I interviewed Ian Tyson back in 1992...he credited Red Shea with teaching both him and Lightfoot a lot about guitar playing.

Oh, and I forgot...Tyson mentioned Wilf Carte (spelling?) being a big influence on him...then years later I heard Lightfoot's cover of "I Used to Be a Country Singer" with the reference to Carter...pretty cool.

Hi Bill,

That's funny you mention Wilf Carter.

The exact wording in 'I Used To Be A Country Singer' is:
My husband he could yodel like Wilf Carter

I must admit I enjoy listening to Wilf Carter. Maybe because of his yodeling - that's folklore here in Austria too, hey, we might have invented it before Switzerland..

Some of his songs are really good, especially the ones about "Strawberry Roan".

[hey, lams, just a sidenote - that's a perfect name for a horse, isn't it? I can picture exactly what it might have looked like, color, statue etc.]

What I have always admired about Wilf Carter is that he had a very hard life and no easy childhood and yet has been a happy and positive person all his life. If I remember correctly, after he had been beaten again by his father at the age of 15, he walked out and never ever spoke a single word with him again.

Yet his songs are full of fun, very positive and uplifting. And some are even hillarious ...
My wife is on a diet,
but I am losing weight,
I'm getting weaker all the time,
all day she feeds me lettuce,
on morning noon and night,
i've almost lost my mind...


Thankfully most of the songs from the 1940s and 1950 have conserved their special accoustics (all of these songs crackle when played from a CD) which makes them even more realistic.

And lastly, Wilf Carter has lived 'a cowboy's life' himself, so to me there seems to be great truth in his songs about the life on the prairie, etc. I really feel he knows what he is singing about.

Little is known about his complete biography, the last thing I know is that he died at old age in Florida.

Oh, and one last note:
There is one LP-cover that's particularly awesome - Wilf Carter, up in the saddle at a river, with the Canadian flag in his hand. It's a majestic pose.

I don't have the LP with me at the moment, so I can't tell you the exact title, but those of you who own it will surely know what I mean.

Sorry, but mentioning Wilf Carter has carried me away...

Tyson said Carter used to play logging camps in the north west US and western Canada...I suppose where he heard Carter growing up out west there.

Oh, and that he went by several stage names...I'd have to run through the old tape for those...can't remember off the top of my head.

Oh, and that he went by several stage names...I'd have to run through the old tape for those...can't remember off the top of my head.