“Gordon Lightfoot
God bless him. A Canadian treasure.
One of the perks over the years of playing Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia, Ontario Canada was that Gordon lived right in town. He’d always show up backstage and they’d have a trailer waiting for him to hang out in. He loved being around the music. In fact, he’d always volunteer to play a tweener.
A tweener is something you see a lot at big Canadian folk festivals. Here’s the gist- there’s a main stage at every fest. The bigger name acts will be slated to play their set. But in between the acts there’s usually a 20 to 30 minute set change. The next band will be getting ready and the roadies will be setting up their gear. So festivals will throw a lesser known songwriter up on stage and they’ll tell them to play anywhere from 2 to 5 songs depending on how quick the setup is going. The goal is to get a lot of eyeballs on the newbie so they might gain some new fans. It can be a humiliating spot. Soul crushing. I’ve done them a few times and they’re nerve wracking. No one is really listening because they’re rearranging their chairs and trying to get a good seat for the next big name act. In the meantime you’re up there playing your heart out while people are pounding on the drums getting them set up and checking the microphones. It took me a while in my career to not have to be a tweener anymore but they sure build your callouses. In fact, anyone working their way up the folk ladder has done them. If they haven’t then they’re missing out on an important character building exercise.
So anyways, sorry for the long explanation but I really wanted you to catch my drift.
Now here’s the thing- every year at Mariposa Folk Fest Gordon Lightfoot would volunteer to play a tweener! Can you imagine that? Having to follow the guy who wrote Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald? Holy wow! How do you follow that? 😅
I was lucky to meet him and hang with him backstage at Mariposa. He shook my hand and the first thing he asked me was, “Do you own your own publishing?”
I laughed and said “I signed half of it away on the hood of a Cadillac in the early nineties to Frank Zappa’s old manager Herb Cohen.”
Gordon laughed and said “Buy it back.”
He was so sweet. He just kicked back and held court. He loved the energy of all the musicians wandering around backstage. I watched him play his tweener and I stood next to Danny Michel and we had our arms around each other. I may have cried. Especially when he sang “Carefree Highway” and “Sundown”. Like I said ——> how the heck do you follow that??
You don’t.
Gordon Lightfoot was a gift to the world. We were lucky he left us such a treasure trove of beautiful songs. God speed you beautiful troubadour. It’ll be empty this summer when I play Mariposa. Thanks to Liz Scott for the intro on that sunny day in Orillia.
Gordon, you’ll be missed. Travel easy. Thank you for your tunes, wisdom, humility and love. See you sometime in the tweener up in the sky.”
