Gordon Lightfoot was still in the
relatively early stages of his career as a major folk-rooted singer-songwriter
when my own musical interests began to centre on the folk scene. His third LP,
Did She Mention My Name, was the first of Lightfoot’s albums that I bought new
when it first came out in 1968 and I quickly acquired the first two and many of
the ones that followed. His 1960s albums, and several from the ‘70s, still
resonate particularly strongly with me.
Over the past decade, Toronto-based
singer-songwriter Jory Nash has organized an annual tribute concert at Hugh’s
Room in Toronto, in which a revolving cast of artists, and a house band, each
do a pair of Lightfoot songs. Lightfoot himself has shown up occasionally and
performed a couple of songs – including last Sunday, the third of a three-night
stand.
Last night, Jory Nash brought The Way We
Feel – The Songs of Gordon Lightfoot to Centrepointe Theatre in Ottawa.
Interestingly, although there was overlap, the roster of artists was
substantially different from the Hugh’s Room shows last weekend.
MC David Newland, who opened the show with
a song and did a great job of keeping the show flowing, and the superb house
band – guitarist Jason Fowler, pianist David Matheson, bassist David Woodhead,
and Christine Bougie, who switched between drums and lap steel – as well as
featured artists Lori Cullen, John Wort Hannam, Jory Nash, and Andy Maize &
Josh Finlayson of the Skydiggers, were on the Hugh’s Room bill. The additional
artists in Ottawa were Cadence, Rick Fines, Oh Susanna and Suzie Vinnick (fresh
from winning a couple of Maple Blues Awards last week). Band members Jason
Fowler and David Matheson also took turns in the spotlight with a couple of
songs each.
In the hundreds of songs Lightfoot has
written and recorded over his long career, the artists had a wealth of material
to choose from and included several of his best known songs and several of the
more obscure.
Certainly, the evening’s high point was
when the entire cast gathered on stage at the end for gospel-style version of “Rich
Man’s Spiritual,” which Jory Nash pointed out was the first song on Lightfoot’s
first album. Each verse was led by a different artist or group of artists, with
everyone else joining in and leading the audience on the call-and-response
parts. It was a joyous moment and a perfect finale.
Among the other highlights were Jory’s solo
version of “Mother of a Miner’s Child,” Lori Cullen’s jazz ballad version of “Rainy
Day People,” Rick Fines’ soulful rendition of “Ribbon of Darkness,” which included
some sublime slide guitar playing, Oh Susanna’s country version of “Early
Morning Rain,” John Wort Hannam’s lovely solo rendition of "Your Love’s Return" and Suzie Vinnick’s electrified take on “If You Could Read My
Mind.”
In all honesty, there were a couple of arrangements
that didn’t work for me. Lori Cullen’s disco version of “Song for a Winter’s
Night” robbed the song of the beauty of its quiet intimacy. And I really wished
that a cappella quartet Cadence had just concentrated on the lyrics to “The Wreck
of the Edmund Fitzgerald” instead of also using their voices to imitate the
musical instruments – the net effect was to lose much of the impact of the song’s
story.
In a concert that included just 22 songs, there
were so many great Lightfoot songs left unsung. No wonder this show can be
mounted annually without losing its freshness.
--Mike Regenstreif
