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| The
Cast Of The Gift |
| John
Wort Hannam, Tracey Miller, Gord Matthews, Thom Moom, Myran Szott,
Stewart MacDolugall, Ian Oscar , Julian Kerr |
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| Jan 19, 2025 | with The Gift | Ranchman's |
Calgary, AB, Canada |
| Mar 14, 2025 | with The Rault Bros. | The Blue Chair | Edmonton, AB, Canada |
| May 7, 2025 | with The Gift | Carghill Theatre | Camrose, AB, Canada |
| May 8, 2025 | with The Gift | The Ironwood |
Calgary, AB, Canada |
| May 9, 2025 | with The Gift | East Longview Hall | Longview, AB, Canada |
| May 10, 2025 | with The Gift | East Longview Hall | Longview, AB, Canada |
| May 30, 2025 | with The Rault Bros. | The Blue Chair | Edmonton, AB, Canada |
| Jan 16, 2026 | with The Gift | Strathcona Arts Centre |
Bonnyville, AB, Canada |
| Jan 17, 2026 | with The Gift | Elks Hall |
Red Deer, AB, Canada |
| Jan 18, 2026 | with The Gift | Ranchman's | Calgary, AB, Canada |
| Mar 27, 2026 | with The Gift | Key City Theatre |
Cranbrook, BC, Canada |
| Mar 28, 2026 | with The Gift | Empress Theatre |
Fort. Macleod, AB, Canada |
Top Of Page
| Available from Stony Plain Records |
 SPCD 1322 Genre: Country Released: June 2007 $ 20.98 CDN Click on the images for links to Stony Plain Records.com Click these links for reviews: Legacy Country Music News |
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The Gift - A
Tribute To Ian Tyson (Various Artists) Four Strong Winds - Blue Rodeo M.C. Horses - Corb Lund Blue Mountains Of Mexico - Jennifer Warnes What Does She See - Chris Hillman Red Velvet - Gordon Lightfoot The Gift - David Rea Range Delivery - Cindy Church Smuggler’s Cove - The McDades Some Kind Of Fool - Amos Garrett Old Cheyenne - Tom Russell Someday Soon - The Circus In Flames with Buddy Cage Will James - Ramblin’ Jack Elliott You're Not Alone Anymore - Stewart MacDougall Summer Wages - The Good Brothers Moondancer - Jeff Bradshaw Bonus Track - Interview with Ramblin' Jack Elliott & Buddy Cage |
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with
Amos Garrett and Holger Petersen at Homestead Recorders, Edmonton, AB,
March 7, 2007
celebrating completion of sessions for our
contributions to "The Gift", a
compilation tribute to Ian Tyson just relaesed by
Stony Plain Records.  |
 with
Amos and Peter North, co-producer of the
project. The recordings made on this session were
engineered by
Barry Allen and also featured Jeff Bradshaw, Thom Moon, Mike Lent, and David Wilkie. |
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| Winter 2007
Recorded Music Page 51 |
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The Gift: A Tribute to Ian Tyson Various Artists Stony Plain Records 2007 reviewed by Ron Chalmers |
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| Throughout
his epic career, Ian Tyson has always tightly integrated the words,
music and performance of each song into one fully unified piece. Given
such definitive treatments of his own works, one might expect other
performers would hesitate to follow his act with their own versions.
But many of Tyson’s songs, including Someday Soon, Summer Wages, and
Four Strong Winds - voted the all-time greatest Canadian song in a
recent CBC Radio poll - have been widely covered, the last by The
Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan, and the Tragically Hip. The Gift, with cuts by 15 different artists and groups, goes far beyond the effect of all previous, isolated re-interpretations. It proves the fundamental strength of Tyson’s compositions and the poetry of his lyrics, in older and newer songs, across a range of presentations. Blue Rodeo on Four Strong Winds, Gordon Lightfoot on Red Velvet, and The Good Brothers on Summer Wages exploit the melodic strength of those pieces by adapting them to folk-rock styles. Jennifer Warnes expressively caresses the Blue Mountains of Mexico. Similarly, Chris Hillman and Stewart MacDougall, respectively, take unabashedly romantic turns in What Does She See, and You’re Not Alone Anymore. Corb Lund, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Cindy Church, Tom Russell, and David Rea, among others, effectively apply their distinctive voices to otherwise-traditional versions of Tyson songs. Producers Peter North and Holger Petersen, with an outstanding lineup of artists, have created a first-rate compilation that further reveals the fertility of the words and music created by western Canada’s greatest singer-songwriter. |
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August,
2007
Page 11 |
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| The
Voice Of
Country Music In Canada |
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| CD
Review - Various Artists - "The Gift - A Tribute To Ian Tyson" Stony Plain Records – SPCD1322 Produced by: (Various) Executive Producers: Peter North and Holger Petersen (15 Selections – Playing Time 60:10) Four Strong Winds (Blue Rodeo) / M.C. Horses (Corb Lund) / Blue Mountains Of Mexico (Jennifer Warnes) / What Does She See (Chris Hillman) / Red Velvet (Gordon Lightfoot) / The Gift (David Rea) / Range Delivery (Cindy Church) / Smuggler’s Cove (The McDades) / Some Kind Of Fool (Amos Garrett) / Old Cheyenne (Tom Russell) / Someday Soon (The Circus In Flames with Buddy Cage) / Will James (Ramblin’ Jack Elliott) / You’re Not Alone Anymore (Stewart MacDougall) / Summer Wages (The Good Brothers) / Moondancer (Jeff Bradshaw) |
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| Ian
Tyson has been in the
Canadian music spotlight for over four decades, initially as part of
the classic folk duo Ian & Sylvia, which evolved into The Great
Speckled Bird, the forerunnerto the country/rock movement; then as a
solo artist, first in a pure country role, and later intohis
award-winning ‘Cowboyography’ mode. His work has brought him to
legendary status, particularly his songwriting, with many of his more
popular songs (Four Strong Winds / Someday Soon / Summer Wages, etc.)
