For those who love Stan, please know that he is fondly remembered in Canmore, Alberta, where he played at the Canmore Folk Festival a couple of times. His last performance was in 1982. Just before the next festival, news came that he had died. We had just built a new log stage in our park. We wrote to his family and requested that we be able to name our stage in his memory. Every year to end the Canmore Folk Festival all the entertainers lead the audience in singing the Mary Ellen Carter on the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage. ❤
I visited Canmore a few years ago and it was wonderful. We hit the pubs and at one point the entire place was singing country roads along with the performing musician. I did not know this part of the town history but its clear Stans legacy lives on in the bars.
(He's a baritone) I first heard Stan Rogers songs on the radio (a small radio station in Boulder, Colorado, in 1978 to the mid-1980s. So I was hearing 'Rolling Down to Old Maui,' 'The Maid on the Shore,' and others of Stan's songs prior to his passing. Stan is legendary because he sings of the people of legend. His legacy lives on and influences generations of musicians.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia (Now living in NB after 10 years in AB), and nothing in this world compares to being in a pub in Halifax (The Lower Deck, The Split Crow, The old Seahorse) and joining the whole bar in singing Barretts Privateers at the top of your lungs...Not sure if it still happens anymore, but it was a helluva lot of fun back in the day.
When Stephen and Evie Colbert and Jack White and Michael Buble come to the Lower Deck we WILL MAKE that happen! Stephen on Late Show singing Barrett's Privateer's with Michael and Jack. They gotta come!
Stan Rogers is one of the most influential singer songwriters that Canada has ever produced. His music will live on for many many years. My group of friends would attend Summerfolk in Owen Sound, Ontario every summer for years. We would sing this song on the way to the festival, such wonderful memories. Thank you
Stan Rogers died tragically in an airplane fire at age 33. The plane ran into mechanical trouble and caught fire. Most of the people escaped when the plane landed but several people were trapped and could not escape. At the time of his death he was at the pinnacle of his success. It was tragic. Thanks John for your reaction. 👏👏💔
I was 22 when Stan died and I'll never forget that horrible morning when the CBC news came on the radio. My girlfriend and I were in bed and held each other close in disbelief and then they ended the national broadcast with "45 Years" and we wept like babies. Stan was famous for the songs inspired by his maritime history but took his creative talent across Canada - songs about the Great Lakes, the prairies and western Canada. He left an enormous legacy of telling stories about our entire country and the ordinary people who make it work. That he died at the age of 33 when his career was just taking off was a huge loss for our stories he could have reflected back to us and made us feel valued and feel like we mattered. I can think of only two songs Stan did that were dogs - every other touched me in some way because despite the setting he managed to get to the core of what it is to be human.
I remember waking up to the news of the Air Canada fire. I also remember a story that went round afterwards. Apparently the last woman off the plane said she was pushed out the plane door by a large bald man. Don’t know if that was true, but I will believe in my heart till I die that the last thing Stan did was save a stranger’s life.
I'm pretty sure that this is a true story. I remember this from when I was a kid and am fairly certain this isn't disputed. Granted, Stan Rogers was a man that literally could not be spoken ill of, so that may just be a part of his legendry, but man...he was a true Canadian. Whatever that means to you, that was him.
Hope you find the time to hear his beautiful archive. His brother Garnet, sitting to his right, still performing and Stans son Nathan also a great performer
You are in for a treat. The maritime provinces and their people are all treasures. Beautiful heartwarming people. Especially newfoundland. Friends for life
Great video. Quick Stan related story. Our band, based in Halifax, was playing at the Old Dublin Pub in Charlottetown, PEI in the early 90's. We were all in our early 20's. We played Barrett's, and we did a pretty fast version of it. On break, a woman came up to Norma, one of our band members, and said "That was that fastest version of Barrett's I've ever heard". Norma said jokingly, "Yeah, we're just sick of it and just try to get it over with". When the woman left I said, "Norm... you know who that was right?". Norma says "No". I say "That was Ariel Rogers, Stan Rogers' widow". Fast forward a couple of years, we were playing in Hamilton, Ontario. We play a Stan song and I tell the story about that night with Ariel Rogers. Norma chimes in "In fairness, I didn't know who she was... I just thought she was just some drunk lady at the bar". Then we hear from the back of the room "... I wasn't that drunk!". It was Ariel. We hung out with her on break. It was awesome. She is so nice. She asked us if we were playing Stanfest that summer in Canso. We told her we applied but hadn't heard back. She said "Leave it with me". We played Stanfest that summer. She's such a nice person and also really talented in the arts as well. She's a staple of the arts community in Hamilton. I still play Stan songs at my solo shows.
This is a Canadian Classic on the East Coast. The best way to experience this song is in a live show at a pub in downtown Halifax where everyone knows the words and the floor shakes from everyone stomping along. You can't have a party without this song or the Mull River Shuffle by the Rankins.
That's Ryan's Fancy singing with Stan and his brother Garnet. Ryan's fancy members immigrated to Canada from Ireland, and it was when they moved to Newfoundland in the early 70s that their music took off. Another good listen, for a Newfoundland Irish blend. For some driving, upbeat percussion and bagpipe jazz, Rare Air were a celtic folk group from Toronto. They blended bagpipes, flute, keyboard, electric guitar, to name a few. They started out as Na Cabarfeidh.
I live in Saskatchewan and I remember being taken to watch Ryan's fancy. They played in Humboldt Sask. My brothers and I were younger than 7yrs of age. We still play their music and sing their music with great delight.
Great song..among many for Stan Rogers. Simply the best!! Down the Road is another great song. My favorite is Flowers of Bermuda!!! Cheers from Maine 🍻 👏
Please please please more Stan Rogers. Thank you for this it is probably the only video I have not seen. I have all of Stans music and it always gives me great joy when I listen to him.
YES! YES! YES! An absolute favourite one of mine among all Stan's music! What a great talent he was! (Going back to rewatch this now, to sing along and to enjoy your enjoyment of the song!) Three of the gentlemen around the table with him in the Barrett's Privateers video featured here are members of the (now defunct) Newfoundland band "Ryan's Fancy", who emigrated here from Ireland in the 1970s. They are master musicians and recording artists in their own right. You might enjoy looking into their catalogue of Irish/Newfoundland traditional music.
As a singer song writer he tapped in to people across Canada with a genuine ability to authenticity write a song about a person's life that envokes an emotional response. From coast to coast. He could write about someone who lives on the coast to a person who lives in Alberta in the oil patch to a farmer in Saskatchewan.. Just tremendous. Very loved and sorely missed.
Thank you so much for covering this. My father is a British immigrant and I am the first Canadian in my family. I love this song and I was born in Ontario. Thanks man.
Come to the maritimes my friend. The heritage, friendliness and abundance of folk music would be right up your alley. Thank you for the interest in our music
I am from Nova Scotia, just outside of Lunenburg . When this came on, I was stomping so hard on the floor and singing the chorus very loudly. I don't think there is a Nova Scotian who can help themselves when they hear it.
A group of us here in Manitoba over the years have sung this song with gusto many times. I know we don't exactly fit in this site, but we hope you will understand.,
Big Celtic influence in Canada especially in the Maritimes, c’mon John, you should have joined in on the chorus! This is one time Canadians will join in and whup and cheer, a good shanty song. My son was born in Halifax when we were stationed there, beautiful city
THE BEST (OR WORST) OF EAR WORMS.......I have been listening to Stan, Garrett and Nathan for years.......and this SONG......sticks with you!!!! btw the guy with the long hair is Garrett brother to Stan.........now that song is going to stick with me for days...........
I did see Stan live several times in the 70s at the Calgary Folk Club and he was a great bear of man and a very dynamic performer. Always wonderful. His music got right into your bones.
Stan Rogers was certainly a fine singer/songwriter. The young man in the video with the long hair is his brother Garnet, also a singer/songerwriter. Kitchen Parties are renowned in the Maritimes. Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie McMaster are 2 young amazing fiddlers very well known in Canada. There is an extremely strong Celtic influence in the Maritimes. Kate and Anna McGarrigle are sisters who are well known as Folk Singers, especially for The Log Driver's Waltz. Winnipeg, Manitoba has the Folk Festival which has been going strong since 1974. (Think a milder, Canadian version of Woodstock). Since you are into the cultural aspects, have you heard of the Group of Seven? They were painters who painted the Canadian landscape. Tom Thomson is probably the most well known of this group. There is a Museum dedicated to their paintings in Vaughan, Ontario (near Toronto). It is called the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Also, Emily Carr who had a Heritage Minute produced for her is someone you may be interested in learning about. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I haven’t heard of the group of 7. Thanks for the great info. Sitting around a home drinking whisky (as they were) and singing fold music is so, so Irish. I am half Irish descent and my brother in law is from Tipperary. You can see the strong Celtic influences in the maritimes and Newfoundland. Happy St. Patrick’s day to you too.
