Saturday Sounds - The Very Best Of Stan Rogers

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the death of Stan Rogers in an aircraft fire in Cincinnati. His untimely death sent shock waves through the Canadian music community. Although he hadn't attained mass commercial success, he was a major star in the folk music world and a top draw at festivals across North America. He was a compelling performer with a voice "that you could swim in", as Sylvia Tyson put it, and a songwriter who could break your heart with a line.

I was deeply affected by his death. In the 1970s I was living in Hamilton, Ontario and was lucky to have seen him perform from the beginning of his career, starting with shows at local coffee houses. My wife helped him research material for songs at the Dundas Public Library. I remember, in particular, one snowy evening at the Knight II coffee house where he performed for an audience of about six people, including the owner and his wife. It was a hair-raising drive getting there through a foot of snow but it I still treasure the memory of that evening. 

Sadly, he only released a handful of albums before his death. I'm linking his best of collection here, but you should check out all of them. 

You can also find some videos of his performances on YouTube as well as the wonderful documentary about his life, One Warm Line, linked below. His performance of "Northwest Passage" which opens the documentary will give you goosebumps. 

His brother, Garnet, has gone on to a long and successful musical career in his own right, and I am very much looking forward to seeing him perform tonight.