Originally published Aug 11, 2023

If Cortes Island had an anthem, it would very likely be the chorus of ‘Feel the Island.’ The songwriter, Denise Reinhardt Larson, was a professional musician for twenty years prior to her marriage to Ron Wolda. Her story goes back through the Folk Revolution to rural Saskatchewan.

“ My maiden name is Reinhardt. I’m from a grain farm in southwestern Saskatchewan. It’s about 21 miles south of Etonia, and just about a mile and a half up from the South Saskatchewan River, with lovely hills running from the river up to the edge of the farm. It’s a beautiful spot, and I’m the last one of the family to still own land there. I have two quarters. That feels odd, and it feels quite lovely at the same time,” she explained.

“ We had halls in our small towns, just like we have our Gorge Hall and Manson’s Hall on Cortes. That’s where I got my beginning.”

DW: “When I was about twelve years old, I was a real tomboy. I loved being alone in the hills, communing with nature. That’s where I started writing poetry and writing songs. Then my brother-in-law, George Hermanson, my sister’s husband, sent me an album by Joan Baez and I was off and running. I learned her songs and I started performing them at the age of 14, playing my piano accordion. That was such an odd combination, but I learned to sing loud perhaps because I had to get above the volume of the accordion. My dad took pity on me and bought me a guitar. He ordered it from the Sears catalogue. It was easier to sing Joan Baez songs after the little Sears acoustic guitar arrived.”

DW: “Throughout my teenage years, I learned an incredible number of folk songs. When I moved to university, I started to sing in some of the coffee houses.” 

“I’ve been writing for 64 years, performing for 62 years but it wasn’t a professional thing until I moved down to Washington, D. C.”

“I got married just after I finished university, moved down to Washington and had a baby – Mikael.” 

“The marriage ended, but by that time I had started to play locally.”

“I worked in a hardware store for $1.25 per hour at the beginning of my first marriage, before I discovered the ‘lucrative stuff’ (laughs), which is music.”

“My father was always suggesting nicely that I should have a day job and no, I knew I did not have time to find musical work, write songs, do the business and have a day job. So I managed to survive on my music.”  

CC: How did you make the jump?

DW: “I met a fellow by the name of Mel Downs, a very sweet man. He was already a professional and  looking for a partner.   He was playing all over the place and we did well together.” 

“My first professional gig with Mel was at  the Fort Belvoir Officer’s Club in Virginia and singing to officers  of the army. Very nice place and,  respectful audience and that was a lovely way to get started. We were paid $35 every Tuesday night. The amount floored me. Even today, that’s not too bad.” 

“I had such interesting experiences. I actually met Elizabeth ‘Libba’ Cotton. She’s  the black woman who wrote the song Freight Train.  She used to clean for the Seeger family. She was up in her room playing one day and Pete Seeger heard her. So they made sure she started playing on stage.  She had quite a flourishing career, starting at the age of 50. I last saw her play in Vancouver when she was 90. She’s my inspiration. I’m 76 now and I somehow doubt I’ll be doing it at 90, but who knows?” 

“I wanted to say what a support my daughter was. This little kid was my number one fan, and always there for me. She always thought what I was doing was brilliant and right on. She was wonderful at my side, and  also gave me stability. I had to be responsible, I had a daughter. I wasn’t just making a living for myself.”

“At some point, I received an album called ‘The Ecstasy of Rita Jo.’ These were songs written by Ann Mortifee. My sister’s husband, George, sent me the album. I was enthralled with her voice and  her spirit. I thought, if there’s someone like that in Vancouver, then it’s the place for me.”

“Based on this in part, and the fact that I was lonely, for my own country and my family, I left the States in 1974. My daughter and I sold and gave away most of our meager belongings and what was left went into a 4×6 U Haul. We pulled it behind the car, it was a little Opel Buick. We camped and came up to Canada, stopping at the farm in Saskatchewan to the delight of my parents, we had made it that far and we’re still alive. At one point I almost drove into the South Saskatchewan River, a half an hour from reaching the farm at one o’clock in the morning. That was pretty scary, but we made it.” 

