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Old 11-26-2015, 02:58 PM   #1
charlene
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Default Lightfoot co-produces Robbie Robertson XMAS tune & PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

Peterborough This Week
By Paul Rellinger
PETERBOROUGH — Ronnie Hawkins has recorded his first new material in 15 years, with a whole lot of help from some of his Peterborough area friends.

On Dec. 10 at The Cambria Gallery in Toronto, the 80-year-old rock ’n’ roll singer and Order of Canada member will officially release Christmas Must Be Tonight - his take on the song written by Robbie Robertson and released by The Band in 1977

Co-produced by Gordon Lightfoot and Marty Davis, the recording was engineered by James McKenty, and features Ryan and Sam Weber as the backing band.

It was back in September at a fundraiser that Hawkins and Lightfoot discussed songs they admire and wish they had recorded. That put the wheels in motion for the recording of Christmas Must Be Tonight.

The song - described as “a mandolin-laced American gem” - will be available for download starting Dec. 11, 2015 on iTunes.
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Old 12-09-2015, 07:01 PM   #2
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces Ronnie Hawkins XMAS tune

and Ronnie did Pony Man too!! ! https://nowtoronto.com/music/ronnie-...er-for-christ/

It’s taken Christmas to get new music from Ronnie Hawkins. The Canadian rock ’n’ roll legend is releasing his first song in 15 years, a rootsy cover of Robbie Robertson’s Christmas Must Be Tonight, produced by Gordon Lightfoot.

The idea for the gentle, mandolin-laced country tune began with a conversation between Hawkins and Lightfoot at a gala fundraiser in September. (They also celebrated together in May, for Hawkins's 80th birthday.) They were discussing songs they admired and wished they had recorded, like Christmas Must Be Tonight.

Lightfoot also suggested Hawkins try out the Lightfoot rarity The Pony Man, so the Canadian icons hunkered down in a Peterborough recording studio to work on both. Robertson and Marty Davis consulted on the arrangements and other details. No word on when The Pony Man will be ready for public consumption, but Christmas Must Be Tonight is available on iTunes and on streaming sites as of Friday (December 11).

“The big time is just around the corner,” Hawkins wryly told NOW about the collaboration.

Other contributors to the track include the Weber Brothers and engineer James McKenty. Davis, CEO of natural stone surface manufacturer Cambria – for whom Hawkins is a brand advocate – served as co-producer.
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Old 12-10-2015, 07:58 PM   #3
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces Ronnie Hawkins XMAS tune

at the press event: Gordon and his long time pal, Ronnie Hawkins
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Old 12-10-2015, 07:59 PM   #4
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces Ronnie Hawkins XMAS tune

https://twitter.com/masseyhall
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Old 12-10-2015, 11:22 PM   #5
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces Ronnie Hawkins XMAS tune

I LOVE these guys! STORY @: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment...tmas-tune.html

Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot collaborate on Christmas tune
The two had a good enough time doing the tune that they recorded a second together.

By: Ben Rayner Pop Music Critic, Published on Thu Dec 10 2015
Hard to believe, but Canadian musical icons and longtime chums Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot have never actually worked on anything together.
That changed this month with the release of Hawkins’s first new release in 15 years, a cover of Robbie Robertson’s “Christmas Must Be Tonight” produced with assistance from Lightfoot.
The two had a good enough time doing the tune that they recorded a second together, a lesser-known Lightfoot composition called “The Pony Man” that will surface at an unspecified date down the road.
“I told Gord I’m gonna record one of his songs a year for the next 25 years,” the 80-year-old Hawkins said backstage at a release event for “Christmas Must Be Tonight” — available on iTunes and streaming sites on Friday Dec. 11 — held on Thursday at the Cambria stonework showroom in Cabbagetown.
Lightfoot, 77, said he’s as mystified as everyone else why the two friends haven’t worked together before.
“We grew up on Yonge St. together,” he said, adding that taking on the role of producer was another first for him.
“I’ve never produced anyone before. Not that I ever said I was the producer, mind you,” he laughed. “They’re the ones saying I produced the record, not me!”
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Old 12-11-2015, 01:23 PM   #6
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

getty image 500947488 by char Westbrook, on Flickr
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Old 12-11-2015, 10:24 PM   #7
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

VIDEO OF GORDON AND RONNIE: https://youtu.be/pXCzHT8L3gc



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Old 12-12-2015, 06:47 AM   #8
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

This is SO cool! Thank you!

