Biography

There was no one in Connie Gallant’s immediate family who played fiddle, but there was good fiddling all around him when he was growing up. He learned by listening and watching other fiddlers, notably Frank Gallant, JD MacAdam, and – later on – Joe Pete and “Old Peter” Chaisson. As he puts it, he learned mostly “the tunes that tickled my ear.” He also learned from radio broadcasts and recordings featuring Cape Breton fiddlers, notably Winston Fitzgerald and Angus Chisholm.

Gallant started playing for dances as a young teenager. For many years he was renowned along the North Side of Kings County for his prowess playing "on the flats" (that is, in the flat keys). In his later years, he often got together to swap tunes with fellow fiddler George MacPhee, and was a regular participant at a town fair called the Monticello Tea Party.