There’s actually MANY AMAZING, long running & well attended folk music fests in Canada .. Edmonton is top notch, Calgary, Ottawa .. we are fortunate here in Canada 🇨🇦 Winnipeg is top notch as well 🎶
I guess you can say that Cape Breton Island and nearby areas of the Nova Scotia mainland are the most Scottish parts of Canada, given that Scottish Gaelic used to be a common language there.
Actually Tom Thompson was NOT one of the Group of Seven. He was of their time and knew some of them. But not considered one. And there were actually eleven all together. Arthur Lismer and Lawren Harris were two of them. Auther Lismer was the president of the Nova Scotia College of Art. Here in my hometown of Halifax.
Seeing as you like folk music, John, I have a suggestion for you: Great Big Sea - These guys were active between 1993 and 2013, and they were highly popular, becoming cultural icons, and were at one time, Canada's 6th best-selling artist. They were essentially our pop music. It may sound crazy that folk music can crack the top 10, but I think it just goes to show how culturally different we are at heart.
This was a nice surprise! Thanks! Stan is a staple in the Maritimes, and especially in Nova Scotia. Yes, Celtic influence is very culturally and historically strong there. I'm a native Haligonian and you ever find yourself in downtown Halifax in the evening, sing out "Oh the year was 1778...", your response should be immediate with the rest of the song. John, Halifax is the biggest city in the Maritimes, almost half a million people but it seems there's only 1 degree of separation between everyone, like a small town feel. One of the British Empires most important bases, it's has seen it's share of history of which some you are familiar. But it's the feel of things. Stan caught it and recorded it. You can stand on those same piers and see the tall ships and schooners transiting the harbour with the stone warehouses behind you and a mighty fortress up high above that. This was a privateers base as well as a home for the Royal Navy.. But in 15 minutes drive, you are on one of many coast roads with numerous fishing villages along the way. Coves, inlets, etc. The sea shanty aspect permeates things as much as the history does. We are all tied to the sea there. Fishermen, ship builders, oil rig workers, military, longshoremen, Coast Guard, oceanographic scientists, etc. The other thing in this video that is super important is that they are at the kitchen table. In the Maritimes overall, the kitchen party is deep in the culture. We all grew up going to or having them. A few drinks and a sing-song is in order. You can still find this. John, sorry about the long comment but I was trying to convey how much Stan got into this shanty of his and why we love it so much. Thanks for posting, Sir!
I am so glad you landed here for Canadian folk music. Stan died a month (almost to the day) after I was born (definitely dating myself there lol). I grew up listening to him and I wish I could have seen him play in an old Irish pub somewhere. To this day I love going to a pub and listening to an Irish band play all my old favorites. I love his music and I'm glad you got a chance to hear him.
Thanks Mark. I feel ya. Took many great musicians died too early and before I was born, too young to see them or, in the case of these great Canadian musicians I’ve been discovering, before I knew about them.
He was a great canadian folk singer died to young.. His Brother Garnet rogers is also a folk singer.. Fogarty's cove and make and break Harbour are classic Stan rogers songs as well
What you were listening to is called a kitchen party. Still common in some places in the maritimes today. As late as the 70’s in some rural parts the only heat in the house was the wood stove in the kitchen.
As a Newfoundlander, I started singing Irish/Celtic music with my father from the time I could talk. Look up Great Big Sea, The Navigators, The Irish Descendents, and Ryan's Fancy, to name a few. If only to listen and get your feet going. Best music ever for the best time ever!
I remember Stan and his brother Garnet playing a concert at our high school when I was in grade nine at an arts festival. Garnet was still a student there at the time and was in my future Wife’s class. He may have been born here in Hamilton (Binbrook) but a good portion of his heart was in the Maritimes, RIP.
That's some kitchen party you stumbled across there! Aside from Stan and his brother, that is none other than Ryan's Fancy! They were East Coast music Royalty! Give those Rockstar's a listen if you like East Coast music!
Veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, I spent more than a few afternoons in Halifax pubs next to the harbour are packed to the gills singing this and many other Rogers tunes. Makes my voice go hoarse with delight just watching this.
First, as your ally, thank you for your service. Is Halifax a major navy port for Canada, like Norfolk Virginia is here? It would make sense historically.
Stan Rogers had a great following, and he wrote many amazing songs. After his untimely death there was a double CD of his songs that was fantastic, with a large number of folk musicians paying tribute. He has never been forgotten here in Nova Scotia. There is a folk Festival named after him in the town of Guysborough Nova Scotia which has been going since 1997 (covid excepted). He wrote many iconic tunes. Northwest Passage (1981), saw his songwriting skills mature and his focus expand beyond the Maritime experience. Many of the songs, including “The Idiot” and “Free in the Harbour,” were popular, but it was the song " Northwest Passage" that struck Canadians in the heart as well as great song about farmers "Field behind the plow". You can still set a tavern crowd alight by having a group singing " Barretts Privateers" in Nova Scotia.
Those two CDs were recorded at the "Tribute to Stan Rogers" concerts at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium where Stan used to play and where his portrait hangs prominently. I was at the first night and it was magical! While the CDs are great, they don't really replicate what went on that night. Modabo sang "Northwest Passage" and I remember looking up at the ceiling and thinking "There's no way this building can contain this sound, the ceiling will surely cave in!" And when Bruce Guthro sang "Stan's Tune", the only song not originally done by Stan, you could have heard a pin drop and the silence at the end was deafening as folk processed what they had heard. From that night on we never missed an opportunity to go hear Modabo when they were in the city.
One Saint Patricks Day I went to see Ryan's Fancy at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. And who opened? Stan Rogers, of course! Amazing show! I told Dennis Ryan himself that story when I met him!
Stan was so good. Saw his concerts in Halifax whenever he would play. So many good songs.Wrote songs about other parts of Canada also, as you mentioned with NorthwestPassage.I suggest The Field Behind The Plow, a great song about our prairie farmers out west.
Any farmer anywhere in Canada. I live in the country now and this spring I think of that song as I'm biking by the newly plowed fields. Then I start thinking how long has it been? I check online. FORTY years this year!
Another great review, John. Many Canadians know little, if anything, of Stan Rogers. For others, like myself-who is of his generation-I only learned of him posthumously. The Celtic influence in the Maritimes is very strong. Irish in Newfoundland,for example, and Scottish for Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island in particular (folks speak Gaelic there). Try "Harris and the Mare" if you want Rogers at his best storytelling and guitar playing. Keep a box of Kleenex handy. Dave
Every pub in Atlantic Canada will be rocking this tune today for St. Paddy's day. The more you dig in Stan's music the more you'll be hooked... every song is like reading a novel, amazing story teller. Telling stories of average Canadians like Night Guard, Field behind the plow, Mary Ellen Carter.... If you do make to Atlantic Canada.. I'm from Cape Breton, you'd love it here steeped in so much history and tradition here. Newfoundland is another spot you definitely have to visit.. and get "screeched in"...lol
I never met Stan but I did do a couple of shows in the late 80's with his wife Ariel, daughter Beth and son Nathan. Stan has some great tunes, and some wonderful love songs, my favourite being "Lies". A beautiful song about how a woman sees her beauty and youth in her husbands eyes. Nathan is a great talent as well, sounds exactly like his Dad. We have been lucky to see Nathan performing his Dad's tunes.
“Lies” is also one of my favourites. “Tiny Fish for Japan” also makes me very sad. I only discovered Stan after his death. I remember the day it happened and didn’t realize who he was. Then I discovered “Barrett’s Privateers”, looked more deeply into his discography, and fell deeply in love. Nathan played our venue some years ago, during a tour performing his dad’s songs. I was sitting in my office while he did his sound check, the doors to the auditorium were open, and suddenly the goose bumps and the hairs standing on end sent me running just to be sure Stan hadn’t come back to life. It was eerie how like him Nathan sounded.
