inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame.

In 1998, Larry LeBlanc of Billboard magazine named him as one of Canada's leading bluegrass musicians.

Legere joined the Celtic fusion ensemble Bowfire, and recorded on their self-titled CD, which was released in 2003.

He toured with this group for several years.

In 2012 he performed at the Canso Stanfest.

In 2014 Legere played mandolin on Jared Lutes' album A Matter of When.

and played fiddle on the album Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band.

His band Acoustic Horizon performed at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival.

Legere also performed in the third video of the United Breaks Guitars trilogy.

Leger performed with the band Grasstic Measures on the 2016 festival circuit; that year he was also inducted into the New Brunswick Country Hall of Fame.

Legere is a five-time winner of the Eastern Division Bluegrass Awards in the categories of Mandolin and Fiddle Player of the Year, and has been honored with a Masters Award for each.

In 2019, he was awarded the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for High Achievement in the Arts by the New Brunswick Arts Board.