If you ask Stewart MacDougall about Canadian music legend Ian Tyson, the first thing that comes to mind is creativity.
MacDougall first toured with the Juno Award winning singer, songwriter, and poet in 1988. The two kept in touch, and performed off and on together until 2019.
On Friday, MacDougall will lead a group of Tyson’s former collaborators and band members when The Gift: The Words and Music of Ian Tyson hits the E.A. Rawlinson Stage.
“I often say Ian was more than a songwriter and a singer,” MacDougall said. “He invented his own genre. He really had his own style of Western music that we helped him develop, and so it’s great to be able to keep that going, to keep playing the music that he directed us to.”
MacDougall started playing with Tyson after the latter released ‘Cowboyography’. By that time, Tyson was already a household name for his work on and off the musical stage. In addition to his country hits, like Great Canadian Tour and She’s my Greatest Blessing, Tyson was a regular on television, hosting CTV’s The Ian Tyson Show from 1971-1975 and Sun Country in the mid-80s.
MacDougall describes his first tour with Tyson as very intense, but very rewarding. He said Tyson had talent for bringing western life to the stage.
“He was very charismatic,” MacDougall remembered. “He was a very good singer, and a very entertainer, so he could really hold the crowd’s attention. His records always sounded great.
“He was always creative,” MacDougall added. “We kept in touch from the time he first hired me until his time here was done. There were big gaps, but we’d always come back and pick up where we left off. I think it’s really fitting that a good portion of the band I was with is still together and we’re still playing his music.”
This year will mark 22 years since MacDougall and Tyson’s other former band members began performing the voice.
Originally, the show was planned as a one-off tribute to Tyson, who would occasionally show up and play with the group before he passed away in December 2022.
Show producer Peter North said it’s common for people to pay tribute to musicians after they pass away, but North wanted something to celebrate Tyson while he was still performing.
“I said, ‘I think Ian is still really vital and happening, and I think we should pay tribute to him now,’” North remembered. “We only intended on doing a couple of shows and Ian would attend those, but what happened is, long story short, people liked the show so much, festivals and theatres started phoning.”
On Friday, the band will perform roughly 20 of Ian Tyson’s songs at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre. MacDougall said it’s always exciting to get back on stage.
“Ian left us a great gift,” he said. “It was a privilege and an honour to have worked with him, and he’s left us this great gift of song that we’re honoured to continue…. I look forward to playing these songs every night.”
Friday’s band includes MacDougall on vocals and piano, Thom Moon on drums, Gordie Matthews on guitar, Julian Kerr on bass, Calvin Vollrath on fiddle, plus guitarist and vocalist Ian Oscar, and vocalist Tracy Millar. The group spent a combined 60 years on the road with Tyson or in the studio.
The Gift takes the stage at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