So glad to see you enjoying this song. I sat up straight as soon as the video started, seeing not only Stan Rogers but Ryan’s Fancy, a trio of Irish expats hailing from Newfoundland. They used to have their own TV show when I was a child and that was in the 1970’s. Great combination, hearing them all together. Many thanks from a Maritimer.
big song in the Canadian Navy i was in the states when he died he died in Cinncinati on the runway of the airport we sang this all the time on the ship
I just read the same Wikipedia article today. When I first heard of him in the mid-80's, I knew he was gone, but I didn't know what happened. I'll admit, I shed some tears for him today. I love his music, as well as that of his brother, Garnet Rogers.
I was lucky enough to have been in the audience to hear Stan....Mary Ellen Carter is always the final song at the folk festival each year. I have been at the lunch table with both Friends of Fiddlers Green and Stan's brother Garnet at the festival.
@John F I loved this one! Thank you. There is a Newfoundland group I love and have seen many times. "Buddy Wasisname and the other Fellers" They do a wonderful mix of traditional Newfoundland folk songs, comedy songs and comedy skits. Some of my favorite traditional songs are "by the Glow of the Kerosene Light" "Sara" "Hellish when you got no Baccy" and "Mr. McGuire". Some of their comedy songs are "Time to murder the Duck" "The gravel pits" "Peeing in the Snow". And some of my favorite Comedy skits include "Da Vette", Da Yammie", "Da Mower", "Da Chopper" and "Da BBQ". I also love "My Dog Pattsy". All hilarious if you can get through the purposefully thick Newfie accent. Thanks for what you do John I really love this channel and look forward to and watch every new upload. Cheers!
‘Mary Ellen Cater’ best song ever!! Whenever I hear it I just want to stop what I’m doing and go build a boat!! 💯 ooh and his song the Bluenose!! What a gem!!!
Stan Rogers is my all time favorite singer. And that's saying a lot being raised on Stan, Gordon Lightfoot, and so many other amazing Canadian artists. Not to mention hundreds of amazing artists from all over the world. I saw Stan's son Nathan do a tour of his dad's music years ago. He's also an excellent performer. Seeing such a performance (he sounds a LOT like Stan) in Stan's building (the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax) was spine chilling. Thanks for this one.
Being from the Maritimes this is a classic song that is also played in bars with the whole bar signing. May I also recommend Great Big Sea/Allan Doyle for more current folk music from Newfound Land.
John, you are very welcome to the Maritimes. You and your family would love it here! Lots of variety in its natural beauty, uncrowded beaches, history, music, fine fish and seafood and French Acadian, Mi'kmaq, Irish and Scottish culture among others and friendly folks! There is very popular Stan Rogers Music Festival held every year in Guysborough in his honour. I do hope you make it here for summer vacation one day. We're not that far away, after all!
Oh my, a cherished memory is sitting down front at the nighttime stage at Vancouver Folk Music festival in the drizzling rain, watching Stan Rogers sing this and The Mary Ellen Carter with steam rising from his bald head under the stage lights.
Stan is an icon in the Canadian folk music scene, and holds a particular place in the hearts of the military (that maritime tradition). His albums took you across Canada, from the Maritimes, to The Prairies and the West and back home to Ontario, each album having a very different styling and feel to them ("Northwest Passage" a little bit country, "From Fresh Water" a little more rock & roll). Only 10 albums and one CD compilation set in total, half of them released posthumously. His brother Garnet continues to tour and perform, although he's slowed down a bit these past few years. Garnet's style is a bit different, with a more modern style incorporating some R&B, bluegrass and even classical. I highly recommend his albums "Small Victories" and "Summer Lightning".
He was a wonderful story teller, with his deep resonance, along time favorite of mine. Check out “The Mary-Ellen Carter”. For some of his more whist full, “The Scarborough Settler’s Lament”, and a real emotion ringer, “First Christmas Away From Home”. Thanks for discovering this great performer, a new subscriber .
If you were raised observing Christmas en famille and "First Christmas Away From Home" doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you're lost and have to touch ground again.
Stan Rogers is missed ..I live in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia and I believe both Stans parents are from Atlantic Canada I know his mom was just up the coast a ways from me in Canso and being so close to Cape Breton is why the celtic type music ... Stan spent most of his summers in Nova Scotia and taverns here still play a lot of his music ..
By the way, Stan was on his way home from having just performed at the famous Kerrville folk festival. Most observers agree that the contacts he made there would have led him to fame in the U.S. and beyond. This year will mark 40 years since the crash...
There are tons of great Canadian folksingers.( besides Stan!) .....Bruce Cockburn......Garnet Rogers......James Keelaghan.......are three of my favorites......Im American.....
John the table and chairs were used as a symbol of a traditional Maritimes Kitchen Party. Down east most houses did not have the luxury of a living room as the houses were too small to afford it. However the kitchens were very large and that is where there was lots of cooking, drinking and partying going on all the time. Most front doors were never closed and it was just understood you could show up with a 6 or 12 pack of beer and you musical instrument and join in with song. Often it was the same with a wedding. No invites just show up. I was raised in beautiful Nova Scotia.
So, so cool you found this!! Stan Rogers is a legend!! He left way before he should have!! John, my family is from Nova Scotia and Altho I wasn’t born there I spend many summers there!! This sort of music is everywhere in the maritimes! I grew up with music like this, almost every night, being played and sung live in my living room! This video reminds me of being a kid!! I love it!!
Well John, as you can tell by the remarks left here you have opened up a Great Big can of Canadian Music History with Stan Rogers! In my book he is a Canadian Legend and it breaks my heart every time I see something like the video like you played here. I absolutely love everything he sang and my only wish with Stan is that he was still with us. Some people like to refer to Northwest Passage as Canada's unofficial National Anthem and it is a classic. There is a Documentary(and maybe more than one) about Stan which might be something you can look into(I don't remember the name as I write this) and I can say that this is one subscriber who will be looking forward to anything about Stan Rogers that you post. Thank you so much for this one. It broke my heart just a little but I also enjoyed the hell out of it!! Cheers
Yeah, it’s bittersweet, even for me knowing I stumbled upon some great that so many of you love only to find out he had a tragic end. But in some ways, since he only had a limited time to create his art, it makes what he left behind that much more of a rare treasure.
Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot are at the pinnacle of Canadian composers / singers of ballads that usually speak of Canadian values. There are many songs that Stan wrote but I'll recommend just three of my favourites: Forty-five Years; The Last Watch; and Lies. I'm sure that you will enjoy them.
Thanks for the suggestion. I want to get back to him again soon. So many musicians to cover let alone historical and other cultural topics. I am so enjoying this journey.
An open mic I used to go to in Newfoundland would have one guy lead this, and about a dozen other people singing around three mics, with the crowd singing back to it on the chorus. Another open mic in Toronto, at one of the first outings of said open mic, our group of friends sang it as well, with each person leading one verse. Fun pub song in Canada, everyone at an Celtic-themed bar seems to know it and sing along.
Many years ago I was hitching through Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, heading towards Alexander Graham Bell's historic house, Beinn Bhreagh, in the village of Baddeck [Badaig in Canadian Gaelic, La Bedeque in French, but the name is actually from the Mi'kmaq language]. It was here that Bell oversaw the first powered heavier-than-air flight of the Silver Dart in 1909. His innovations made the airplane a practical device. While hitching, I noticed how easy it was to get rides, and how wonderful the people were. But I'll never forget the man who picked me up and invited me to a home-cooked supper. As soon as the dishes were cleared from the table, the family broke out the fiddles and began to sing and play. They sang English songs, and Gaelic songs, and Acadian French songs (with obligatory clicking spoons). They weren't professional musicians, just Cape Bretoners doing what Cape Bretoners do. If you want to know why so many famous Canadian musicians come from that part of the country, there's your answer. Canadian folk music is overwhelmingly Celtic in origins, and not just from the hordes of Scottish and Irish settlers. The French settlers of the earliest times came from the west coast of France, and a good portion of them from Brittany, where people spoke Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh. In Brittany, the traditional instruments were the fiddle and the "bidou", a small bagpipe. That's why the island is called "Cape Breton". The folk music of early French Canadians and Acadians was already Celtic as hell, even before the Scots and Irish arrived to kick it into Celtic Hyperdrive.
Stan Rogers came to Ottawa in the summer of '82. I had never heard of him. My sister called me up and told me "You have to see this guy." She was right. I became a fan and bought all of his recordings I could find. I served in Palestine with a U.S. Army officer who, on learning that I had brought Stan Rogers tapes with me, begged me to lend them to him so that he could copy them. (In return, he lent me John Prine tapes.)
Check out "Below" by Slaid Cleaves. I was doing some research on Arnold's Expedition to Quebec (through the Maine wilderness) and read about the town of Flagstaff, Maine in an officer's old journal, and then I found this song which tells a story of the town from much later.