covered by dozens of folk and country artists worldwide. The
Alberta-based horse rancher has received countless awards and
merits…but “The Gift: A Tribute To Ian Tyson”, may be the most
rewarding recognition yet. The Gift: A Tribute To Ian Tyson features 15 performances of his classic and some lesser known works, recorded by various artists from all musical genres, many of whom have had close ties to Tyson during his years on stage and in the studio. The material these artists choose to perform in tribute to Tyson, covers all eras of his songwriting catalog – theFolk Years, The Country Years and the Cowboyography Years. The album opens with country/rockers Blue Rodeo doing a rather sedate version of the Ian & Sylvia folk classic Four Strong Winds. The Blue Rodeo entry has the honour of being the first single pulled from this album. While Four Strong Winds is recognized chiefly as a ‘folk’ tune, Bobby Bare had a #3 hit with it on the Country charts in 1965, and it has been covered by countless country acts ranging from Hank Snow, George Hamilton IV to Waylon Jennings, and of course by Canadian folk/rocker Neil Young. Other items here out of the “folk” years include keyboardist Stewart MacDougall’s update on the haunting You’re Not Alone Anymore (MacDougall played in Tyson’s latter year Chinook Arch Riders band); while Tyson’s fellow-Canuck legend Gordon Lightfoot, contributes a very tasty rendition of Red Velvet, which is made even tastier here with Doug Johnson’s steel and dobro touches. Chris Hillman (of Flying Burrito Brothers / Desert Rose band, etc. fame) is one of the few non-Canadians (alongside Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Jennifer Warnes, Tom Russell) contributing to this ‘tribute’, and he performs an exquisite reading of the Tyson weeper, What Does She See. Ian Tyson’s classic ‘country’ songs have certainly stood the test of time, with Someday Soon becoming a staple item, recorded through the years by Judy Collins, Lynn Anderson, Tanya Tucker, Crystal Gayle, Glen Campbell, Chris LeDoux and charted three times, Suzy Bogguss (#12 - 1991); Moe Bandy (#21 – 1982) and Kathy Barnes (#39 – 1976)…here it is given a whole new treatment by Doug Andrew of the Vancouver-based Circus In Flames, with special guest Buddy Cage (of Great Speckled Bird alumni) adding his steel guitar work to the piece. An equal to the longevity status of Someday Soon, is Ian Tyson’s Summer Wages, a major hit in Canada during the 70’s by Gary Buck; and also cut by George Hamilton IV, Bobby Bare, Nanci Griffith and bluegrasser’s J.D. Crowe and Tony Rice. On this “tribute” recent Hall of Fame inductees The Good Brothers get the chance to put their stamp on the tune. Some Kind Of Fool, another of Ian Tyson’s standout ‘country’ compositions (recorded through the years by Colin Butler, Joyce Seamone, Marg Osburne, etc.) is handled with great passion here by bluesman Amos Garrett, who also cut his early career musical teeth as a member of The Great Speckled Bird band. Ian Tyson’s ‘Cowboyography’ work is well represented in this tribute with Corb Lund (M.C. Horses), Tom Russell (Old Cheyenne), Jennifer Warnes (Blue Mountains Of Mexico), Ramblin’ Jack Elliott (Will James); and The McDades putting a Celtic feel to Smuggler’s Cove. Cindy Church (of Quartette), a frequent participant in Ian Tyson projects, delivers another standout entry here with Range Delivery. It seems fitting to have Ian & Sylvia’s first guitar player, David Rea do the honours in performing the album’s title track, The Gift. The tribute closes musically with steel player Jeff Bradshaw (and members of the Chinook Arch Riders) performing an adventurous version of Moondancer; one of Ian Tyson’s more romantic pieces, but essentially a collector’s item today, since it was only available as a Boot Records single release by Ian Tyson in the late 1970’s. The song has since been covered by Canadian indie artist Jim Cronk, but otherwise a virtual gem left practically unheard for the past 30 years. There’s also a bonus track featuring interview reminisces by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Buddy Cage, of life on the road with Ian Tyson. It pretty much puts everything into perspective. Disappointments… not really; but it would perhaps have been more appropriate to have Tom Russell’s entry be Navajo Rug, the award-winning Song Of the Year that he and Tyson collaborated on… and how delightful would it have been to have the Tyson songs Fifty Years Ago, Half Mile Of Hell and Claude Dallas included here. Aah… all ‘possibles’ for a "Volume II". |
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Copyright
2001-2002-2003-2004, Country Music News All rights reserved.
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| The Gift a fitting show of respect for icon | By Mike Bell, Calgary Herald April 13, 2011 | ss |