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Old 12-15-2015, 01:31 PM   #9
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/...click=sf_globe
Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot team up for seasonal classic
BRAD WHEELER
The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Dec. 14, 2015 2:58PM EST
Last updated Monday, Dec. 14, 2015 4:43PM EST

It is doubtful that Ronnie Hawkins’s house is actually made of rattlesnake hide, just as it is dubious that the chimney on top, as he has sung, is made from a human skull. Beyond obvious matters of taste, it simply wouldn’t be up to code. We do know, however, who it is Hawkins loves: Gordon Lightfoot, the man sitting next to him on stage at a news conference and launch party last week in Toronto.

“Whether you folks know it not, Gordon is one of the greatest storytellers on the planet, bar none,” proclaims the drawling Hawkins, who at 80 years old is still one of the biggest talker-uppers around. “There are a lot of great songwriters, but very few have written 200 songs,” continues the Who Do You Love singer, winding up for a finishing flourish, “and every one of them is a winner!”

Lightfoot, gaunt and lank-haired at the age of 77, just smiles and doesn’t offer any aw-shucks modesty. The splashy event (held at Cambria Gallery, a showroom of deluxe quartz and other stone countertops in Toronto) was held to help promote Christmas Must Be Tonight, a new version of a gentle seasonal song sung by Hawkins. The event, attended by Cambria’s moneyed clients and a sprinkling of music press, was surreal for many reasons, not the least of which being that the song was written by the Band’s Robbie Robertson, not Lightfoot.

The garrulous Hawkins, a Cambria brand ambassador, is an Arkansas-bred long-time resident of Lakefield, Ont. He mentored Robertson and the rest of the Band when they were known as the Hawks on Toronto’s Yonge Street strip in the 1960s, and the white-haired rockabilly man still answers to “Rompin’ Ronnie” today if you speak loudly enough.

And although he refers to his new musical partnership with his long-time friend as the “dynamic duo,” Lightfoot himself says he helped only with the tempo of the new version of the 1977 song. As Hawkins explains it, “It was a great song, but [the Band] looked like they were hurrying it a little bit to get it done.”

After the news conference, Hawkins’s version of Christmas Must Be Tonight is played on the room’s sound system. It is an odd sight to behold, a crowd looking at the carbon-dated duo sitting on stage as the song blares over the ambient noise of clinking wineglasses back at the drink table, where rum-based concoctions are outstandingly dubbed Hawktails.

Hawkins mouths the words he can remember. Lightfoot leans over to him and says something a couple of times, but otherwise listens to the music while chewing on a toothpick. Without a live performance, the affair takes on a zoo-like environment.

Christmas Must Be Tonight is available on iTunes, but The Pony Man, another cover song newly recorded by Hawkins with help from Lightfoot, won’t be released until later. The story-song lullaby, also unveiled at the launch party, was written by Lightfoot for his children. It appears on his 1970 album Sit Down Young Stranger. “Everybody wants a pony, I wanted one myself,” Hawkins tells The Globe and Mail after the news conference, relaxing in a small room with Lightfoot as the party carries on outside. “When the pony man comes to see ya, it’s almost better than Santa Claus.”

Indeed, for Lightfoot, Hawkins’s version of The Pony Man is a present in itself. “I never heard a cover version of one of my songs I didn’t like,” says the Sundown singer, who has been known to pop into Hugh’s Room when the west-side folk club holds its annual salute to him. (Hawkins himself recorded Lightfoot’s Early Morning Rain and Home from the Forest. And, on a side note, Lightfoot also wrote Talkin’ Silver Cloud Blues, which was not recorded by Hawkins, but was written about him.)

“Gordon Lightfoot’s music,” Hawkins says, “will be played 150 years from now.”

Does Lightfoot agree? “You hope so, but whether it does [get played] or whether it doesn’t, it makes no difference to me,” the still-touring troubadour says. “Just as long as I can play them and the fans enjoy them, I’ll do the best songs in my repertoire.”

Follow Brad Wheeler on Twitter: @CWREX25UkAEu1lU by char Westbrook, on Flickr
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Old 12-16-2015, 06:00 PM   #10
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

LOTS of photos from the Ronnie Hawkins/Lightfoot XMAS tune party event - http://www.caroleroytimmphoto.com/pa...-19/index.html

























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Old 12-17-2015, 06:26 AM   #11
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

^ Wow! Thanks, Char!

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Old 12-20-2015, 12:48 PM   #12
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

http://www.newcanadianmusic.ca/relea...nnie%20Hawkins

CHRISTMAS MUST BE TONIGHT - SINGLE
Ronnie Hawkins
New holiday single "Christmas Must Be Tonight” brings together three iconic figures in Canadian music. You see, the tune was written by Robbie Robertson and it is now covered by his former mentor/boss, Ronnie Hawkins, with co-production by none other than Gordon Lightfoot! This is the first time longtime pals (and mutual admirers) Lightfoot and Hawkins have worked together, and this tune is a fine result. The Weber Brothers and musician/engineer James McKenty (Blue Rodeo, Michelle McAdorey) played on the recording, while Hawkins' voice is in fine mellow form. The overall effect is as warming as an open fire.The well-written tune was first sung by Rick Danko in The Band's '70s version, with Robertson later also recording it. The new take on it is one of the best seasonal songs of the year. Of note: The recording session also produced a cover of Hawkins covering a Lightfoot tune, "Pony Man". Look for that to be released next year.

