By Will McGuirk

This weekend we are presented with an opportunity to go all in on local. On Sunday, March 5, at the Biltmore, you can wade deep into the Black Grass, the name given to a particular type of folk music that seems to favour this area; it's a greasy bluegrass type. It came to my attention via the weekly open mic hosted by the late Glen Bensley several years ago.

On your way to the Biltmore Theatre show, if you approach from Simcoe St., on the northside in front of Isabella’s Chocolate Café, you will see Bensley’s star on the Oshawa Walk of Fame (yes, we have one!). On the opposite sidewalk you will see one for June Eikhard, who passed away February 19, 2023. June was one of Canada’s preeminent fiddlers, known as the First Lady of the Fiddle and Country Music.

June moved from the Maritimes to Oshawa with her husband Cecil, son Brent and daughter, Shirley, both musicians in their own right, and both also have passed on; Shirley covered Christine McVie’s ‘Say You Love Me’ before McVie did, and wrote Bonnie Raitt’s big hit ‘Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About’.