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Shania remembers Gary, Mickie Code

By NICK GARDINER , STAFF WRITER

The Recorder and Times Country musicians Gary and Mickie Code of Prescott will be portrayed during a re-enactment of the early days of Shania Twain.

PRESCOTT -They have played on stage with some of country music's legendary performers.

Over a music career spanning more than 40 years, Prescott's Gary and Mickie Code opened for Tammy Wynette at Alexandria Bay, N.Y. while in nearby Watertown, they were the opening act for a concert by the late Jerry Reed.

In Ottawa, they played before headliner Bill Anderson took the stage.

Elsewhere, they performed at concerts with Bobby Helm, Charlie Walker, Kitty Wells and Conway Twitty.

And they've rubbed elbows with band members and close friends of Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Reba McIntyre, among many others, mostly in Nashville where the Codes were regular visitors and performers for 15 years.

But it was their encounters with a young Shania Twain while playing on the road at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins that will briefly shine an international spotlight on the Codes this weekend.

Prior to the hotel being torn down a few years back, the now-superstar Twain collected some memorabilia, including a framed picture of Gary and Mickie Code inscribed with the words, 'Thanks for the Memories.'

With Twain set to debut her new talk show, Why Not? on the Oprah Winfrey Network on Mother's Day at 11 p.m., the initial episode will feature a look back on the host's life and how her musical career was nurtured as a pre-teen and teenaged singer in the Timmins hotel.

"We were on the road and we played two or three times a year for a few years up there and she would come up on stage with us," said Mickie Code during an interview Thursday at the couple's home in Prescott.

Mickie remembers Twain as "a bit of a homely kid" with a good voice and personality who received lots of encouragement from a hometown crowd that included the singer's mother and father, who died a few years later in a car accident.

"She didn't look like she does now," said Code, with a laugh.

More notably, for Twain to remember them at the Maple Leaf Hotel after all these years is a little overwhelming.

"I can't believe she would take that picture down from the wall," said Mickie Code.

The picture, and two actors who will portray the Codes playing in concert at Timmins, will be features of Twain's Mother's Day TV show as it explores her past.

The Codes aren't sure how big a part they will play in the show. Nevertheless, they are eager to watch it at 11 p.m. Sunday. (Channel 109 on Cogeco and 526 on Bell satellite.)

"We will have our eyes glued to the televison," said Gary Code, who is 65 years old.

The Codes signed releases with the network allowing for actors to portray them during some re-enactment segments, as well as a release allowing for the 30-year-old photo to be used in the telling of Shania's story.

Mickie Code said she ignored an initial phone message from the tv network last month because she suspected her leg was being pulled by a friend.

"I erased the message because I didn't believe it. We're just two nice people living in a little red brick house in the middle of Prescott."

A little later, the network called back and convinced Mickie they were not jesting.

The contracts were forwarded, signed and returned and the Codes have been anxiously waiting for the show to air on Sunday.

"I'm dying to see the show to see what she thought of us as a 12-year-old," said Mickie Code.

"We were surprised to be remembered as a part of her life."

Gary Code said they may have been chosen as a part of Sunday's show because other people familiar to the young Shania are no longer around.

"It is a look at her past and other bands may have broken up, members have died or they have just gone away and aren't interested," said Gary.

At the time, the Codes' band was called The Country Secrets and featured Gary playing bass guitar and harmonizing on vocals with Mickie. Gary's older brother, Merrill, played lead guitar.

Sometimes a five-piece and sometimes a six-piece band, they have performed under a couple of different names over the years, including one familiar to many older local residents -- Gary and Mickie Code and The Running Kind.

And while Gary works as a salesman at the Bank Street Kia car dealership in Ottawa, they continue to perform area shows under the name The Running Kind Band.

Members include longtime band members Charlie Stone of Prescott on lead guitar and Rocky Bigford of Smiths Falls on drums.

In addition, the band includes a pedal steel guitar played either by Wayne VanDeBogert of Napanee, now in remission from a bout with cancer, Jim Whaley of Trenton or Steve Smith of Toronto, who is also a member of the Wilkinsons band.

"We're not a road band any more. We are more of a weekend cover band," said Mickie Code.

The band regularly plays New Year's Eve at the Mallorytown Legion, an open air show in Prescott on the last Sunday in August, as well as occasional shows in Kingston, Belleville and elsewhere in eastern Ontario.

"We still have a following," said Mickie Code.

"We get the old fans out who like to request songs and just have a good time."

Gary Code said he is proud that the band's following has endured for more than 30 years.

"It's a compliment to us at this stage of our career."

Born in Frankville, Gary moved to Prescott as part of a family of five.

Mickie was born into a family of seven children in Ottawa and moved to Brockville when she was 10.

After spending five years in Europe where she lived in England, Mickie returned to the area. In due time, she met Gary when he was playing at the then-Daniels Hotel in Prescott.

Later, Mickie joined the band on stage after members noticed her voice complemented Gary's during practice sessions.

At the time, the band included Prescott's Matt Hayes on steel guitar and Gary claims it was the first band to play at the King Street bar in the early 1960s under the original Country Secrets name.

"People to this day will tell me, 'I saw you the first time you were on stage at the Daniels,'" said Gary Code.

Gary took up singing at the age of 13 and played his first gig with Merrill as the Code Brothers at a March of Dimes radio show in Ogdensburg, N.Y.

Later, Gary and Mickie were hired by the Rambling Rose Bus Tours of Ottawa to entertain fans on their way to Nashville.

Gary said the job lasted from 1970 to 1985 and gave them an introduction to many country stars in the town which calls itself Music City USA.

They were booked to perform at the Nashville Sheraton and enjoyed working on stage with a steel guitar player borrowed from George Jones and a drummer who played with Buck Owens.

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