To the editor from Stewart Dodson
Sydney, NS
After watching the BT New Year's Eve Special on television, I came to the realization that Matt Minglewood is a good ole boy who never sold out to the big record companies and moved to Toronto or Los Angeles to pursue his career. This takes a lot of integrity, and a lot of love for the island of Cape Breton.
In my opinion, he makes some of the best music to be heard anywhere. He could have won Emmys if he decided to move to Toronto or Los Angeles. His roots are here in Cape Breton and that has been his main concern in determining his future.
Lots of men of lesser character would have taken the lucrative contracts and the pretty girls and not even given it a second thought.
A friend of mine once said: "No amount of worldly success can compensate for failure in the home." Cape Bretoners should be so proud of Matt Minglewood and the role he has played as a goodwill ambassador for this area.
If anyone can play a better guitar than Matt Minglewood, he must be an alien. Minglewood's guitar solos are as much fun to watch as those of Carlos Santana or B.B.King. When he sings you can actually understand his lyrics, and the voice is very clear and strong.
He has been to the mountain top and has looked out on the promised land, and the promised land is Cape Breton. He has given up a shot at superstardom to be a good ole boy from Cape Breton, who values family and friends more than wealth and fame.
Let's give a standing ovation for the greatest rock musician to come out of a small coal mining town and turn his back on the silver-tongued devils who would lure him away from the island he loves.