Home Free releases remake of Gordon Lightfoot classic
By MARIE TOLONEN MESABI TRIBUNE
A video featuring a remake of the 1976 Gordon Lightfoot classic “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by an acapella group is being met with rave reviews on YouTube.
The group Home Free released the remake in September on its sea shanty inspired album, entitled, Challenge the Sea. The video premiered on September 6.
Scene by scene, the nearly seven minute video provides a visual of the haunting lyrics made famous by Lightfoot, portraying the final hours of the 29-man crew that lost their lives during a storm on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975. The project was Executive Produced by all five band members: Adam Bastien, Adam Chance, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, and Tim Foust and managers Luke Pierce and Kristy Reis. It was produced/directed by Jimmy Bates.
Home Free originated in Minnesota, and is currently based out of Nashville, Tenn. Its members are from across the country including the Twin Cities of Minnesota, Detroit, Mich., Longbeach, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn.
To capture the “true atmosphere” of the Fitzgerald the video was filmed on location aboard the historic ore freighter, William A. Irvin in Duluth, according to information provided by Home Free. A key sequence was filmed on the water with Captain Nathan Fodness aboard the R/V Rendezvous II “to authentically depict the search and rescue narrative.”
Filming took place over two intensive days in late May, utilizing North Shore locations like the Duluth Harbor North Pier Light.
Bastien recalled when the band was planning for the sea chanty album about a year ago, he suggested a remake of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald as “as a cool way to honor the region,” noting here are three members of the band from the Great Lakes region, himself of Detroit, along with Rupp and Lundquist of the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
“It became clear that we should make our own version to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the wreck,” Bastien said. “We wanted to do the song justice, we wanted to do the people justice who are close to the story.”
Bastien talked about the talent of Bates, the videographer, and his knack for bringing songs to life in a specific way.
“This was my best experience working with Jimmy, probably,” Bastien said.
Bastien went on to tell how Bates, through his creativity was able to produce the effect of the ship rocking and the crew being tossed around in the rough waves of the storm. After counting down, Bates would announce left, and all in the scene would move to the left, while Bates would shake the camera to the right, he said.
After seeing the final product, Bastien said he was “blown away how his vision was captured perfectly.”
After the video was released, Bastien said he kept an eye on the band’s YouTube channel to see how people were receiving it.
“Instant tears,” is how Bastien described reading a review from an individual who identified themself as a surviving family member.
“It was a huge relief that we did the song justice enough that the family felt it was an honorable recreation of the song,” he said.
Likewise, the band states that it has been “deeply moved by the response from the Great Lakes community and maritime historians alike.”
“Home Free is honored to contribute to the enduring legacy of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s story through the power of music and film,” reads a statement from the band. “Our goal was to create a respectful and moving tribute that connects a new generation with this profound piece of Great Lakes history, filmed authentically aboard a historic iron ore freighter and on the waters of Lake Superior.”
“The song itself is such a powerful, haunting narrative,” it states. “We wanted to visually match that solemn, storytelling quality and pay our respects to the sailors and their families.”
Bastien said being aboard the William A. Irvin, provided a real sense of how the crew members would have to traverse between point a to point b in such rough waters and get around safely.
“It seemed like a very difficult thing to do,” he said.
“Filming on a historic freighter like the William A. Irvin, a sister ship to the Fitzgerald in many ways, added a layer of gravity and authenticity that we couldn’t have achieved anywhere else,” as described in a statement from the band. “You can feel the history in the steel.”
Being from the Great Lakes region, Bastien said he learned about the Fitzgerald sinking in school, adding outside the region it’s not as widely known as people may think.
“I found out that a lot of people don’t know the history behind it,” he said.
“As a band from the Midwest, this story feels close to home,” reads a statement from Home Free. “It’s a foundational piece of American folklore, and we felt a responsibility to treat it with the utmost care and authenticity. “We aimed to interweave performance shots of the band on the ship with a narrative that honors the search and remembrance of the lost crew.”
The video of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald can be found on the Home Free YouTube channel at:
http://homefreemusic.com/pages/videos . More information on Home Free is available at homefreemusic.com
HOME FREE - TWOTEF video
