Sun Still Shines On Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot, who arrives at the Spokane Opera House tonight, has something in common with the Hudson’s Bay Company, novelist Robertson Davies and the Montreal Canadiens.

He is a Canadian institution.

In fact, the Ontario-born Lightfoot is also a U.S. institution, a status earned from three decades of literate, introspective and mellow music-making. “The Canadian Railroad Trilogy” alone would be enough to make him a Canadian national monument; “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” enough to make him an even larger North American icon.

Yet Lightfoot’s career has had many, many more high points. Those two songs represent possibly his ultimate artistic achievement - accomplishing the ancient balladeer’s goal of converting history into legend - but neither song could be called his most popular commercial hit.

That would be 1974’s “Sundown,” which, while catchy, was not Lightfoot at his lyrical best (“I can see her looking fast in her faded jeans, she’s a hard-lovin’ woman got me feelin’ mean”). The next most popular was “Carefree Highway,” also from 1974, a fun but forgettable ditty.

The songs that hinted earliest at his artistic potential were songs that the casual listener may not even associate with Lightfoot. They were hits for other people, all in 1965: “Early Mornin’ Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me,” for Peter, Paul and Mary, and “Ribbon of Darkness,” for Marty Robbins.

Lightfoot’s breakthrough as a performer didn’t come until 1971, with the song and album, “If You Could Read My Mind.” Although this album is rarely named in lists of influential albums, it was the equal of the work of the other artists who made the early ‘70s into the era of the singer-songwriter: James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Carole King.

“If You Could Read My Mind” contained such gems of quiet poetry as “Sit Down, Young Stranger” (about a Canadian welcoming American draft-dodgers), “The Minstrel of the Dawn” and “Approaching Lavender.”

Lightfoot’s subsequent work wasn’t always as consistent, but nearly all of his albums contained at least one nugget of pure musical poetry, such as “Seven Island Suite,” a haunting ode to the natural beauty of a northern lake, on the “Sundown” album.

Meanwhile, Lightfoot was handicapped by a drinking problem that turned some of his live performances (including a Spokane appearance) into sad jokes. But he quit drinking in the early ‘80s and started a family. He has continued to put out new material through the ‘90s.

If past experience is any indication, he will perform plenty of new material at his shows, the best of which is of his usual high caliber. His most recent album, “Waiting for You,” came out in 1993, and he has another studio album to be released later this year.

Yet even without new material, Lightfoot would still be able to attract audiences throughout North America. After all, an institution can always command a crowd.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CONCERT Gordon Lightfoot will perform at 8 tonight at the Spokane Opera House. Tickets are $28 and $25, available at G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.