http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/...41?sac=fo.life
Published: 12:05 AM, Fri Sep 28, 2012
Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot speaks his mind
By Rodger Mullen
Staff writer
With a career spanning more than 50 years, there are certain songs Gordon Lightfoot can't leave the stage without playing.
" 'If You Could Read My Mind,' " He said with a chuckle. "Now if I ever left that one out ..."
That 1970 hit introduced Lightfoot and his warm baritone to a new audience in the United States. But by that time, the singer-songwriter was already a star in his native Canada.
Lightfoot, 73, will perform in concert Sunday at the Crown Theatre, in what he says is his first Fayetteville concert.
Born in Ontario in 1938, Lightfoot scored his first Canadian hit in 1962 with "(Remember Me) I'm the One." With songs including "Early Mornin' Rain" and "For Lovin' Me," Lightfoot soon gained a reputation as one of modern folk music's top songwriters.
Lightfoot's contemporaries took note, and his songs were recorded by the likes of Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley and Peter, Paul and Mary.
While "If You Could Read My Mind" marked Lightfoot's introduction to the U.S. charts, his big commercial breakthrough came in 1974 with "Sundown."
The title track from that album topped the U.S. charts, and the follow-up, "Carefree Highway," reached No. 10.
Lightfoot's hot streak continued in 1976 with the release of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," inspired by the sinking of a freighter on Lake Superior the year before, in which all 29 crew members lost their lives.
The singer continued writing, recording and touring throughout the '80s and '90s. In 2002, Lightfoot suffered a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and was in a coma for six weeks.
After recovering, Lightfoot completed work on an album in 2004 and made a successful return to the stage. Health concerns surfaced again in 2006 when Lightfoot suffered a stroke on stage. He fully recovered.
Lightfoot was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986, and in June he was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in New York.
Recently, Lightfoot talked to Weekender by telephone from his home in Toronto on a break from touring. He already has done about 35 shows this year. Here are excerpts from that conversation:
Weekender: What can we expect at your concert in Fayetteville? Will you be playing solo or with a band?
Lightfoot: I have a backup band. We do the whole show. It's a two-hour show. We do "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," we do "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," we do "Carefree Highway," "Early Mornin' Rain" and so forth. And there are more that they recognize immediately and we rotate in, quite a few that they may not have heard for a while.
Weekender: It sounds like you'll be playing songs from just about every stage of your career.
Lightfoot: Yeah. We cover everything. There's something on there from just about every album.
Weekender: Has your band been with you a long time?
Lightfoot: Yeah, they've been playing a long time, some of them more recently, some of them going all the way back to almost the beginning.
Weekender: What keeps you on the road after a career of more than 50 years?
Lightfoot: Well, it's because I love the work. Also, I enjoy the world. It's like we have two worlds. We have the road, and we've got the family. So it's kind of nice to sort of get away from the family for a week or two every once in a while, to be quite honest with you.
I'll be 74 years of age in November, and I'm still ready to go. So are the rest of the guys. There have been some health issues throughout the years, but right now everybody's in good health and everybody's rehearsed and prepared. And we're eager.
Weekender: Do you keep up with any or your contemporaries from the '60s folk music scene?
Lightfoot: Some of them are still going! I knew Jerry Jeff Walker, Bob Gibson and all those people from that era. These days, I don't hang out much; I just work. I think about my family; I stay prepared. I don't stay in touch as much as I should. I'm still a Bob Dylan fan; I love (Bruce) Springsteen. I made a list one day, I had a whole page just full of names of all the people I love. If it was here with me, I'd start reading it right now. And what about John Denver, one of the unsung heroes of the whole thing?
Weekender: Is there a song or an album that you're most proud of?
Lightfoot: Yes, it was one that came out in 1986 and it was called "East of Midnight." That was my best album. I had a lot of good ones before that, but it was my best album.
Weekender: What makes it your best?
Lightfoot: It's just the best songs, the best performances, the best vocals and the best everything. The best beat, the best musicianship. I was singing at the very, very peak of my singing ability.
And you could tap your toes to it. It had a real good beat. It wasn't rock and roll, but it had the pulse.
Weekender: What's next for you? Do you have a new album in the works?
Lightfoot: No. I got inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in June in New York City; that was an exciting time. But coming up, it's our hometown engagement for four nights in Massey Hall right here in Toronto. Then I guess I'll be singing my Christmas solo at the church on Christmas eve. Those are my two highlights leading off into the end of the year.
Gordon Lightfoot
Where: Crown Theatre
When: Sunday, Sept. 30, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $35 to $65
Information: 438-4100 or crowncoliseum.com
Staff writer Rodger Mullen can be reached at
mullenr@fayobserver.com or 486-3561.
Fayetville interview
