Chilliwack and Radio One, an odd couple

Chilliwack and Radio One, an odd couple

The name Chilliwack won’t mean much to the vast majority of people.

A cursory search will reveal that it is the name of a small town in Western Canada.

A little deeper search will show that it was also the name of a Canadian band formed in 1970 with an excellent reputation for their compositions and performances, but they were not very commercial sounding, and therefore little known.

Their 45 rpm single, “Fly at Night,” quietly showed up at Radio One in 1976, along with other records that we received from abroad.  At first, it didn’t even get much attention. It was a classic example of a song that seemed well-crafted but not particularly catchy at first, and thus never made it into heavy rotation or as a song of the week. However, over time, it slowly made its way into everyone’s hearts. The soft, melodic opening was particularly captivating, while in the middle of the song it becomes a real rock song, although still very harmonious, only to return to being soft and melodic at the end. I don’t remember exactly how it happened or who among us first thought of using it at midnight when the live broadcasts gave way to a nightly show of only recorded music.  I only remember that from a certain day onward, the song effectively became the last song of the day before the night time tapes of recorded music only. The song is one of those that, once you got used to it, never leaves you. The harmony, the lyrics, and especially the title, “Fly at Night,” seemed perfect for triggering nocturnal fantasies, capable of transporting the mind to a world of dreams where, with imagination, one can soar above the dull reality.

This band is led by a brilliant singer and guitarist named Bill Henderson, who to this day, incredibly at 80 years old, still sings and plays, and very well, too. For those who’d like to check out Bill Henderson’s performance of the same song on a TV special, I’m providing a link to where you can find it. It’s a performance in a TV studio, but live, unedited and untouched by post-production.  Bill’s virtuosity, both in his singing and his flawless guitar playing, is impressive throughout the song, where he continually shifts styles without ever missing a beat.  It gives me hope that, even in a world that is otherwise far from perfect, as long as we have musicians capable of giving us masterpieces like these, perhaps all is not lost yet.

Here’s the link:

https://tinyurl.com/bfkmunmu

Composed by Denys Pieri