My vote is to suggest the song Mary Ellen Carter. It clips along and is fun to sing but will I remember all the words in the right order (I just have to remember it tells a story), and will my fingers be able to play the instrumental part as fast as the song is going?!!! I think Stan played it on a 12 string guitar. Stan also wrote a song called Free In The Harbour and the story is that after Stan died, the great folk singer/writer Eric Bogle (writer of 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'), wrote his song Safe In The Harbour in memory of Stan.
My other favorite folk singer. A Scot who emigrated to Australia and was a fan of Stan's too. He has been here in the Maritimes and Canada on a sort of pilgrimage to Stan Rogers. And on CBC Radio too!
Some classics in that video for sure! Fergus o Byrne is a Classic Newfoundlander from Ireland that’s been in Newfoundland for years bringing his art of singing. Shout out from Newfoundland!
I've heard this song is kind of an anthem for the Royal Canadian Navy. Other must-hear songs by him are "The Mary Ellen Carter" and "Northwest Passage." See if you can hear him singing "The Witch of the Westmereland" and "MacDonnell on the Heights" (about the Battle of Queenston Heights). He's really become the voice of this country.
I love T McDonnell on the he Heights...and the story is accurate, historically on point. Brock hated Canada and was trying to get back to England when the war began.
I strongly encourage you to take a deep dive into Stan's music! For a man who lived such a tragically short life, he had such a large and impressive body of music. I honestly believe that if he lived even 5 or 10 years longer, he would've been a household name like Gordon Lightfoot or Joni Mitchell. His music was pure poetry!
Along with Stan's own band-members in this video... he's accompanied by a great trio from my home province of Newfoundland called Ryan's Fancy. I grew up on Stan Rogers and Ryan's Fancy. Fergus O'Byrne (the guy with the round glasses) from Ryan's Fancy still plays live here in St. John's, NL. He still sounds great
There is a music festival in Truro, Nova Scotia bearing his name... Great Big Sea carried on the Barrett's Privateers in their rotation of uniquely Maritime sea-faring music... Check them out as well! Alan Doyle is a legend in his own right!
John, I'm an old (Canadian) hirl who reaĺly a Heinz 57 as we say here in Canada. On my father's side I'm Polish and Ukraianian. On my mother's side I'm English and Scottish. But I will NEVER forget being here at the CNE on a large grounds and having the Scottish tattoo enter the grounds one troup or tattò at a time, one behimd the other ALL playing Amazing Grace as they marched onto the field. I'm only 1/4 Scottish but the tears streamed diwn my face. It was a proud and honourable moment here in Toronto .
I grew up in Nova Scotia, his music is loved in Canada. Every Sumner, there is an music festival called Stanfest... outdoor music festival, you would love it. All the hotels and campgrounds book out 6 months in advance.
You might get a kick out of a video + music called "The Log Drivers Waltz". This was done by the National Film Board of Canada. It's a lot of fun; before the internet we used to see it on tv. It was quite the treat to see it!
Working with the Canadian Coast Guard, the Maritime provinces are very much like New England states! Very friendly people , Halifax and St. John’s are very great places for live bands. Sorry if I missed any other amazing cities in the maritimes.
Great video and reaction! Vancouver is pretty far from the Atlantic Provinces but we still have the Celtic/Irish influence - Spirit of the West - probably best know for "Home for a rest' written about their first tour of the UK. It has been named one of the best Canadian drinking songs ever.
So one of the singers in this video is Fergus O'Byrne. When I was a kid , Fergus was a school teacher. He taught music at St. Peter's Elementary School! He was an amazing teacher!
RIP Stan Rogers (1949-1983) A victim of smoke inhalation onboard Air Canada Flight 797 after it safely landed at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Boone County, Kentucky due to an in-flight fire.
Stan Rogers fan and big folk music nut here. Volunteered at the Calgary Folk Festival for years, and in 2001 my wife and I were at the Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton Folk festivals. We called that summer "2001, a Folk Odyssey" 🙂 Never saw Stan perform live but I've seen Garnet a few times, and I've seen Nathan perform on the Stan Rogers stage at the Canmore Folk Festival. The closing songs on the final night where many of the performers join together are Stan's song The Mary Ellen Carter, and Ian Tyson's Four Strong Winds. I know you'll get lots of comments for other great Stan Rogers songs. I have a few suggestions from other performers. In the shanty tradition; Excursion Around the Bay - Great Big Sea, a modern folk band recording a song that was around a century old when they played it The Coaltown Road - The Barra McNeils Sonny's Dream - Ron Hynes, a folk music giant from Newfoundland Peter's Dream - Lennie Gallant, another maritime musician with a great selection of songs who can captivate a room with just his songs, his voice and his guitar A couple from the other coast of Canada; Bamfield's John Vanden- a lovely shanty written for his great-uncle by Chris Frye of the band The Bills. This song has become very popular among the folk community in this part of the world. Rock's at Thieves Bay by Spirit of the West - as a west coast sailor, this is always on my sailing music playlist. I also suggest David Francey - Flowers of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan? What's that got to do with maritime folk? This song is totally in the folk tradition of story telling, written about the Dieppe landing in the Second World War. David is a winner of 3 Juno's and 3 Canadian Folk Music Awards. A deep, deep catalog of original songs. I have seen him perform live numerous times and I have seen first hand the respect he gets for his song writing from other bands like Oysterband. Last, but certainly not least - The Rankin Family in their various combinations as groups or solo performers. They do many traditional folk songs, one of their most popular songs is You Feel the Same Way Too, and I can't listen to Rise Again with the vocals of Raylene Rankin without choking up.
For those who love Stan, please know that he is fondly remembered in Canmore, Alberta, where he played at the Canmore Folk Festival a couple of times. His last performance was in 1982. Just before the next festival, news came that he had died. We had just built a new log stage in our park. We wrote to his family and requested that we be able to name our stage in his memory. Every year to end the Canmore Folk Festival all the entertainers lead the audience in singing the Mary Ellen Carter on the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage. ❤
And ironically his last show was in America. In Kerrville, Texas. He was flying back on Air Canada FL 797.
I visited Canmore a few years ago and it was wonderful. We hit the pubs and at one point the entire place was singing country roads along with the performing musician. I did not know this part of the town history but its clear Stans legacy lives on in the bars.
"Rise again...rise again... That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men..."
Makes me really happy to know he’s still relevant to so many people like myself
Brilliant
There is a Stan Rogers Folk Festival that is put on every year in Canso, Nova Scotia. He is not, and never will be, forgotten.
This song is still sung in every pub on every corner in Halifax nearly nightly
We would sing this in the Cheers pub/bar in Boston, and we would get kicked out every time.
Love it!
Fun times in the maritimes
(He's a baritone) I first heard Stan Rogers songs on the radio (a small radio station in Boulder, Colorado, in 1978 to the mid-1980s. So I was hearing 'Rolling Down to Old Maui,' 'The Maid on the Shore,' and others of Stan's songs prior to his passing. Stan is legendary because he sings of the people of legend. His legacy lives on and influences generations of musicians.
Born and raised in Nova Scotia (Now living in NB after 10 years in AB), and nothing in this world compares to being in a pub in Halifax (The Lower Deck, The Split Crow, The old Seahorse) and joining the whole bar in singing Barretts Privateers at the top of your lungs...Not sure if it still happens anymore, but it was a helluva lot of fun back in the day.
The Lower Deck rocks! Haven't been there in a long time.
When Stephen and Evie Colbert and Jack White and Michael Buble come to the Lower Deck we WILL MAKE
that happen! Stephen on Late Show singing Barrett's Privateer's with Michael and Jack. They gotta come!
@@michaelrmurphy2734 Just give me a ring when all are together there again. I will walk, crawl, ride a fiddler crab to get there . .
HAHA!! Or a dolphin out at sea! Dolphin tells Colbert the writer's strike is over.
But they did NOT sing Barrett's Privateers!! SHAME!!!!
Oh, it still happens bud! The lower deck was alive and well last time i checked.
Stan Rogers is one of the most influential singer songwriters that Canada has ever produced. His music will live on for many many years. My group of friends would attend Summerfolk in Owen Sound, Ontario every summer for years. We would sing this song on the way to the festival, such wonderful memories. Thank you
Stan Rogers died tragically in an airplane fire at age 33. The plane ran into mechanical trouble and caught fire. Most of the people escaped when the plane landed but several people were trapped and could not escape. At the time of his death he was at the pinnacle of his success. It was tragic. Thanks John for your reaction. 👏👏💔
The legend said that he stayed on the airplane helping others getting off and eventually the smoke got him
@@Snow-Journal Yes I heard that as well. 😥
Yes he died a hero ushering people off the plane 💫
The smoke he inhaled. Not any blunt force trauma from an impact.
