Canadian Ranch Boys
Abbie Andrews and the Canadian Ranch Boys were a St Catharines based “Olde-Tyme” Country and Western band heard in the 1940s and 1950s on CKTB in St Catharines and on the CBC as a summer replacement show for Don Messer.
You can read an article about them here. (It’s a .pdf file)
Another member of the Canadian Ranch Boys for a few years was someone you may have heard of. Grammy-winner Walter Ostanek, known for many years as “Canada’s Polka King”.
You can read an article about him here.
In 2001 Walter joined Canada’s Walk of Fame.
On February 2, 2007, the mayor of St Catharines was on CBC Radio One’s “Sounds Like Canada:
“MAYOR OF ST. CATHARINES Brantford, Ontario has Wayne Gretzky Way. Timmins, Ontario has the Shania Twain Centre. Now St. Catharines, Ontario is looking for a way to celebrate its favourite son - Walter Ostanek, the Canadian Polka King. Bill Richardson spoke to the mayor of St. Catharines about the ideas he’s heard so far for feteing the King of the Accordion.”
“Doghouse” Charlie Waterer in the middle.
This was a card sent to listeners who wrote in.
The same photo in its original form.
Jack Ott
Somewhere around here, Abbie was involved in a car accident in 1955, which ended his musical career.
Dad hit the road at a young age, travelling around western Canada, playing music and sometimes even eating. 
To the day he died, a piece of pie, with cheese or ice cream was something he relished, often reminding me that there were times he didn’t have the money for a slice, and thus went hungry. Sometimes he settled for a cup of coffee or “ketchup soup”, a pot of boiling water with ketchup added. He had so many stories about the “Dirty Thirties”, I wish I had paid more attention when he was alive.
While playing gigs all over Saskatchewan, my dad happened to play at a campaign event for (then/future) Saskatchewan Premier J.T.M. Anderson. Mr Anderson bought my father a beer. At the time, my dad was underage, it was his first beer in a bar. He kept this coaster as a souvenir.
During Prohibition, my dad would play at parties where alcohol was regularly consumed. It was served in tea cups. “Tea” was a very popular drink at these affairs. 
Occasionally the hosts of these affairs would be tipped off that there was to be a raid (apparently by someone in the Saskatoon Police Department). My dad would get a phone call. “Don’t come by tonight, Charlie.” They didn’t want him, (a minor) to get into trouble.
They used to keep the booze in the chamber pots under the beds. On one occasion the police had been tipped off to this, and the party was raided. The hosts had in turn been tipped off, and made sure the chamber pots were filled with what one might normally expect to find in such items. The constable conducting the raid was not amused.
Dad was an equal opportunity performer…he played for everyone from the Legion to Church functions to the Young Communists. If they paid he played. Even sometimes if they didn’t pay he played anyway. He survived some lean times using his musical talent.
***
In the 1950s and 1960s, Dad played in the band at Club Heidelberg in St Catharines. Funny story. Dad couldn’t speak German, but he didn’t let on. (He had 1 year of high school German before he dropped out in Grade 10). But he had an uncanny knack for saying “Ja” and “Nein” in just the right spot. Most just thought he was quiet or embarrassed about the quality of his German.
Years after his death I met a gentleman who knew him at the time at the club. Dad was missed.
Dad’s “toys” have been languishing in basements for years. I made the difficult decision to part with them, in the interests of their future care.
My friend Tim Sykes, and his lovely fiancee Jill popped down on a blustery cold day in February and picked up Dad’s bass. I know Tim will care for it and some day it will make music again.
Now in Cambridge, Ontario, Dad’s bass has found a new home.
Dad playing the bass in the early 1950s…Tim strikes a similar pose in 2007.
I’ll keep you posted about the restoration as I get the details.
Very young Charlie in some swanky duds playing in an orchestra. Who are they?
