Prince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest province, one of the Maritimes. Until the Confederation Bridge opened in 1997, the island had no land connection to mainland Canada. As a result, like many other small islands, until recently it has been something of a place apart. Ken Perlman first encountered fiddle music on PEI in the late 1980s, at a local fair. That was the start of an enduring interest, one that initially led him to author a very well-regarded tune book and a couple of CDs of field recordings on the Rounder label, along with a number of articles, mostly in publications pointed at traditional music enthusiasts. Now Perlman has published a very fine book. Couldn’t Have a Wedding without the Fiddleris an attempt to tell the story of this world of music both historically and contemporaneously. In its thoroughness and its thoughtfulness, the book is a wonderful accomplishment, a landmark portrait of a previously little-studied and under-recorded regional music.

The heart of the research is a body of more than 150 interviews, primarily with musicians. Perlman did many of those between the late 1980s and 2006. With the sponsorship of an organization called Earthwatch, he also organized and led teams of fieldworkers who joined him in the research in the early 1990s. At the heart of the book is the author’s very effective use of interview excerpts, which means that the musicians and other insiders tell much of the story. And the book really is, in a sense, a story—the story, that is, of a world of music from its roots to its heyday, to its decline and then its revival.

Perlman opens his first chapter by saying, “As with any social phenomenon, fiddling on Prince Edward Island is deeply interwoven within a fabric of time and space” (1). Time and space are two of the book’s organizing principles, as the author takes us through enough PEI history, geography, and ethnography to understand the music’s roots in its settlement history, its social uses and significances, and its development, decline, and revival over time. He also addresses the music’s sound and style, its primary genres, its connection to dance, the role of mass media—especially radio—, the development of competitions, and more.

Couldn’t Have a Wedding without the Fiddler is a work of analytical description, and its contribution is in the careful and thoughtful way it lays out the story it tells. In seventeen chapters, the author methodically works his way through pretty much everything one might outline as a substantive aspect of this world of music. When Perlman began his work, local stylistic distinctions, based on region and settlement history, were palpable. Fiddlers were key actors in community life; their neighbors often expected them to play for dances and other events with no fiscal compensation. There were few recordings of the music available, local radio featured some of the local players, and by and large the music was not well known off the island. The PEI fiddler who did have national—and some international—broadcast reach, Don Messer, was, ironically enough not native to the island, and his music does not represent local styles.

As he continued to visit the island, Perlman witnessed significant change in the music, largely a story of the musicians’ declining importance in community life. He also writes about the music’s revival, much of which shows the powerful influence of neighboring Cape Breton Island, part of the province of Nova Scotia. In Cape Breton, Perlman says, an industrialized economy fostered a more professionalized fiddle tradition—there was money to be made by playing music, unlike in agrarian PEI. Thanks to radio broadcasts, personal appearances, and the development of fiddle music festivals, Cape Breton style has become a model for many PEI players. Perlman also chronicles local efforts at reviving more local style.

The book concludes with five appendices, including examples of repertoire and style, a list of interview sessions, lists of tunes Perlman and the Earthwatch volunteers documented, a pronunciation guide, and a discography with recommended listening. Very clearly a labor of love, Couldn’t Have a Wedding without the Fiddler is a terrific accomplishment. It is methodical, based in deep knowledge and experience, well-written, and clearly very caring.

This book launches the University of Tennessee Press’s Charles K. Wolfe Music Series. Charles Wolfe (1943-2006) was a scholar of vernacular music at Middle Tennessee State University, a prolific and enthusiastic writer and producer who made important contributions mostly to the study of southern musical forms, performers, and institutions. It’s very good to see the beginning of a new series featuring vernacular music research, and as the series’ inaugural volume, Couldn’t Have a Wedding without the Fiddler sets an excellent standard.

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[Review length: 779 words • Review posted on March 4, 2016]