Stan was NOT a hero at the crash. Didn't happen. Ask Garnet.
I was 22 when Stan died and I'll never forget that horrible morning when the CBC news came on the radio. My girlfriend and I were in bed and held each other close in disbelief and then they ended the national broadcast with "45 Years" and we wept like babies. Stan was famous for the songs inspired by his maritime history but took his creative talent across Canada - songs about the Great Lakes, the prairies and western Canada. He left an enormous legacy of telling stories about our entire country and the ordinary people who make it work. That he died at the age of 33 when his career was just taking off was a huge loss for our stories he could have reflected back to us and made us feel valued and feel like we mattered. I can think of only two songs Stan did that were dogs - every other touched me in some way because despite the setting he managed to get to the core of what it is to be human.
I remember waking up to the news of the Air Canada fire. I also remember a story that went round afterwards. Apparently the last woman off the plane said she was pushed out the plane door by a large bald man. Don’t know if that was true, but I will believe in my heart till I die that the last thing Stan did was save a stranger’s life.
Wow. I hope so.
I'm pretty sure that this is a true story. I remember this from when I was a kid and am fairly certain this isn't disputed. Granted, Stan Rogers was a man that literally could not be spoken ill of, so that may just be a part of his legendry, but man...he was a true Canadian. Whatever that means to you, that was him.
Never heard of Stan Rogers till today.
Hope you find the time to hear his beautiful archive. His brother Garnet, sitting to his right, still performing and Stans son Nathan also a great performer
You are in for a treat. The maritime provinces and their people are all treasures. Beautiful heartwarming people. Especially newfoundland. Friends for life
Great video. Quick Stan related story. Our band, based in Halifax, was playing at the Old Dublin Pub in Charlottetown, PEI in the early 90's. We were all in our early 20's. We played Barrett's, and we did a pretty fast version of it. On break, a woman came up to Norma, one of our band members, and said "That was that fastest version of Barrett's I've ever heard". Norma said jokingly, "Yeah, we're just sick of it and just try to get it over with". When the woman left I said, "Norm... you know who that was right?". Norma says "No". I say "That was Ariel Rogers, Stan Rogers' widow".
Fast forward a couple of years, we were playing in Hamilton, Ontario. We play a Stan song and I tell the story about that night with Ariel Rogers. Norma chimes in "In fairness, I didn't know who she was... I just thought she was just some drunk lady at the bar". Then we hear from the back of the room "... I wasn't that drunk!". It was Ariel.
We hung out with her on break. It was awesome. She is so nice. She asked us if we were playing Stanfest that summer in Canso. We told her we applied but hadn't heard back. She said "Leave it with me".
We played Stanfest that summer.
She's such a nice person and also really talented in the arts as well. She's a staple of the arts community in Hamilton. I still play Stan songs at my solo shows.
This is a Canadian Classic on the East Coast. The best way to experience this song is in a live show at a pub in downtown Halifax where everyone knows the words and the floor shakes from everyone stomping along. You can't have a party without this song or the Mull River Shuffle by the Rankins.
I know Heather Rankin and my sister went to Dalhousie Law School with the late Raylene Rankin.
There is a rule here in Nova Scotia....when you hear this song, you stomp, lol! This was played at my wedding and we blew the roof off!
That's Ryan's Fancy singing with Stan and his brother Garnet. Ryan's fancy members immigrated to Canada from Ireland, and it was when they moved to Newfoundland in the early 70s that their music took off. Another good listen, for a Newfoundland Irish blend.
For some driving, upbeat percussion and bagpipe jazz, Rare Air were a celtic folk group from Toronto. They blended bagpipes, flute, keyboard, electric guitar, to name a few. They started out as Na Cabarfeidh.
I live in Saskatchewan and I remember being taken to watch Ryan's fancy. They played in Humboldt Sask. My brothers and I were younger than 7yrs of age. We still play their music and sing their music with great delight.
I love Ryan's Fancy, Denis Ryan's voice especially. His version of Dark Island is probably the best version of that song I've heard.
I thought Dennis and the band moved to Newfoundland so he could attend Memorial for grad studies in folk music.
Great song..among many for Stan Rogers. Simply the best!! Down the Road is another great song. My favorite is Flowers of Bermuda!!! Cheers from Maine 🍻 👏
I've really been enjoying exploring Folk music this past year, and this video is a great tribute. Thanks for posting :D
Please please please more Stan Rogers. Thank you for this it is probably the only video I have not seen. I have all of Stans music and it always gives me great joy when I listen to him.
YES! YES! YES! An absolute favourite one of mine among all Stan's music! What a great talent he was! (Going back to rewatch this now, to sing along and to enjoy your enjoyment of the song!)
Three of the gentlemen around the table with him in the Barrett's Privateers video featured here are members of the (now defunct) Newfoundland band "Ryan's Fancy", who emigrated here from Ireland in the 1970s. They are master musicians and recording artists in their own right. You might enjoy looking into their catalogue of Irish/Newfoundland traditional music.
Awesome thanks for the info.
As a singer song writer he tapped in to people across Canada with a genuine ability to authenticity write a song about a person's life that envokes an emotional response. From coast to coast. He could write about someone who lives on the coast to a person who lives in Alberta in the oil patch to a farmer in Saskatchewan.. Just tremendous. Very loved and sorely missed.
One of his saddest songs " The first Christmas away from home " is my favourite of Stans songs ....have a listen to it you will be surely touched.
Thank you so much for covering this. My father is a British immigrant and I am the first Canadian in my family. I love this song and I was born in Ontario. Thanks man.
Come to the maritimes my friend. The heritage, friendliness and abundance of folk music would be right up your alley. Thank you for the interest in our music
I am from Nova Scotia, just outside of Lunenburg . When this came on, I was stomping so hard on the floor and singing the chorus very loudly. I don't think there is a Nova Scotian who can help themselves when they hear it.
All hail John Ritcey!
A group of us here in Manitoba over the years have sung this song with gusto many times. I know we don't exactly fit in this site, but we hope you will understand.,
@@siglavikingkearns8108 why not? It’s great music where ever you are, right?
Yessss! Love it.
Us Newfoundlanders love it too and belt it out and every opportunity
Big Celtic influence in Canada especially in the Maritimes, c’mon John, you should have joined in on the chorus! This is one time Canadians will join in and whup and cheer, a good shanty song. My son was born in Halifax when we were stationed there, beautiful city
THE BEST (OR WORST) OF EAR WORMS.......I have been listening to Stan, Garrett and Nathan for years.......and this SONG......sticks with you!!!! btw the guy with the long hair is Garrett brother to Stan.........now that song is going to stick with me for days...........
I did see Stan live several times in the 70s at the Calgary Folk Club and he was a great bear of man and a very dynamic performer. Always wonderful. His music got right into your bones.
"Twelve feet tall and eight feet wide..."!
Yay! Stan Rogers!
Stan Rogers was certainly a fine singer/songwriter. The young man in the video with the long hair is his brother Garnet, also a singer/songerwriter. Kitchen Parties are renowned in the Maritimes. Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie McMaster are 2 young amazing fiddlers very well known in Canada. There is an extremely strong Celtic influence in the Maritimes. Kate and Anna McGarrigle are sisters who are well known as Folk Singers, especially for The Log Driver's Waltz. Winnipeg, Manitoba has the Folk Festival which has been going strong since 1974. (Think a milder, Canadian version of Woodstock). Since you are into the cultural aspects, have you heard of the Group of Seven? They were painters who painted the Canadian landscape. Tom Thomson is probably the most well known of this group. There is a Museum dedicated to their paintings in Vaughan, Ontario (near Toronto). It is called the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Also, Emily Carr who had a Heritage Minute produced for her is someone you may be interested in learning about. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I haven’t heard of the group of 7. Thanks for the great info. Sitting around a home drinking whisky (as they were) and singing fold music is so, so Irish. I am half Irish descent and my brother in law is from Tipperary. You can see the strong Celtic influences in the maritimes and Newfoundland. Happy St. Patrick’s day to you too.
There’s actually MANY AMAZING, long running & well attended folk music fests in Canada .. Edmonton is top notch, Calgary, Ottawa ..
we are fortunate here in Canada 🇨🇦 Winnipeg is top notch as well 🎶
I guess you can say that Cape Breton Island and nearby areas of the Nova Scotia mainland are the most Scottish parts of Canada, given that Scottish Gaelic used to be a common language there.
