Music journalism, books and more

Someone once dubbed his singing style “country-and-Lightfoot,” and there’s certainly some truth to it. With his distinctive nasally twang, there’s always been a big streak of country running through Canada’s greatest folk singer and songwriter. Just look at Gordon Lightfoot’s history: In 1959, Lightfoot joined CBC’s Country Hoedown, as part of the cast of the Singing’ Swingin’ Eight. The show’s set was a makeshift barn, complete with wagon wheels and bales of straw. Members of the Singin’ Swingin’ Eight (four men and four women) wore yoked cowboy shirts and gingham crinoline. Can you spot Lightfoot?Lightfoot travelled to Nashville with Chateau Records’ Art Snider in 1962 and recorded hi...

The appetite for Cash shows no signs of abating. This release will please fans who like their Man in Black raw and unadulterated. With spare accompaniment, Cash sings about love and salvation on stark originals like “I Came to Believe” and “Like the 309” (the last song he wrote before his death) and covers by Hank Williams and Bruce Springsteen. For Canadian Cash-aholics, his interpretations of Ian Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds” and Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” are a cool, maple-leaf waving bonus. July 4