Re: R.i.p. Ian tyson
Ian had a real riches to rags story -- well, not quite -- he always landed on his feet. Ian Tyson grew up in a world of private school and polo, then became a rodeo rider till he smashed his ankle, when he took up guitar while bedridden. (An elite background, to be sure --living 70 years in Canada, I've never met a person who played polo.) After, a career as a folksinger, he became a rancher, claiming that Neil Young's royalty payments for "Four Strong Winds" paid for the ranch. During his later years, he wrote and performed for his cowboy peers. He and Sylvia seemed very bitter long after they split up, and for decades neither of them could say a good word about each other ir about their Greenwich Village peer, Bob Dylan (Come on, man, that was the 1960's, get over it). I'm glad to see that they mellowed eventually, and remembered the good times. Toward the end of his life, Ian even spoke relatively well of Dylan. "Four Strong Winds" is one of Canada's most recognizable songs, sung from coast to coast to coast. I first learned it in the early 60's from teenagers, when I was a little boy in Cubs, and have been singing it ever since.
Last edited by Ranald; Jan-02-2023 at 5:32pm.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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