Actually Tom Thompson was NOT one of the Group of Seven. He was of their time and knew some of them.
But not considered one. And there were actually eleven all together. Arthur Lismer and Lawren Harris were two of them. Auther Lismer was the president of the Nova Scotia College of Art. Here in my hometown of Halifax.
So the question. What is your county?
Seeing as you like folk music, John, I have a suggestion for you: Great Big Sea - These guys were active between 1993 and 2013, and they were highly popular, becoming cultural icons, and were at one time, Canada's 6th best-selling artist. They were essentially our pop music. It may sound crazy that folk music can crack the top 10, but I think it just goes to show how culturally different we are at heart.
This was a nice surprise! Thanks!
Stan is a staple in the Maritimes, and especially in Nova Scotia. Yes, Celtic influence is very culturally and historically strong there.
I'm a native Haligonian and you ever find yourself in downtown Halifax in the evening, sing out "Oh the year was 1778...", your response should be immediate with the rest of the song.
John, Halifax is the biggest city in the Maritimes, almost half a million people but it seems there's only 1 degree of separation between everyone, like a small town feel.
One of the British Empires most important bases, it's has seen it's share of history of which some you are familiar. But it's the feel of things. Stan caught it and recorded it. You can stand on those same piers and see the tall ships and schooners transiting the harbour with the stone warehouses behind you and a mighty fortress up high above that. This was a privateers base as well as a home for the Royal Navy..
But in 15 minutes drive, you are on one of many coast roads with numerous fishing villages along the way. Coves, inlets, etc. The sea shanty aspect permeates things as much as the history does. We are all tied to the sea there. Fishermen, ship builders, oil rig workers, military, longshoremen, Coast Guard, oceanographic scientists, etc.
The other thing in this video that is super important is that they are at the kitchen table. In the Maritimes overall, the kitchen party is deep in the culture. We all grew up going to or having them. A few drinks and a sing-song is in order. You can still find this.
John, sorry about the long comment but I was trying to convey how much Stan got into this shanty of his and why we love it so much.
Thanks for posting, Sir!
I am so glad you landed here for Canadian folk music. Stan died a month (almost to the day) after I was born (definitely dating myself there lol). I grew up listening to him and I wish I could have seen him play in an old Irish pub somewhere. To this day I love going to a pub and listening to an Irish band play all my old favorites. I love his music and I'm glad you got a chance to hear him.
Thanks Mark. I feel ya. Took many great musicians died too early and before I was born, too young to see them or, in the case of these great Canadian musicians I’ve been discovering, before I knew about them.
He was a great canadian folk singer died to young.. His Brother Garnet rogers is also a folk singer.. Fogarty's cove and make and break Harbour are classic Stan rogers songs as well
As is his son, Nathan (Nate) Rogers.
What you were listening to is called a kitchen party. Still common in some places in the maritimes today. As late as the 70’s in some rural parts the only heat in the house was the wood stove in the kitchen.
As a Newfoundlander, I started singing Irish/Celtic music with my father from the time I could talk.
Look up Great Big Sea, The Navigators, The Irish Descendents, and Ryan's Fancy, to name a few. If only to listen and get your feet going. Best music ever for the best time ever!
Figgy Duff! Also Pamela Morgan and Anita Best
Ty for this reaction! Love this song and have even sung it in bars and busking with friends.
So cool
Its kind of a must know.
man the memories, used to listen to this all the time, i can still remember most of these lyrics and i havent heard this song in over a decade.
I remember Stan and his brother Garnet playing a concert at our high school when I was in grade nine at an arts festival. Garnet was still a student there at the time and was in my future Wife’s class. He may have been born here in Hamilton (Binbrook) but a good portion of his heart was in the Maritimes, RIP.
Like so many other Maritimers, the family went down to road for work. But the kids longed for home.
@@michaelrmurphy2734 “Going Down the Road”
That's some kitchen party you stumbled across there! Aside from Stan and his brother, that is none other than Ryan's Fancy! They were East Coast music Royalty! Give those Rockstar's a listen if you like East Coast music!
Veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, I spent more than a few afternoons in Halifax pubs next to the harbour are packed to the gills singing this and many other Rogers tunes. Makes my voice go hoarse with delight just watching this.
First, as your ally, thank you for your service. Is Halifax a major navy port for Canada, like Norfolk Virginia is here? It would make sense historically.
Stan Rogers had a great following, and he wrote many amazing songs. After his untimely death there was a double CD of his songs that was fantastic, with a large number of folk musicians paying tribute. He has never been forgotten here in Nova Scotia. There is a folk Festival named after him in the town of Guysborough Nova Scotia which has been going since 1997 (covid excepted). He wrote many iconic tunes. Northwest Passage (1981), saw his songwriting skills mature and his focus expand beyond the Maritime experience. Many of the songs, including “The Idiot” and “Free in the Harbour,” were popular, but it was the song " Northwest Passage" that struck Canadians in the heart as well as great song about farmers "Field behind the plow". You can still set a tavern crowd alight by having a group singing " Barretts Privateers" in Nova Scotia.
I can’t wait until some day I walk into a Nova Scotia tavern and hear this song as I down a cold Canadian beer. Heaven
Those two CDs were recorded at the "Tribute to Stan Rogers" concerts at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium where Stan used to play and where his portrait hangs prominently. I was at the first night and it was magical!
While the CDs are great, they don't really replicate what went on that night. Modabo sang "Northwest Passage" and I remember looking up at the ceiling and thinking "There's no way this building can contain this sound, the ceiling will surely cave in!"
And when Bruce Guthro sang "Stan's Tune", the only song not originally done by Stan, you could have heard a pin drop and the silence at the end was deafening as folk processed what they had heard. From that night on we never missed an opportunity to go hear Modabo when they were in the city.
One Saint Patricks Day I went to see Ryan's Fancy at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. And who opened?
Stan Rogers, of course! Amazing show! I told Dennis Ryan himself that story when I met him!
REAL CANADIAN BEER! Not that watery crap Americans THINK is beer!
I am from Newfoundland and Labrador Canada. Stan is a "Lengend" here!!!
He died a hero.
Stan was so good. Saw his concerts in Halifax whenever he would play. So many good songs.Wrote songs about other parts of Canada also, as you mentioned with NorthwestPassage.I suggest The Field Behind The Plow, a great song about our prairie farmers out west.
Any farmer anywhere in Canada. I live in the country now and this spring I think of that song as I'm biking
by the newly plowed fields. Then I start thinking how long has it been? I check online. FORTY years this year!
Another great review, John. Many Canadians know little, if anything, of Stan Rogers. For others, like myself-who is of his generation-I only learned of him posthumously. The Celtic influence in the Maritimes is very strong. Irish in Newfoundland,for example, and Scottish for Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island in particular (folks speak Gaelic there). Try "Harris and the Mare" if you want Rogers at his best storytelling and guitar playing. Keep a box of Kleenex handy.
Dave
You got it. Thanks for the info.
This was actually filmed in Stan’s summer home in Halfway Cove, Guysborugh County.
Every pub in Atlantic Canada will be rocking this tune today for St. Paddy's day. The more you dig in Stan's music the more you'll be hooked... every song is like reading a novel, amazing story teller. Telling stories of average Canadians like Night Guard, Field behind the plow, Mary Ellen Carter....
If you do make to Atlantic Canada.. I'm from Cape Breton, you'd love it here steeped in so much history and tradition here. Newfoundland is another spot you definitely have to visit.. and get "screeched in"...lol
I never met Stan but I did do a couple of shows in the late 80's with his wife Ariel, daughter Beth
and son Nathan. Stan has some great tunes, and some wonderful love songs, my favourite being "Lies".
A beautiful song about how a woman sees her beauty and youth in her husbands eyes.
Nathan is a great talent as well, sounds exactly like his Dad.
We have been lucky to see Nathan performing his Dad's tunes.
"Lies" is also my favorite and that's a high bar because I think all of his songs are great. 👍
“Lies” is also one of my favourites. “Tiny Fish for Japan” also makes me very sad.
I only discovered Stan after his death. I remember the day it happened and didn’t realize who he was. Then I discovered “Barrett’s Privateers”, looked more deeply into his discography, and fell deeply in love.
