Gift, The: A Tribute To Ian Tyson
Tribute to one of Canada’s national treasures! Ian Tyson’s body of work is one of the most revered in popular Canadian music history and his peers have contributed these recordings as a tribute to this pillar of songwriting. Artists include Jennifer Warnes, Gordon Lightfoot, Amos Garrett, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Chris Hillman, Tom Russell, David Rea and many more.
Though tribute albums are typically labors of love, few show more affection toward their subject than this. Ian Tyson’s career spans the folk revival of the 1960s (Ian and Sylvia), the seminal country-rock of the late 1960s and early ’70s (Great Speckled Bird), and an extended solo career as one of North America’s foremost purveyors of cowboy and Western music. The Canadian troubadour has plainly attracted a number of friends and admirers on both sides of the border, from bandmates to disciples, who celebrate his influence in the sort of comfortable, low-key manner that fits his music.
His loveliest melody, “Someday Soon,” is transformed into a bittersweet elegy by Circus in Flames, with veteran Tyson sideman Buddy Cage on guest steel guitar. Longtime friend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott brings a touch of Woody Guthrie to the cowboy balladry of “Will James,” and Jennifer Warnes evokes the cantina with “Blue Mountains of Mexico.” Blue Rodeo’s rendition of “Four Strong Winds” sounds like Byrdsian folk-rock, while the Byrds’ own Chris Hillman performs “What Does She See” as a mandolin waltz. Tom Russell’s “Old Cheyenne” has a passing-the-torch quality, because his musical focus has been so profoundly influenced by Tyson’s.
