Article contentThey’re very involved in using their talents for fundraising activities with the Red Tribe Boxing Club of Eskasoni, which acts as a health, fitness and mentoring space for youth in the community.Article contentArticle contentORIGINAL SONGSArticle contentThe two have just begun publicly singing the songs they’ve written for their upcoming debut album. All on the album will be original, except two songs that were gifted to them.Article content“The album is all original songs except for two songs that are given by the family of Keith Julian. These are songs he wrote in the early 1990s and the family gave them to us,” says Owen.Article contentJulian, from Waycobah First Nation, passed away at the age of 42 in Ottawa in 2009, where he had gone to pursue his music career.Article contentMerle explains that one piece is a letter the family found after Julian passed and the Marshal Brothers may write the music for it and if all goes well, include it in their performances and album.Article contentArticle content“We’re bringing the album out slowly,” says Merle.Article contentMusic is in their genes. Their father, Esmond “Blue” Marshall, is known today as the first Indigenous councillor for Cape Breton Regional Municipality. First elected in 2001, he has won and lost in subsequent elections, but currently represents District 3, which he won in the last municipal election.Article contentThose living around Cape Breton 35 years ago will recognize his name as being part of the band that travelled with nationally acclaimed fiddler Lee Cremo, who died in 1999.Article contentJust last year at the Celtic Colours International Festival a special performance called “The Many Styles of Lee Cremo” was put on featuring many performers inspired by Cremo.Article content The Marshall brothers of Eskasoni weren’t even alive when their father, Esmond Marshall, played around the country with nationally-acclaimed Mi’kmaq fiddler, Lee Cremo. But the legacy of quality music was always in their home. Today, Merle and Owen Marshall make up the duo The Marshal Bros Music and take their folk-country artistry all around Cape Breton. CONTRIBUTEDArticle contentThe elder Marshall played bass guitar on an album by Mooney Francis, also an Eskasoni fiddler known for “The Lumberjack Reel,” which garnered him an East Coast Music Award nomination in 2003. Francis passed away in 2022.Article contentArticle contentEsmond Marshall also played with the original Indigenous band Silvermoon and still plays in bands around the island.Article contentHe says he used to take Merle out to play with him at various jobs as a teenager and had to sign a special paper to let him play in venues such as local legions because he was underage at only 16.Article contentThe duo can be found on Facebook, on the Nova Scotia Music website and through Music on the Hill. On Facebook, the brothers have had to drop the second letter “l” from their name because their name corresponds with a popular country music band in Australia. They are thinking of taking legal steps to change their band’s name in order not to get mixed up in social media searches.Article contentArticle contentRosemary Godin is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter for the Cape Breton Post.Article content
Busiest performers in Cape Breton have full dance card