The single was launched with a media event at the Cambria showroom in Toronto last week, with both Hawkins and Lightfoot in attendance.

Kerry Doole
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Old 12-23-2015, 03:14 PM   #13
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

omigawd I love Ronnie! lol.. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...taple-20151223

Just a few weeks from turning 81, Ronnie Hawkins admits he's slowing down. But the early rock & roll career-maker — he assembled the players that would become The Band — is far from finished.

"I got one foot in the grave and another in a puddle of WD-40, but I feel alright," Hawkins tells Rolling Stone Country, dropping the first of a steady stream of one-liners. "I have a hard time getting around — my legs are gone, 'cause I chased too many girls."

Earlier this year, Hawkins nonetheless ambled his way into the recording studio to put a fresh spin on The Band's holiday song "Christmas Must Be Tonight." Written by Robbie Robertson, the imagery-rich track appeared on The Band's 1977 Islands album and featured a typically yearning vocal from Rick Danko. In the hands of Hawkins, the song takes on a more country feel, as he croons to string-forward instrumentation. (Listen to the song below.)

The country bent is a bit ironic, according to Hawkins, who recorded the song with Marty Davis and Canadian folk icon Gordon Lightfoot as producers.

"Back when we was young, we didn't even want to act like we knew anybody that sung country. We thought those country acts were square johns," says Hawkins. "'We're not from Nashville, we're from Memphis,' we'd say. We thought we were cool dudes with that long hair and collar turned up."

But Hawkins, who was born in Arkansas and eventually relocated to Canada, does have a history with Conway Twitty.

"He still owes me a guitar," quips Hawkins, referring to Twitty by his given name, Harold Jenkins. "He borrowed my guitar to go to Canada and never gave it back. But I played a lot with Harold Jenkins in the old days in Arkansas. He had some good songs."

A highlight of The Band's 1976 Last Waltz concert with his rave-up performance of "Who Do You Love?" — "They said I had a wonderful time," he recalls — Hawkins wasn't expected to live past a 2002 cancer diagnosis. He beat it a year later, after trying a combination of holistic treatments, including a spiritual healer.

"It was an Indian healer and then Robbie Robertson sent me some magical mystery stuff from the Indian reservations. I got stuff from everywhere. When you think you're dying, you'll try anything. They ask me, 'Which do I think cured me?'" says Hawkins, pausing for one last set-up. "My personal opinion is it was all those thousands of girls praying that I could come by and see them just one more time."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...#ixzz3vAnThQ00
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
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Old 12-24-2015, 11:02 AM   #14
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

VIDEO interview - CBC - studio Q.. Gordon and Ronnie - omygoodness!

Shad speaks with Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot about their collaboration on "Christmas Must Be Tonight", Hawkins' first recording in over 15 years, and what it says about their history, and their decades-long bond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r6aN...ature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r6aN...ature=youtu.be
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Old 12-24-2015, 04:27 PM   #15
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

That was a wonderful Christmas present Char.

I couldn't stop laughing. Those guys are really funny and very entertaining together as well. I was fortunate to have a part of that wonderful era on Yonge Street in Toronto during those fabulous days and nights. Gord and Ronnie were the big draw there and it's great that they are still out there doing it.

Time to say "Merry Christmas to all and to all a Song for a Winter's night."
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Old 12-01-2016, 08:20 AM   #16
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

just bringing this back up to the top..give a listen!
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Old 12-07-2017, 12:12 PM   #17
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

Merry Christmas!
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Old 12-07-2017, 03:48 PM   #18
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

Play it again!
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Old 12-01-2018, 11:38 AM   #19
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

it's Christmas again!!
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Old 12-01-2018, 01:35 PM   #20
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene View Post
it's Christmas again!!
Time to play the Christmas tune again!
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Old 05-21-2019, 07:59 PM   #21
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

I added photos to the link...
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Old 08-22-2023, 07:14 PM   #22
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces XMAS tune&PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

JUST RELEASED AUDIO - RONNIE HAWKINS sings PONYMAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG5lyaG9yGs
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Old 09-26-2023, 04:45 PM   #23
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Default Re: Lightfoot co-produces Robbie Robertson XMAS tune & PONYMAN with Ronnie Hawkins

sigh
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