Gordon Lightfoot: a true living legend
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Special to The Post and Courier
Thursday, May 7, 2009
provided by Anne Leibold Gordon Lightfoot will perform Saturday at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center.
Bob Dylan once claimed Gordon Lightfoot to be his favorite songwriter.
Clearly, Dylan's not alone in his admiration.
The list of artists who have recorded the 70-year-old singer/songwriter's material reads like a who's who list that would chronicle the past 40 years of recorded music.
Elvis Presley. Johnny Cash. Marty Robbins. Jerry Lee Lewis. Johnny Mathis. Barbra Streisand. Harry Belafonte. Even John Melloncamp has turned to Lightfoot for material.
And, of course, Lightfoot and Dylan teamed up and recorded numerous songs together.
The rather reclusive Dylan is known for not granting many interviews, but in one rare conversation, he was famously quoted as saying that when listening to one of Lightfoot's songs, he wished "it would last forever."
It was in 1962 that Lightfoot began his professional career. However, it wasn't until the late '60s that the Canadian-born artist received any recognition.
It was at the conclusion of the '70s, the most prolific of his career, that Lightfoot would be regarded as having defined the folk-pop sound that would further influence the likes of Dylan, Jim Croce, Jimmy Buffett and Dan Fogelberg.
Robbie Robertson, a fellow Canadian and widely considered one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time best known for his stint in The Band, said that Lightfoot "is absolutely a national treasure."
Over the years, Lightfoot has had more than 200 hits and written thousands more songs. To familiarize one's self with merely the hits is to ignore the fabric from which entire genres — folk, Americana, country and even rock 'n' roll — have their traditions.
If you go
Who: Gordon Lightfoot.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
Where: North Charleston Performing Arts Center, 5001 Coliseum Dr.
Cost: $52, $42 and $32 at
www.ticketmaster.com.
Hear His Music:
www.gordonlightfoot.com/.
Info: 529-5000,
www.coliseumpac.com.
Though he achieved prominence because of his extensive catalog of material, a trio of songs in the '70s, "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970), "Sundown" (1974) and "Rainy Day People" (1975), transcend the era in which he wrote them.
According to several online biographies documenting his career, the signature Lightfoot sound centers around his distinct baritone voice coupled with a folk-based acoustic guitar.
To this day, Lightfoot still records and performs with Rick Haynes and Terry Clements, who joined Lightfoot's band in 1969.
The lineup of that classic trio augmented by a compliment of world-class musicians is enough to fill theaters from coast to coast.
Lightfoot is performing a full set of material in an intimate setting Saturday evening at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center, sans any sort of constraints regarding a new project that would result in a certain amount of the show being dedicated to promoting his newer works.
Instead, Lightfoot and cohorts are free to perform in much the same way they have for the past 40 years: with raw, honest emotion.
Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based journalist.
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Great article aboot Gord
