Sound and Sight: Davey Meloy – Returning to the Stage

In the normal scheme of things, a man rarely gets to control what befalls him, but with the grace and love of close friends, family, and community, sometimes a man’s comportment – how he handles adversity- is more vital and reaffirming than the fates themselves.

Last spring, long-time musician and local Almaguin Highlands’ favourite weekend performer, Davey Meloy, noticed that his legs were swelling and sore, especially after the marathon shows he is famous for. By fall, the discomfort and obvious symptoms were too serious to ignore, and Davey ended up in an acute cardiac care unit in Sudbury, undergoing lifesaving measures. After a prolonged convalescence, with the help of a fundraising drive held by local musicians to provide financial and spiritual support, Meloy is planning his annual expansive St. Patrick’s Day celebrations to herald his recovery, but more importantly, to give thanks to all fans who have sustained him over his lengthy career and who are eager to have him back on stage. 

While one might assume that Davey is a Celtic, Irish-themed musician, his real prowess and his personal love is for heavy metal guitar riffs and rock and roll. The focus for much of his musical life is hard-driving, harder-edged, hard rock, yet somehow avoiding the pitfalls associated with it, a lifestyle choice that likely saved his life. Nevertheless, whether with his band, the much-loved Swamp Donkeys, in his duo with his dear friend Lewis Hodgson, Dos Locos, or as a solo act, Davey Meloy is recognized for his passion, extensive repertoire, and for pouring his heart and soul into each and every song.  His solo act is a particularly compelling performance marked with his tasteful guitar work, boundless energy, and especially, his full-throated, rich vocals. With his encyclopedic recall from the modern to classic songbook, Davey can turn on a dime, moving effortlessly from Motorhead to the Eagles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, to Kiss, often combined in his startling, fan-favourite, yet unconventional medleys.

In addition to his thirty-plus years working and touring as a musician, Davey Meloy is highly regarded for his endless charity work, his professional life with Almaguin Highlands Community Living, and his service as a Fire Prevention Officer and Firefighter in the Municipality of Powassan. His devotion to his son, Cameron Meloy, an ascendant junior golfer, is the cornerstone of Meloy’s world, as is his love for family and traditions. 

Meloy grew up in a family of musicians. His love for rock music coincided with the acquisition of his first electric guitar at age eleven. He taught himself to play by ear, learning riffs based on Kiss and Black Sabbath songs, immediately forming a band in high school, which led to more and more progressive opportunities, eventually landing him on tour.

A car accident in 1991 left his left arm paralyzed for a few years and derailed his momentum. Meloy realized that his hometown of South River, along with Burk’s Falls, Powassan, and North Bay, could offer ample opportunities to ply his musical trade. With bandmates Dean Tofflemire on bass, Mark Forth on drums, and Meloy on lead guitar, the Swamp Donkeys became a crowd-pleasing trio, with their blend of penetrating rock and blues throughout local pubs and brew houses for the past twenty years. Before COVID, the band was in high demand. In recent years, Davey has appeared solo specifically in the bourgeoning music scene in Burk’s Falls and throughout the Almaguin Highlands.  His show is designed to make an evening out as entertaining as possible.  

Always open to innovation and learning, Meloy, through his close friendship with local actor, musician, and writer Lewis Hodgson, formed several bands but was primarily known for his act, Dos Locos. “Lewis and I have been absolute soulmates for the last 30 years, absolutely adore each other,” Meloy reveals. “But at the end of the day, Lewis has had several amazing bands in his life (such as Big Sweet Lou), I have sat in with his band before, here and there, and stuff, and it’s been a great experience, but I’ve never joined the band with Lewis. We had a little incarnation (called Three Jax and a Jill), we played a battle of the bands in North Bay, one time, and that was it – a tour de force- that evening to have us three on the stage together. It was pretty amazing.”  Hodgson has moved out to Nova Scotia, so that musical partnership is no longer possible. 

“When you stop learning, you stop living right. I’m still learning tricks and little things now, into my mid-fifties, I’m learning these things, and that’s what makes music such a beautiful journey,” Meloy points out about his evolving collaborations with local musicians like Hodgson and others.

For all the shows he’s presented over the years, St. Patrick’s Day remains his most important and serious undertaking. As a salute to his heritage and a loving tribute to his family, Meloy has often played three to four venues on that day, spreading joy and cheer, emphatically celebrating the patron saint of Ireland. It is a day of cherished remembrance of his father and mother, and long-held, deep values in the Irish traditions. This year will mark an especially poignant toast to the fabled saint and the emerald-green homeland of an ancient people and its enduring culture. At the end of every show, Meloy will raise a pint to his loves and losses and heartfelt memories and sing out in a voice deeply his own, tempered by his own real-life experience.

“A man may drink and not be drunk,

A man may fight and not be slain,

A man may court a pretty girl

And perhaps be welcomed back again,

But since it has so ought to be

By a time to rise and a time to fall,

Come fill to me the parting glass

Good night and joy be with you all.”

The traditional Scottish tune, greatly favoured by the Irish, is a song at evening’s end, with a final parting draft, meant to fortify a traveller on a long journey homeward. As the old saying goes, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and for some, like veteran songster Davey Meloy, it makes you wiser, full in the knowledge that life is ever so precious.  

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