The Easy Aces Five

The group's leader, fiddler William (Bill) Boychuk, formed the band in the 1940s or 1950s. Based in the Canadian province of Alberta, they played thousands of weddings, dances, anniversaries, and house parties. They ceased performing in the late 1960s, when Bill relocated to the province of British Columbia. The group recorded over 102 original Ukrainian selections: fifteen 78 rpm records, two 45 rpm records, and five LP records on the Stinson, Arrex, DSF, Heritage, and V-Records labels. Some selections featured a full band and others reverted to the traditional instrumentation for a village wedding band: violin, tsymbaly, and drum. The band's 1955 recording of "The Early Bird of Spring" was used for many years as the theme song for CFCW Radio's Ukrainian Hour program (based in the city of Edmonton, Alberta).