Lightfoot Band to return to Blyth's Memorial Hall
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
The Lightfoot Band is coming back to Blyth! On Saturday, Oct. 17, the group will return to Memorial Hall, bringing the songs they created with Gordon Lightfoot - and memories of the man himself - back to the stage.
In anticipation of the big show, The Citizen caught up with drummer Barry Keane for a quick chat about why the band believes this stop on the tour is going to stand-out. “We’re so much looking forward to coming back to Memorial Hall! Performers say how great it is to be coming back to a city or something, but we really mean it. We had a great experience in Blyth,” Keane told The Citizen. “It’s all about the people, and I have very fond memories of all the people in Blyth. It was the whole experience - there was a great crew we worked with at the community hall, and across the street at the hotel, the staff were just fabulous. The ladies working the bar even wore ‘Lightfoot Band’ t-shirts that night we were there!”
Keane and the other band members consider it a privilege and an honour to continue playing Gordon Lightfoot’s songs for fans old and new. But it almost didn’t happen. After the famed singer/songwriter passed away in 2023, every member of the band received offers to perform with other acts. Instead they decided to follow their hearts. “We just thought we owed it to ourselves to at least talk about the possibility of continuing it on,” Keane explained. The decision was unanimous.
There was, however, one big question hanging over their potential project - would people actually come to hear a Gordon Lightfoot show without Gordon Lightfoot? “It’s been overwhelmingly positive,” Keane reports. “The word of mouth has been spreading. Lightfoot fans really like what we’re doing.”
The band is not trying to manufacture a new Gordon Lightfoot. Its new singer, Andy Mauck, has been a fan and friend of the band for more than 50 years, and already knew all the songs by heart before he became the band’s lyrical tradition bearer. “He’s not imitating Gord,” Keane assured The Citizen. “Andy is such a huge Gordon Lightfoot fan - he listened to the songs and the singing for all of those years, and a lot of it just kind of stuck in there. He presents the songs with such energy and sincerity, and it shows on stage and it shows in the performances.”
When it comes to deciding on songs, The Lightfoot Band is spoiled for choice. “One of the hard parts about putting a set list together for the show is trying to figure out which songs to leave out,” he pointed out.
For Keane, “If You Could Read My Mind” is always a must-play. “It’s one of the great songs in pop music history, in my opinion, and Gordon, just the way he performed it, it really meant a lot to me personally to be part of that,” he explained.
His other favourite is “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” - a perennially popular story of a real-life nautical disaster. “Having played on the record, and knowing how much the story meant to Gordon, that has to be one of the favourite ones to perform,” Keane noted.
There are plenty of other great songs Keane wishes could make the cut - “Black Day in July,” “For Lovin’ Me,” “Roots and Darkness,” “Pussy Willows, Cat-Tails” - but a band can only play for so long. “I could name 50 that I wish we were playing, but again, you have to make choices,” he confessed.
One of the reasons the band has decided to bring these tunes on tour is to introduce great Canadian music to a whole new generation. “We’re finding more and more that we’re getting somewhat of a younger audience,” Keane mused. “And they’re finding that words Gordon wrote 40, 50, 60 years ago have so much relevance in the world today. Some of these fans are the sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters of Lightfoot fans, but some are just brand new. Some of them maybe heard a song on the radio or on the internet or something, and went, ‘Man, that strikes a chord with me!’”
Lightfoot’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 placed him alongside some of the giants of popular songwriting, but Keane believes the extraordinary songwriter never quite received the recognition he deserved. “He was so much more concerned with presenting his songs to the audiences than he was in fame and fortune, and that meant that he wasn’t reaching as many people as he should have,” he opined. “I think the man deserves so much more credit than maybe he’s getting. He’s still underrated.”
Keane describes The Lightfoot Band’s show as a three-part experience - there’s the songs, the stories from the musicians’ time with Lightfoot, and the opportunity for audiences to meet the band themselves afterwards. “We always come out to the lobby after the show, and anybody who wants to talk to us about whatever they want to talk about is more than welcome to join us and talk to us,” Keane said. “We’re there. We love doing it, and people seem to love doing that as well.”
And if Blyth’s previous experience is any indication, there are plenty of people ready to welcome them back.