Fans of Gordon Lightfoot can soon take in the Lightfoot experience in Vernon.
Regina blues and guitar legend Jack Semple is performing live in Vernon with his tribute to Canadian music icon Gordon Lightfoot. Two live tribute performances take place Feb. 2 at 1516 Pub and Grill, and Feb. 3 at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are selling fast, but there are still plenty of seats available at ticketseller.ca.
Semple, a JUNO award winner, will bring his virtuosic guitar skills and a supporting cast of world-class musicians to the concert.
The timing could not be better for Lightfoot fans with the recent release of a CBC documentary called Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind.
“A few us watched the documentary the other night, and we have also been watching Jack Semple tribute videos. Lightfoot fans are in for a real treat when Jack Semple plays in Vernon on Feb. 2 and 3 — you will want to get tickets to these concerts,” said Katie Dahl, owner of 1516 Pub and Grill and a promoter of the shows.
The documentary is an exploration of the career, music and influence of Lightfoot. With unprecedented access to the artist, the film takes audiences from high school auditoriums in straight-laced, small town Ontario in the 1950s to the coffee houses of Yorkville and Greenwich Village in the ’60s, through Lightfoot’s turbulent, substance-fuelled arena shows of the ’70s, and finally to the artist in the present day.
The documentary features interviews from notable voices in the music industry including Lightfoot peers Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Randy Bachman and Steve Earle; famous fans Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee from Rush, Alec Baldwin, Anne Murray and Sarah McLachlan; as well as behind the scenes stories from members of his longtime band.
The documentary, streaming on CBC Gem, follows Lightfoot’s evolution from Christian choirboy to troubled troubadour to international star and beloved Canadian icon.
Semple says he spent most of his life listening to and looking up to Lightfoot, and later got a chance to connect wit him personally.
“He was one of my first heroes as a young guitar player,” Semple said.
“I tried to learn his music. I listened to his records. I was a devotee of his music. There’s lots of great guitar-playing on his records, and not to mention the brilliant songwriting.”
Semple said Lightfoot’s music resonated with him to the point where he decided to record a cover album. He said he was able to give a copy of the album to Lightfoot himself during a concert in 2007.
“I did a tribute album of Gordon Lightfoot pieces, all instrumental guitar versions,” he said.
“He happened to be playing at the casino in Regina while I was in the process of making it, so I talked my way backstage and got to meet him and give him a copy of my work in progress. He was very gracious and promised to listen to it.”
Lightfoot listened to the cover album and called Semple personally two weeks later to share his thoughts.
“He said he listened to all the pieces and said he liked nine of them, except for one of them I should try again – a song called Don Quixote – he said it ‘sounded like a bit of a handful,’ ” Semple said.
“I hung up the phone and I was so thrilled to have just talked to Gordon Lightfoot. I listened to my version of Don Quixote again and I thought to myself, ‘It was pretty good.’ The phone then rang again and it was Gordon Lightfoot and he said he just listened to ‘Don Quixote’ again and said ‘It was pretty good; I wouldn’t redo it.’ I had just got a ringing endorsement from the author, so that was a big thrill for me.”
Semple said he’ll remember Lightfoot by simply listening to his music.
“I like listening to his music in the early mornings and just remembering some of the masterful pieces he wrote,” Semple said.
“Like Bob Dylan said, when he hears a Gordon Lightfoot song, he doesn’t want it to end, and that’s how I feel.”
Only 100 tickets are being sold for the Feb. 2 show at 1516 Pub and Grill. Tickets are $75 and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the Feb. 3 show at the Performing Arts Centre are $55, but a number of economy seats are available for $30.