Nathan played our venue some years ago, during a tour performing his dad’s songs. I was sitting in my office while he did his sound check, the doors to the auditorium were open, and suddenly the goose bumps and the hairs standing on end sent me running just to be sure Stan hadn’t come back to life. It was eerie how like him Nathan sounded.
ruclips.net/video/8KQBjxj6gd8/видео.html
Check out his song "Bluenose". There is a vid called "Queen of the Grand Banks Schooners" that has rare color footage of Bluenose. :)
So glad to see you enjoying this song. I sat up straight as soon as the video started, seeing not only Stan Rogers but Ryan’s Fancy, a trio of Irish expats hailing from Newfoundland. They used to have their own TV show when I was a child and that was in the 1970’s. Great combination, hearing them all together. Many thanks from a Maritimer.
Thanks so much. This was one of my favorites. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
big song in the Canadian Navy i was in the states when he died he died in Cinncinati on the runway of the airport
we sang this all the time on the ship
I just read the same Wikipedia article today. When I first heard of him in the mid-80's, I knew he was gone, but I didn't know what happened. I'll admit, I shed some tears for him today. I love his music, as well as that of his brother, Garnet Rogers.
Garnet imo is a better lyricist than Stan. Stan had undeniable presence though.
I was lucky enough to have been in the audience to hear Stan....Mary Ellen Carter is always the final song at the folk festival each year. I have been at the lunch table with both Friends of Fiddlers Green and Stan's brother Garnet at the festival.
Being from Halifax this is one of my favourite songs ever. Sang it many times at the Lower Deck.....
@John F I loved this one! Thank you. There is a Newfoundland group I love and have seen many times. "Buddy Wasisname and the other Fellers" They do a wonderful mix of traditional Newfoundland folk songs, comedy songs and comedy skits. Some of my favorite traditional songs are "by the Glow of the Kerosene Light" "Sara" "Hellish when you got no Baccy" and "Mr. McGuire". Some of their comedy songs are "Time to murder the Duck" "The gravel pits" "Peeing in the Snow". And some of my favorite Comedy skits include "Da Vette", Da Yammie", "Da Mower", "Da Chopper" and "Da BBQ". I also love "My Dog Pattsy". All hilarious if you can get through the purposefully thick Newfie accent. Thanks for what you do John I really love this channel and look forward to and watch every new upload. Cheers!
Or Irish Descendants The Rankin Family, Ron Hynes, Great Big Sea...
Youd would love the Stan rogers festival held out here every year...great weekend
‘Mary Ellen Cater’ best song ever!! Whenever I hear it I just want to stop what I’m doing and go build a boat!! 💯 ooh and his song the Bluenose!! What a gem!!!
Stan Rogers and Ryan's Fancy sitting at a table blasting out tunes together👍
Stan Rogers is my all time favorite singer. And that's saying a lot being raised on Stan, Gordon Lightfoot, and so many other amazing Canadian artists. Not to mention hundreds of amazing artists from all over the world.
I saw Stan's son Nathan do a tour of his dad's music years ago. He's also an excellent performer. Seeing such a performance (he sounds a LOT like Stan) in Stan's building (the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax) was spine chilling. Thanks for this one.
ruclips.net/video/8KQBjxj6gd8/видео.html
Being from the Maritimes this is a classic song that is also played in bars with the whole bar signing. May I also recommend Great Big Sea/Allan Doyle for more current folk music from Newfound Land.
I second this.
Yes!!
Yes, a true Maritime classic!
Sitting in the Lower Deck pub on the Halifax waterfront singing this song with friends. Great memories. Blurry, but great.
John, you are very welcome to the Maritimes. You and your family would love it here! Lots of variety in its natural beauty, uncrowded beaches, history, music, fine fish and seafood and French Acadian, Mi'kmaq, Irish and Scottish culture among others and friendly folks! There is very popular Stan Rogers Music Festival held every year in Guysborough in his honour. I do hope you make it here for summer vacation one day. We're not that far away, after all!
Oh my, a cherished memory is sitting down front at the nighttime stage at Vancouver Folk Music festival in the drizzling rain, watching Stan Rogers sing this and The Mary Ellen Carter with steam rising from his bald head under the stage lights.
My favourite teacher of all was Ian Masters from England and he introduced me to Stan Rogers.
Stan is an icon in the Canadian folk music scene, and holds a particular place in the hearts of the military (that maritime tradition). His albums took you across Canada, from the Maritimes, to The Prairies and the West and back home to Ontario, each album having a very different styling and feel to them ("Northwest Passage" a little bit country, "From Fresh Water" a little more rock & roll). Only 10 albums and one CD compilation set in total, half of them released posthumously.
His brother Garnet continues to tour and perform, although he's slowed down a bit these past few years. Garnet's style is a bit different, with a more modern style incorporating some R&B, bluegrass and even classical. I highly recommend his albums "Small Victories" and "Summer Lightning".
I just love Summer Lightening...Garnet imo is a better lyricist but Stan was such a powerful presence.
He was a wonderful story teller, with his deep resonance, along time favorite of mine. Check out “The Mary-Ellen Carter”. For some of his more whist full, “The Scarborough Settler’s Lament”, and a real emotion ringer, “First Christmas Away From Home”.
Thanks for discovering this great performer, a new subscriber .
If you were raised observing Christmas en famille and "First Christmas Away From Home" doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you're lost and have to touch ground again.
Stan Rogers is missed ..I live in a small fishing village in Nova Scotia and I believe both Stans parents are from Atlantic Canada I know his mom was just up the coast a ways from me in Canso and being so close to Cape Breton is why the celtic type music ... Stan spent most of his summers in Nova Scotia and taverns here still play a lot of his music ..
May I also suggest Mary Ellen Carter? Please? I love the words, the theme and even the time signature of it. It’s in 5/3 time.
By the way, Stan was on his way home from having just performed at the famous Kerrville folk festival. Most observers agree that the contacts he made there would have led him to fame in the U.S. and beyond. This year will mark 40 years since the crash...
SO long ago.
There are tons of great Canadian folksingers.( besides Stan!) .....Bruce Cockburn......Garnet Rogers......James Keelaghan.......are three of my favorites......Im American.....
John the table and chairs were used as a symbol of a traditional Maritimes Kitchen Party. Down east most houses did not have the luxury of a living room as the houses were too small to afford it. However the kitchens were very large and that is where there was lots of cooking, drinking and partying going on all the time. Most front doors were never closed and it was just understood you could show up with a 6 or 12 pack of beer and you musical instrument and join in with song. Often it was the same with a wedding. No invites just show up. I was raised in beautiful Nova Scotia.
I love this part of the culture. Amazing.
My kids learned this in the mid 80s and loved being able to sing goddamm them all
So, so cool you found this!! Stan Rogers is a legend!! He left way before he should have!!
John, my family is from Nova Scotia and Altho I wasn’t born there I spend many summers there!! This sort of music is everywhere in the maritimes! I grew up with music like this, almost every night, being played and sung live in my living room! This video reminds me of being a kid!! I love it!!
Well John, as you can tell by the remarks left here you have opened up a Great Big can of Canadian Music History with Stan Rogers! In my book he is a Canadian Legend and it breaks my heart every time I see something like the video like you played here. I absolutely love everything he sang and my only wish with Stan is that he was still with us. Some people like to refer to Northwest Passage as Canada's unofficial National Anthem and it is a classic. There is a Documentary(and maybe more than one) about Stan which might be something you can look into(I don't remember the name as I write this) and I can say that this is one subscriber who will be looking forward to anything about Stan Rogers that you post. Thank you so much for this one. It broke my heart just a little but I also enjoyed the hell out of it!! Cheers
Hey Jim. I've seen the documentary you mention and I think it is called One Warm Line.
Yeah, it’s bittersweet, even for me knowing I stumbled upon some great that so many of you love only to find out he had a tragic end. But in some ways, since he only had a limited time to create his art, it makes what he left behind that much more of a rare treasure.
hes a Canadian legend
Stan Rogers and Gordon Lightfoot are at the pinnacle of Canadian composers / singers of ballads that usually speak of Canadian values. There are many songs that Stan wrote but I'll recommend just three of my favourites: Forty-five Years; The Last Watch; and Lies. I'm sure that you will enjoy them.
Thanks for the suggestion. I want to get back to him again soon. So many musicians to cover let alone historical and other cultural topics. I am so enjoying this journey.
An open mic I used to go to in Newfoundland would have one guy lead this, and about a dozen other people singing around three mics, with the crowd singing back to it on the chorus.
Another open mic in Toronto, at one of the first outings of said open mic, our group of friends sang it as well, with each person leading one verse.
Fun pub song in Canada, everyone at an Celtic-themed bar seems to know it and sing along.
