Mel Hynes & The Kootenay Legends

Websites:  No
Origin: Harrogate, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Mel Hynes and the Kootenay Legends are the heart and soul of Columbia Valley heritage music. Based in Invermere, British Columbia, the group—led by veteran musician Mel Hynes and his wife Sharon—has spent decades preserving and performing the stories, people, and logging culture of the Kootenays through music. Their songs are rich with the imagery of mountain roads, rugged trains, and hard-earned pay, steeped in first-hand knowledge of the region’s past.

Mel was born in Invermere and raised on his family’s land in Harrogate, where his grandfather settled after arriving from Ontario around 1900. A lifelong resident of the East Kootenay region, Mel experienced much of the logging and railway culture that now inspires his songwriting. As a youth, he traveled gravel roads and bumpy train lines to school in Golden, worked with the CPR, and later joined the booming sawmill trade in Parson. His lived experience gives his music a rare authenticity, from tales of riding the rough Kootenay Cannonball to earning a logger’s wage in the 1950s.

Mel’s musical journey began in the 1950s, backing up rockabilly legend Ricky Nelson in Banff and playing in bands like The Whirlwinds, who were active into the late 1960s. A multi-instrumentalist with a deep love for danceable rhythms, Mel embraced country, folk, polka, and jive styles. His performances recall a time when community dances filled local halls and stories were shared in song.

Mel met Sharon Hynes in the Cariboo during his time as a forestry fire crew foreman. They reconnected in the late 1990s, married in Parson in 1999, and together formed the duo Kootenay Legends. Sharon brings vocals, warmth, and historical storytelling to their performances, often drawing reactions from audiences who personally remember the events described in their songs. Their music includes originals and adaptations of Columbia Valley lore, delivered with humor, heart, and reverence.

The duo’s 2009 CD History in the Making: Part One, produced by Marty Beingessner and re-released in a remastered edition in 2012, reflects Mel’s songwriting rooted in logging tales, regional history, and poetic narratives by local legend John Kehoe. Tracks like “The Yellow Monster,” “Logger’s Lament,” and “Race Up Old White Swan” feature collaborators such as Bud DeCosse, Jim Miller, and Franz Grasegger, and have become folk staples throughout the valley.

Kootenay Legends have performed across the region, including festivals like Steamboat Mountain Music Festival, where they shared stages with some of the area’s finest musicians. Their music is now part of Library and Archives Canada, preserving the cultural memory of the Columbia Valley for generations to come.

Whether singing about the Bugaboos, riding the rails, or recalling a time when roads were rough and wages were 92 cents an hour, Mel and Sharon Hynes continue to bring the history of the Kootenays to life—one heartfelt song at a time.
-Robert Williston