The Rhythm Pals

Country music trio formed in 1946 in New Westminster, BC, by the accordionist and baritone Marc Wald (born in North Dakota (1922), the bass player and tenor Mike Ferbey (born in Saskatoon (1926), and the guitarist and tenor Jack Jensen (born in  Prince Rupert, BC, (1925).  Patterning their style after the Sons of the Pioneers, the Rhythm Pals made their debut on CKNW radio’s ‘Bill Rae’s Roundup’. Regular appearances followed on CBC Vancouver radio’s ‘Burns Chuckwagon’ and other shows. In 1948 the Rhythm Pals performed on US TV, one of the first Canadian groups to do so. 

While starring in 1959 on their own CBC radio show, ‘Swing Easy,’ they joined ‘The Tommy Hunter Show’ and were regular performers on most of Hunter’s CBC radio and TV shows until 1977. They also had their own ‘Chuckwagon Show’ 1963-66 on CBC radio.  In the early 1980s the trio regrouped in British Columbia.  Although Wald retired in 1987, Ferbey, Jensen and others continued to perform, thus qualifying the Rhythm Pals as one of the longest continuing groups in Canadian pop music. The trio recorded some 78s in 1953 with Juliette for Aragon and subsequently made LPs for Arc, Decca, Banff, Arpeggio, CTL, Spindrift, and its own Pals label. The Rhythm Pals 30th Anniversary (2-Spindrift SR-1, repackaged as The Best of the Rhythm Pals, 2-Ross Sound RS-1040) included 30 songs.

 The Rhythm Pals won Juno Awards as best country group of 1965, 1967, and 1968 and were inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Honor in 1989.