Daily
News Halifax
Arts/Entertainment
Thursday,
January 13, 2005
Cormier salutes his 'creator'
By Sandy MacDonald
J.P.
Cormier covers 18 Gordon Lightfoot tracks - plus one of
his own - on his new CD. (Photo: Steve Richard)Although
Gordon Lightfoot is regarded as one of popular music's giants
of songwriting, no single artist has ever recorded a tribute
album to him. Until now.
Cape
Breton musician J.P. Cormier has spent much of the past
six years working diligently in his home studio in Cheticamp
on this outstanding collection of Lightfoot covers, arranged,
performed and recorded by Cormier alone.
"Every
time someone tried to record a tribute project to him, he's
squashed it," says Cormier.
"Somehow I snuck through there. I must have a horseshoe
up my arse.
"This
wasn't really a project at all," explains Cormier.
"It was just me foolin' around in the
studio, not wanting to record my own stuff. I wanted to
get into another headspace, and the obvious cover material
was Lightfoot. I love every single song the man ever wrote."
Between
recording his own solo material and playing concert dates
across the continent, the
multi-gifted Cormier over-tracked his arrangements of the
timeless folk material, always searching for a fresh twist
on the familiar songs. >> more
