Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

The home of music journalist Nicholas Jennings, author of Lightfoot, the definitive new Gordon Lightfoot biography from Penguin Random House.

The Beautiful Sadness of Lhasa

She ran away to join the circus. Although she’d been signed to prestigious Atlantic Records and was being touted as an Edith Piaf for the new millennium, Lhasa de Sela turned her back on the music business. Ultimately, the runaway success of her first album, La Llorona, a stunning collection of stylized Mexican ballads and European gypsy tunes all sung in Spanish, proved to be too much for her. “I needed to get away from it for a while,” explains de Sela. “I’d been touring constantly for two years and getting offers to do these amazing gigs all over the world.  But I got badly burnt out and started experiencing these intense feelings of anxiety. I just finally had to say no to everythin...

Continue reading
  3627 Hits

Shakin' All Over: Canadian Pop Music in the 1960s

The documentary is full of candid interviews with over 60 iconic figures like Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bruce Cockburn, who offer illuminating stories about each other.Shakin' All Over also features some of Canada's brightest younger stars, including Blue Rodeo, Barenaked Ladies and Sarah Harmer, who pay tribute to the period.Special performance footage includes: "Early Morning Rain" Gordon Lightfoot, "Four Strong Winds" Ian & Sylvia, "Signs" Five Man Electrical Band, "These Eyes" The Guess Who, "Born to Be Wild" Steppenwolf, "Spinning Wheel" Blood, Sweat & Tears, "Walk That Walk" David Clayton-Thomas & the Shays, "Going to the Country" Bruce Cockburn, "Back on the...

Continue reading
  3442 Hits

This Beat Goes On: Canadian Pop Music in the 1970s

This Beat Goes On tells the story of Canadian music in the 1970s, a ground-breaking era of great sounds, from glam and progressive rock to punk and reggae. Set in the formative years of Canada’s music industry, This Beat Goes On offers a jukebox full of chart-topping songs from, from Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” and Burton Cummings’ “Stand Tall” to Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell” and Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose.” Mixing archival footage with candid interviews, the documentary features proven hitmakers like Anne Murray, Neil Young and The Guess Who as well as a wealth of new folksingers, blues artists and mullet-rockers. Solo artists like Joni Mitchell and progressive rockers Rush still rule, b...

Continue reading
  4054 Hits

Rise Up: Canadian Pop Music in the 1980s

Rise Up looks at the digital age of Canadian music in the 1980s, a visual era of big hair and shoulder pads, when music videos helped homegrown artists to take off internationally. America’s MTV and Canada’s MuchMusic provide launching pads for artists as varied as Triumph, Bruce Cockburn, Chilliwack, Jane Siberry, Men Without Hats and Bryan Adams. Blending illuminating interviews with thrilling concert footage and videos, including Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” 54-40’s “I Go Blind,” Blue Rodeo’s “Try” and k.d. lang’s “Hanky Panky,” Rise Up takes viewers on a thrilling ride into the decade’s pop stratosphere. Along with such telegenic performers as Gowan and Dalbello, the hit-filled documentary inclu...

Continue reading
  4068 Hits