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Old 09-19-2013, 10:49 AM   #1
charlene
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Default Rapid City,SD - article-

http://rapidcityjournal.com/blackhil...23e7d31fa.html


Lightfoot brings 50 years of hits on tour4 hours ago • Deanna Darr Journal staff
Lightfoot by the numbers

50: number of years in the music business

20: number of albums recorded

5: number of Grammy Award nominations

150: number of concerts played in Massey Hall in Toronto

17: number of Juno Awards received (Canada's equivalent to the Grammy)

200: number of cover recordings he had from 1965 to 1970

1: number of weeks he bumped Paul McCartney from the top of the charts, in 1974, when "Sundown" was released

The hits

"Early Morning Rain"

"If You Could Read My Mind"

"Carefree Highway"

"Sundown"

"(That's What You Get) for Lovin' Me"

"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

"Cold on the Shoulder"

"Canadian Railroad Trilogy"

"Ribbon of Darkness"

"Beautiful"

"Song for a Winter's Night"

"Shadows"

"Rainy Day People"

"Did She Mention My Name"

"Summertime Dream"

If you go

What: Gordon Lightfoot's "50 Years on the Carefree Highway"

When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19

Where: Rushmore Plaza Civic Center theater

Tickets: $40-$65; go to www.gotmine.com or call 394-4111

Think you've heard everything from Gordon Lightfoot? At age 74, the Canadian singer-songwriter known for "If You Could Read My Mind," "Sundown," "Rainy Day People" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" still coaxes a few surprises out of his guitar strings.

Lightfoot's current tour, "50 Years on the Carefree Highway," stops at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center theater tonight, Sept. 19, offering fans a sampling of 50 years of hits, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and songs that never saw radio play.

"It's going to be an exciting show with lots of toe-tappers," Lightfoot said in a phone interview last week. "They're not going to know them all because we incorporate four or five tunes that they've never heard before, that just didn't get performed, that we thought could have been hits.

"We love putting them in the show. It's like having a brand new song. I love that feeling."

Lightfoot has been performing since he was a child in Ontario, and made his first appearance in Toronto's Massey Hall at age 12. There haven't been too many years of his life when he hasn't been on tour.

"I love being out there. It just becomes very meaningful. There's a lot of communication," he said of his shows. "We don't do anything that's not good. I always know that a song is going to go over, that it is really acceptable to them and to me."

That kind of confidence and attention to detail comes from 50 years of writing and performing. Lightfoot has recorded 20 albums, earned five Grammy nominations and written songs for numerous movies. His songs also have been recorded and performed by Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Jr., Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Judy Collins, Johnny Mathis, Anne Murray, Olivia Newton-John, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Jane's Addiction, Richie Havens, Glen Campbell, Toby Keith and Eric Clapton.

In 2012, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his role in defining the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and '70s.

Of the hundreds of songs he has written, his favorite is "If You Could Read My Mind," he said. "It's probably the best ballad I wrote in my career. It's a great one to play on stage. We save that toward the end of the show; I know where it works best and it's last. They've been waiting for it. The playing of the song, the execution of the song; we are about 100 percent on that."

Lightfoot is especially pleased with the current group's intonation. Although his lead guitarist, Terry Clements, recently had a stroke and had to leave the band, Carter Lancaster has brought a great new sound, he said.

"We could see that Terry was starting to slide, because he was not well and we had to start training someone else," Lightfoot said. "He joined my band when he was 20 and was with us 40 years."

The band's rich sound will be on full display during the deep album cuts of top hits "Sundown" and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

"The deep album cuts are the best part of show, but the standards aren't bad, either," Lightfoot said. "We do stuff like 'Don Quixote,' 'Restless,' 'The Watchman's Gone,' 'Beautiful,' 'Shadows,' 'Never Too Close'; those are just the support material. We don't do it all, thank goodness."

Lightfoot says he'll perform anywhere, from casino halls to outdoor stadiums, but he prefers the intimacy of concert halls.

And he still enjoys the work.

"We all do. This is what we do. We're very fortunate to continue doing what we love," he said. "It has been such a privilege. What a way to be able to support your family."
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Old 09-19-2013, 11:09 AM   #2
niffer
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Default Re: Rapid City,SD - article-

Nice article. Although saying that Terry "had to leave the band" is just a bit of an understatement.
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Old 09-19-2013, 12:31 PM   #3
charlene
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Default Re: Rapid City,SD - article-

Quite the understatement indeed! ... Could be that Gordon said, "Terry left us" and the interviewer, not knowing his subject (tsk tsk) didn't realize that's his way of saying he died.. He said ambiguous things along that line for a while after Terry died. Some folks in the audiences were left not really knowing the truth.
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