Many years ago I was hitching through Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, heading towards Alexander Graham Bell's historic house, Beinn Bhreagh, in the village of Baddeck [Badaig in Canadian Gaelic, La Bedeque in French, but the name is actually from the Mi'kmaq language]. It was here that Bell oversaw the first powered heavier-than-air flight of the Silver Dart in 1909. His innovations made the airplane a practical device. While hitching, I noticed how easy it was to get rides, and how wonderful the people were. But I'll never forget the man who picked me up and invited me to a home-cooked supper. As soon as the dishes were cleared from the table, the family broke out the fiddles and began to sing and play. They sang English songs, and Gaelic songs, and Acadian French songs (with obligatory clicking spoons). They weren't professional musicians, just Cape Bretoners doing what Cape Bretoners do. If you want to know why so many famous Canadian musicians come from that part of the country, there's your answer.
Canadian folk music is overwhelmingly Celtic in origins, and not just from the hordes of Scottish and Irish settlers. The French settlers of the earliest times came from the west coast of France, and a good portion of them from Brittany, where people spoke Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh. In Brittany, the traditional instruments were the fiddle and the "bidou", a small bagpipe. That's why the island is called "Cape Breton". The folk music of early French Canadians and Acadians was already Celtic as hell, even before the Scots and Irish arrived to kick it into Celtic Hyperdrive.
Stan Rogers came to Ottawa in the summer of '82. I had never heard of him. My sister called me up and told me "You have to see this guy." She was right. I became a fan and bought all of his recordings I could find. I served in Palestine with a U.S. Army officer who, on learning that I had brought Stan Rogers tapes with me, begged me to lend them to him so that he could copy them. (In return, he lent me John Prine tapes.)
Check out "Below" by Slaid Cleaves. I was doing some research on Arnold's Expedition to Quebec (through the Maine wilderness) and read about the town of Flagstaff, Maine in an officer's old journal, and then I found this song which tells a story of the town from much later.
My vote is to suggest the song Mary Ellen Carter. It clips along and is fun to sing but will I remember all the words in the right order (I just have to remember it tells a story), and will my fingers be able to play the instrumental part as fast as the song is going?!!! I think Stan played it on a 12 string guitar. Stan also wrote a song called Free In The Harbour and the story is that after Stan died, the great folk singer/writer Eric Bogle (writer of 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'), wrote his song Safe In The Harbour in memory of Stan.
My other favorite folk singer. A Scot who emigrated to Australia and was a fan of Stan's too.
He has been here in the Maritimes and Canada on a sort of pilgrimage to Stan Rogers. And on CBC Radio too!
Some classics in that video for sure! Fergus o Byrne is a Classic Newfoundlander from Ireland that’s been in Newfoundland for years bringing his art of singing. Shout out from Newfoundland!
Search ryans fancy! you’ll like them
I've heard this song is kind of an anthem for the Royal Canadian Navy. Other must-hear songs by him are "The Mary Ellen Carter" and "Northwest Passage." See if you can hear him singing "The Witch of the Westmereland" and "MacDonnell on the Heights" (about the Battle of Queenston Heights). He's really become the voice of this country.
I love T
McDonnell on the he Heights...and the story is accurate, historically on point. Brock hated Canada and was trying to get back to England when the war began.
Yes you may and thank you very much for the suggestion.
I strongly encourage you to take a deep dive into Stan's music! For a man who lived such a tragically short life, he had such a large and impressive body of music. I honestly believe that if he lived even 5 or 10 years longer, he would've been a household name like Gordon Lightfoot or Joni Mitchell. His music was pure poetry!
Along with Stan's own band-members in this video... he's accompanied by a great trio from my home province of Newfoundland called Ryan's Fancy. I grew up on Stan Rogers and Ryan's Fancy. Fergus O'Byrne (the guy with the round glasses) from Ryan's Fancy still plays live here in St. John's, NL. He still sounds great
There is a music festival in Truro, Nova Scotia bearing his name... Great Big Sea carried on the Barrett's Privateers in their rotation of uniquely Maritime sea-faring music... Check them out as well! Alan Doyle is a legend in his own right!
Ryan the festival is in Canso,the Truro festival is for Dutchy Mason, a blues singer
Actually in Canso, Nova Scotia.
John, I'm an old (Canadian) hirl who reaĺly a Heinz 57 as we say here in Canada. On my father's side I'm Polish and Ukraianian. On my mother's side I'm English and Scottish. But I will NEVER forget being here at the CNE on a large grounds and having the Scottish tattoo enter the grounds one troup or tattò at a time, one behimd the other ALL playing Amazing Grace as they marched onto the field. I'm only 1/4 Scottish but the tears streamed diwn my face. It was a proud and honourable moment here in Toronto
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the more we hear the more we learn how much we don't know and how much we have missed.
check out schooner fare
There is an annual Stan Roger festival in Canso, Nova Scotia, always good attendance and lots of great music and fun
My cousin and I used to sing this song every Thursday night when going out for beer and pizza.
I wish I could hang with you with this song and beer and pizza. I might be a pizza snob being from NY though. Fair warning.
Thanks for this, as a man from Hamilton, Ontario.
I grew up in Nova Scotia, his music is loved in Canada. Every Sumner, there is an music festival called Stanfest... outdoor music festival, you would love it. All the hotels and campgrounds book out 6 months in advance.
I would absolutely love it.
You might get a kick out of a video + music called "The Log Drivers Waltz". This was done by the National Film Board of Canada. It's a lot of fun; before the internet we used to see it on tv. It was quite the treat to see it!
Working with the Canadian Coast Guard, the Maritime provinces are very much like New England states! Very friendly people , Halifax and St. John’s are very great places for live bands. Sorry if I missed any other amazing cities in the maritimes.
Classic kitchen party.
Love the kitchen parties. I think I have some maritimer in my spirit.
Great video and reaction! Vancouver is pretty far from the Atlantic Provinces but we still have the Celtic/Irish influence - Spirit of the West - probably best know for "Home for a rest' written about their first tour of the UK. It has been named one of the best Canadian drinking songs ever.
Yeah, Stan passed away getting people outside an Air Canada flight that had caught fire. A true legend and hero.
He was amazing. “Only the good die young.”
So one of the singers in this video is Fergus O'Byrne. When I was a kid , Fergus was a school teacher. He taught music at St. Peter's Elementary School! He was an amazing teacher!
St. Peter's in Mount Pearl Newfoundland. Please look it up!
RIP
Stan Rogers
(1949-1983)
A victim of smoke inhalation onboard Air Canada Flight 797 after it safely landed at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Boone County, Kentucky due to an in-flight fire.
Stan Rogers fan and big folk music nut here. Volunteered at the Calgary Folk Festival for years, and in 2001 my wife and I were at the Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton Folk festivals. We called that summer "2001, a Folk Odyssey" 🙂
Never saw Stan perform live but I've seen Garnet a few times, and I've seen Nathan perform on the Stan Rogers stage at the Canmore Folk Festival. The closing songs on the final night where many of the performers join together are Stan's song The Mary Ellen Carter, and Ian Tyson's Four Strong Winds.
I know you'll get lots of comments for other great Stan Rogers songs. I have a few suggestions from other performers.
In the shanty tradition;
Excursion Around the Bay - Great Big Sea, a modern folk band recording a song that was around a century old when they played it
The Coaltown Road - The Barra McNeils
Sonny's Dream - Ron Hynes, a folk music giant from Newfoundland
Peter's Dream - Lennie Gallant, another maritime musician with a great selection of songs who can captivate a room with just his songs, his voice and his guitar
A couple from the other coast of Canada;
Bamfield's John Vanden- a lovely shanty written for his great-uncle by Chris Frye of the band The Bills. This song has become very popular among the folk community in this part of the world.
Rock's at Thieves Bay by Spirit of the West - as a west coast sailor, this is always on my sailing music playlist.
I also suggest David Francey - Flowers of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan? What's that got to do with maritime folk? This song is totally in the folk tradition of story telling, written about the Dieppe landing in the Second World War. David is a winner of 3 Juno's and 3 Canadian Folk Music Awards. A deep, deep catalog of original songs. I have seen him perform live numerous times and I have seen first hand the respect he gets for his song writing from other bands like Oysterband.
Last, but certainly not least - The Rankin Family in their various combinations as groups or solo performers. They do many traditional folk songs, one of their most popular songs is You Feel the Same Way Too, and I can't listen to Rise Again with the vocals of Raylene Rankin without choking up.
Thank you for the love.