TransCanada '69
Want to travel blind with Suzanne like a bird on a wire, seek a heart of gold and the idea of north, get back to the garden and give peace a chance (John Lennon recorded his anthem in Montreal)? Board TransCanada ’69, a musical trip to a magical time featuring songs of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Lenny Breau, Oscar Peterson, Gordon Lightfoot, Liona Boyd, Glenn Gould, and Neil Young. Colin Godbout revisits the summer of ’69 as he takes audiences on a musical train ride from sea to sea following the route of the passenger train The Canadian from Montreal to Vancouver. The musical tracks move through Leonard Cohen and Oscar Peterson's Montreal, Gordon Lightfoot and Liona Boyd's Toronto, Lenny Breau and Neil Young's Winnipeg, to Joni Mitchell's Sunshine Coast, northwest of Vancouver.
"It’s easy to get lost in the beauty of Godbout’s virtuosic classical / jazz guitar playing, as he reinterprets songs by Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson, Lenny Breau, and Neil Young. A loving homage to homegrown talent and a way to hear the past with fresh ears." Vancouver Georgia Straight
"Relish the songs of hope and change that still echo so poignantly today." Edmonton Vue Weekly
"Godbout is a guitar virtuoso. You’ll spend the hour listening to gorgeous, jazz-infused renderings of Canada’s musical landscape." Winnipeg Free Press
"Godbout is a brilliant guitarist and musical interpreter. In his hands the guitar becomes a whole rhythm section. His interpretation of works by Leonard Cohen, Sylvia Tyson and Neil Young were nuanced and beautiful." The Gate: Toronto Entertainment Magazine
Thu. June 17, 5:30 pm; Fri. June 18, 9 pm; Sun. June 20, 7:15 pm; Mon. June 21, 9 pm; Tue. June 22, 7:15 pm; Fri. June 25, 5:30 pm; Sat. June 26, 7 pm; Sun. June 27, 7 pm.
Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward Market Square
Tickets and information: Ottawa Fringe Festival. Read a Review.
Click to hear TransCanada '69 Intro; click below to hear a Gordon Lightfoot medley and Lenny Breau's Toronto.
Colin describes the genesis of TransCanada '69:
After performing my show, Last Gig of Lenny Breau, in the summer of 2008, I wanted to expand my musical identity beyond Breau's influence, and looked for new musical mentors among Canadian singer-songwriters of the late 1960's. I spent the winter of 2009 exploring the work of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and arranging medleys of their songs. During this time I saw Festival Express, a film documenting the Canadian rail tour of American musicians in 1970, and I conceived of TransCanada '69 as a folk-jazz Canadian content version of this tour.
My musical trip follows the route of the passenger train The Canadian, with a side trip from Winnipeg to Fort Churchill aboard the Muskeg Express in pursuit of Glenn Gould's idea of north. Other stops also have cardinal connotations: Breau's Winnipeg represents the idea of east, Lightfoot's Toronto the idea of south, and Mitchell's coast the idea of west. By the end of the show I've charted the landscape of a nation and of the soul. For musical content I turned to my favorite Lenny Breau album, recorded in 1969, the same year that Mitchell recorded Woodstock and Buffy Sainte-Marie recorded God is Alive, Magic is Afoot (apparently this phrase was the unofficial anthem or mantra of the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival).
I toured TransCanada '69 across Canada during the summer of 2009, the 40th anniversary of the summer of '69. Transportation for the tour was provided courtesy of Via Rail in exchange for my performing music for passengers. During the 40th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival I performed TransCanada '69 in Edmonton to sell out crowds.