“After a time at the farm, we moved on to Vancouver. The very strange thing is that in 1974 I pulled up on the street in front of my sister’s home and they had just come back from Cortes Island, where they had bought land.  They said, ‘We’re going tomorrow. You must see Cortes Island.’ I was just thrilled to be back in Canada, ‘What, There’s something even nicer!’ The next day, we went on to Cortes and their place is a mile and a half from where I live now, or even less than that. They were in the Frabjous Day Bay Co-op, which had just formed.” 

Only it was not yet time for Denise Larson to move to Cortes, her immediate future was in Vancouver.

DW: “There I found a housing shortage that was just extreme, so the struggle to earn a living really began at that point.” 

“The laws had  just changed in terms of playing in the beer parlors, which was not an elegant place to play, but it was a place where you could get work and pay your rent. That’s how it began in Vancouver and thank goodness I moved on into lounges and restaurants.  Then started getting into some of the lovelier places: the Classical Joint in Gastown, the Soft Rock Café, folk festivals and then the major folk festivals.”

“I absolutely loved being able to take part in some of the big folk festivals. Well, the medium and the small ones as well.  Back  in the 70s and the early 80s, you were treated so well.  We flew up to Faroe, Yukon. That was one of our first, and Farago was the name of the festival. I was sitting beside Odetta and I met Tom Paxton. It was just wild.” 

“I had a band called Denise Larson and Friends, and I’m in touch with all of those people to this day. Dan Sheppard passed away, unfortunately, but Charlie Knowles lives on Pender, and Mark Dowding is in Vancouver, and they both are still very active, musically. Doug Thorderson  lives in Vancouver and he still plays violin. Sheila Allen plays violin. There’s a bond that happens with those band members that you never get beyond. It’s beautiful. In a way, you feel like you’ve gone to heaven and hell together. You feel like you’ve been warriors together. You have faced audiences on so many occasions, in so many places.” 

“I was 27 when I arrived. Those years represented a lot of growth musically and in every other way.”

CC: What about your friendship with Ann Mortifee?

DW: “When I arrived in Vancouver, Anne was already so famous.  Our paths did not automatically cross. There were close encounters. Her piano player played on my Sage album. There were things like that, but I still  hadn’t met her.” 

 “In my early days in Vancouver, I made three records. Farmer’s Daughter, Second Harvest, and Sage Album.”

“I met my future husband, Ron Wolda, while I was promoting the Sage Album in 1984. I was playing at a dance in the Merville Hall, on Vancouver Island north of Courtney, when he walked in.” 

Continue on to Denise Wolda (Part 2 of 2): Coming home to Cortes Island

That story belongs to the conclusion of this series, ‘Coming home to Cortes.’ 

Music credits for the podcast:

• Podcast opening – chorus from ‘Feel the Island’ from the CD ‘To Honour Joy’ (2001)- Ann Mortifee – back-up Vocals, Mark Dowding – flutes, Charlie Knowles – Bass, (Denise & Ron’s son) Paul Wolda – Djembe (ending), Zak Dennison – didjeridu (ending)
• ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ – from the album Farmer’s daughter (1977) Dan Sheppard, Lachlan Clement and Bruce Sexauer. Bruce also built my Sexauer guitar! He was a draft dodger back then – to his credit – and he is back in California now and still makes beautiful guitars!
• ‘New Light’ – from ‘To Honour Joy’ (2001)- (Denise’s daughter) Mikael Larson – harmony vocals, Mark Dowding – flutes, Charlie Knowles – bass
• Podcast closes with ‘Skywalker’ – Ann Mortifee – harmony vocals. Recorded by Michael Keith in April, 2023

Top image credit: Denise Larson and Friends from the back of ‘Farmer’s Daughter’ (1979)

Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:

To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:

• Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – cortescurrents-daily+subscribe@cortes.groups.io
• Weekly Digest cortescurrents – cortescurrents-weekly+subscribe@cortes.groups.io