Ian Tyson
We've been listening to Songs from the Gravel Road, the new CD by Ian Tyson. I'm going to first say that I have been a big Ian Tyson fan since I first heard Old Corrals and Sagebrush in the summer of 1983. That album, along with Cowboyography, I Outgrew the Wagon, Lost Heard, and the recent Live at Longview remain among my favorites. This one is very strong too, a little on the mellow side, with some bittersweet moments. I don't think it contains songs that will become instant classics the way for instance, Navaho Rug, and a handful of others did, but the 71 year old Tyson is in none-the-less in fine form.
3 comments:
Is he the Ian of "Ian and Sylvia " fame?
Yes he is the same old Ian, but after the Ian and Sylvia trip, he moved to a ranch near Longview, Alberta and started raising cutting horses. In the early 80s, he came out with an album of cowboy songs called Old Corrals and Sagebrush, which is nothing short of fuckin' fantastic. He followed this up with Cowboyography, and many more albums about the west and the working cowboys who love it best. If you don't know this material, go get these two albums IMMEDIATELY, then get Lost Herd and some of the others, including the new one. They are all really, really great. Some of the songs, like The Gift, about Charles M. Russel, The Steeldust Line about cutting horses, the M.C. Horses, about an auction of the last great cavvy in the west, and Navaho Rug, about a girl named Katie, are in this fishboy's view, Canadian classics. Tyson is at the very least a Canadian Icon, and maybe even a hero. Last year, we were at his show at Hugh's Room, and he was as good as ever, at 70.
Mr. Tyson sang Four Strong Winds today at the Memorial for those Mounties who were slain.
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