Songs from the Gravel Road

Songs from the Gravel Road

Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.ca
Like a Great White North-ern version of Johnny Cash, Ian Tyson is a walking legend, the lines on his weathered face roadmaps to his historic life. Tyson started making indentations in the '60s as a folk musician (one half of Ian and Sylvia) whose music has been covered by everyone from Neil Young and Judy Collins to Suzy Bogguss and Gordon Lightfoot. Songs like "Four Strong Winds" and "You Were Always On My Mind" were among Ian's contributions to Canadian musical history. He also hosted his own TV show, won the Order of Canada, and temporarily quit the music industry, preferring to be a rancher and rodeo rider.

Tyson could've played it safe on Songs from the Gravel Road by bringing in straight-up country pickers, but he decided to shake things up with the inclusion of respected jazz musicians, including Guido Basso on trumpet and Phil Dwyer on sax. As a result, straight-ahead country melodies like "So No More" become jazz-backed twang. That cut leads straight into a traditional cover of "One Morning In May", a song made famous by James Taylor; the tune is high on charm, complete with an exemplary fiddle solo and whimsical delivery. Tyson's great players also breeze through a host of other tunes, everything from songs infused with Spanish undertones ("Silver Bell", "Always Saying Goodbye") to a reggae track, "Range Delivery". That song is the disc's most charming cut, attributed in part to the tune's co-vocalist, Cindy Church (one fourth of the country group Quartette). There is nothing out of left field on the album, just an hour of country-laden comfort from one of Canada's most enduring roots legends. --Denise Sheppard

Songs from the Gravel Road, Music, Ian Tyson, Americana, Canada, Contemporary Folk, Country, Cowboy, Pop

Songs from the Gravel Road

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