http://www.greatfallstribune.com/app...=2009910010408
Gordon Lightfoot glides into Great Falls Thursday
By JENI DODD • Tribune Staff Writer • October 2, 2009
There's a kind of a restless feeling and it pulls me from within
It sets my senses reeling and my wheels begin to spin
In the quietude of winter you can hear the wild geese cry
And I will always love that sound until the day I die
"Restless" — Gordon Lightfoot
As he writes so eloquently in one his favorite self-penned songs, songwriter and troubadour Gordon Lightfoot was and still is — restless. After decades on the road, the consummate performer isn't content to stay home or work in a studio when there's an audience around the next bend.
Soon to turn 71, he shows no signs of slowing down and is currently on a 70-show tour. Lightfoot and his band visit Great Falls on Oct. 8 for a performance in the Mansfield Theater. Lightfoot's concerts in Missoula and Butte are sold out.
"I'm really enjoying it," Lightfoot said of touring. "I'm excited about coming (to Great Falls). We're doing 21 shows in 26 days. I'm like a well-oiled machine."
Lightfoot achieved initial success as a songwriter in the mid-1960s when Peter, Paul and Mary and Ian and Sylvia Tyson both recorded Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" and "For Lovin' Me." For Peter, Paul and Mary, the songs were career makers.
As the world soon learned, songwriting was not Lightfoot's only talent. Performing was in his blood. As a youngster, he sang as a soprano in his church choir and on the local radio in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario.
In 1965, United Artists recognized Lightfoot's performing talent and signed him as a recording artist. His first Canadian tour, in 1967, set the stage for a life on the road.
International success and tours into the U.S., came with hit songs such as "If You Could Read My Mind" in 1970, "Sundown" and "Carefree Highway" in 1974, "Rainy Day People" in 1975 and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" in 1976.
Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Richie Havens, Harry Belafonte, Tony Rice, Sarah McLachlan, John Mellencamp and Peter, Paul and Mary are some of the recording artists who have covered Lightfoot songs.
For more than 30 years, Lightfoot had toured extensively. Then, in September 2002, at a concert in his hometown of Orilla, Lightfoot fell ill with severe stomach pain and was airlifted to a hospital in Hamilton, Ontario. He underwent surgery for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, a condition that could have ended his life. He spent six weeks in a coma. A few days after waking up in the hospital, Lightfoot wondered how he could get back to playing music.
In November 2004, Lightfoot returned to the concert stage, with two sold-out concerts in Hamilton, Ontario. He didn't hit the road again until April 2005.
"I plowed through it," Lightfoot said of his illness. "It took two and a half years."
Since his illness, Lightfoot has worked harder to take care of himself, adding time at the gym to his regime.
"Exercise helps the performance," Lightfoot said. "I have a routine. I get up and exercise and have breakfast."
Lightfoot's band also has a routine to keep their music in shape, despite the fact that his "newest" band member, Mike Heffernan, has played with the band for 28 years. Bassist Rick Haynes joined Lightfoot in 1969 and Lightfoot added lead guitarist Terry Clements in 1970 and drummer Barry Keane in 1976.
"When you've got a good team together, there is no reason to change it," Lightfoot said. "But things evolve. We now spend a lot of time on intonation, which is a hobby onto itself."
Lightfoot and his band aren't afraid of the hard work it takes to keep going strong.
"We really work hard to stay on top of the material," Lightfoot said. "When I wake up (after a practice) I like to feel like I did a show the night before"
Lightfoot has garnered a slew of awards and honors, including 16 Junos (Canada's music award), several ASCAP songwriting awards and five Grammy nominations.
Perhaps his most cherished, but little-known honor, came when the Canadian government made him a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003.
"It's one of my best-kept secrets," Lightfoot said.
The honor has three degree levels. Lightfoot received the first, the Order of Canada, in 1970. The honor recognized his contributions to music as a singer and composer of folk songs of international renown. He was elevated to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003, he says jokingly, by staying out of trouble and under the radar.
"Years later, they gave me the Companion of the Order of Canada — for keeping my nose clean for all of those years," Lightfoot quipped.
Great Falls MT article-Oct.2,2009
