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Biographies |
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Stan Rogers touched the lives of countless people through not
just his musical output, but also his continuing support of
friends, colleagues, and fans that he met or worked with
during his lifetime. It's only fitting that the biographical
details we present here come from three of these individuals.
Select a bio:
Stan Rogers: A Short Biography (Emily
Friedman)
Stan Rogers: Folksinger/Songwriter
(Gene Wilburn)
Stan Rogers: A Tribute (Stephen Ide) |
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Stan Rogers: A Short Biography |
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By Emily Friedman |
A child of Maritime stock on both sides of his family,
Stan Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ont. on November 29,
1949. He grew to be a big man-six feet four-built like a
fire truck, and posessed of a voice that rumbled from
his toes. He could bluff and bellow yet was at heart a
poet and intellect who would, often as not, sneak away
from a gathering to curl up with a book. He made friends
and enemies easily, gaining the former for life and
often, in time, converting the latter.
He became a songwriter too, working as a rock bassist
while still a teenager and later embracing the folk
idiom. After a few years as a more-or-less conventional
folkie songwriter, he discovered his real gift. After
some persuasion by his Aunt June in Canso Nova Scotia,
he began to write songs about his familial home...his
roots. Those early songs found their way on to Stan's
first album, Fogarty's Cove, and he was on his way. From
that point forward, Stan's best writing was about the
Canadian experience. His songs gave a new voice to
ordinary folks who worked the fisheries, mines and farms
of this vast country.
Stan was a passionate Canadian partisan, and much of his
short creative life was taken up with song cycles that
chronicled the East, the Plains, the West and finally
the Great Lakes and Ontario. It was a natural
progression for a wanderer...to scan a continent and
finally return to write of the wonders of home.
He was always on the road pursuing his dream of
establishing a national identity for Canadian
songwriting. It was a dream fulfilled; through his
constant soaring, dynamic performances, and brilliant
songs, he was known throughout most of the
English-speaking folk music world. Stan died in a fire
on Air Canada flight 797 at Cincinnati, Ohio airport on
June 2nd, 1983. He was returning from a folk festival in
Kerrville, Texas. Memorials and honours were numerous in
the months that followed and in May, 1984 he was
posthumously awarded the Diplôme d'Honneur by the
Canadian Conference of the Arts.
His music continues to amaze, amuse and inspire people
from all walks of life. It has appeared in several
poetry anthologies, been used in films, plays and
musicals, and has been referred to as "one of the
touchstones of modern Canadian history."
Emily Friedman was the publisher of Come For to Sing
out of Chicago, a magazine for which Stan Rogers was a
regular contributor.TOP |
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Stan Rogers: Folksinger/Songwriter |
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By Gene Wilburn |
Many fans consider Stan Rogers the greatest Canadian
folksinger ever, and the loss due to his death in an
airline disaster in 1983 is still felt deeply. Every
folk collection should contain a selection of Stan
Rogers recordings. With assistance from his wonderful
musicians, especially his brother Garnet, who adds magic
to song after song with his fiddle playing, Stan created
some of the finest folk music on record. If you're like
most people who discover his music, you'll probably end
up purchasing all the albums in his too-brief
discography. Rogers is a memorial member of the
Porcupine Awards Hall of Fame.
Rogers' ascent in popularity began with his discovery of
the songwriting potential of the Canadian Maritimes, his
ancestral home. He plumbed the history and character of
Maritimes fishing and mining villages in his outstanding
debut album, Fogarty's Cove. The album is filled to the
brim with what are now Stan Rogers classics, such as
"Forty-Five Years," "Fogarty's Cove," "Barrett's
Privateers," and "Make And Break Harbour." Rogers'
second album, Turnaround, is a little patchier,
containing such gems as "The Bluenose" and "The Jeannie
C.", but also containing some rougher, early material
that shows a developing Stan Rogers rather than the
later, mature artist. Between The Breaks...Live!, one of
two live albums in Rogers' discography, is a classic
that provides a good blend of Stan's original material
mixed well with that of other songwriters. His cover of
Archie Fisher's "Witch Of The Westmorland" is one of the
album's highlights. The version of "Barrett's
Privateers" on this album is considered by many to be
definitive.
From the opening, achingly beautiful a cappella
"Northwest Passage" to the gently lingering "California"
that rounds out the album, Northwest Passage may be
Rogers' finest work. It continues his exploration of the
songwriting possibilities of Canada, this time the
Canadian prairies and Canadian West. The album features
some of his strongest lyrics: "Lies," "Free In The
Harbour," "The Field Behind The Plow," "The Idiot," and,
of course, "Northwest Passage." Interspersed between
Northwest Passage and From Fresh Water is Stan's "fun"
album, For The Family on which he performs the
traditional music his musically-talented family grew up
on. A tribute to his roots, Family provides an insight
into the direction Rogers might have taken. This was the
first, and only, album he produced himself. He dispensed
with the background strings, returning to a plainer,
more traditional folk sound. From Fresh Water, released
posthumously, was Rogers' last major project--a set of
songs he wrote about the Great Lakes region of Canada
where he was raised. His song cycles about Canada had
come full circle, back to his home. The album includes
some great Rogers' compositions, including
"Lock-Keeper," "White Squall," "The Last Watch," and
"The Nancy." It also displays a rarer side of Rogers--a
pair of protest songs: "Tiny Fish For Japan," and "The
House Of Orange." Ten years after Stan's death,
Fogarty's Cove Music posthumously released a concert
recorded in 1982 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Home In
Halifax, a superb live recording, preserves the essence
of a Stan Rogers concert performance, including snatches
of stage patter. It catches Garnet Rogers' engaging
humour, and, arguably, the best version of "Barrett's
Privateers" on all of Stan's albums. It also includes a
previously unrecorded Stan Rogers song, "Sailor's Rest."
This selection is an excerpt from Northern Journey: A
Guide to Canadian Folk Music, Reference Press, 1995.
Copyright © By Gene Wilburn. ISBN 0-919981-45-3. For
more information, see
Northern Journey Online.TOP |
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Stan Rogers: A Tribute |
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by Stephen Ide, The Patriot Ledger |
When Stan Rogers died in 1983, a piece of Canada died
with him, and the folk community was stunned. His
resounding baritone, saturated with emotion, embodied
the spirit of the fisherman, the farmer, the working
man, the common man. His unique portraits of the
Maritimes, western Canada and the Great Lakes region
grabbed you by the heart and pulled you in.
A towering figure, balding and bearded, Stanley Allison
Rogers loved not only performing, but the people in his
songs. Stories about people living near him affected
him; details of their lives became elements of his
songs.
Though his music has been available for years, it is now
being made available on CD. In addition, Ariel Rogers
said she is trying to gather usable material from her
husband's tapes to issue more. From Fresh Water, Rogers'
last album, is the first in a series of five remastered
releases on CD. Roger's first LP, Fogarty's Cove, is
expected to be next, Ariel Rogers said.
From Freshwater, recorded 1982-83, is a tribute to the
Great Lakes region. It reveals the full depth of Rogers'
cavernous vocals. From "The Nancy," a recounting of a
lake battle in the War of 1812, to the sad, poignant
vocals of "The Last Watch," about the retirement of man
and boat, Rogers' songs are true to their historical
content. An avid reader, he researched many songs
extensively or drew upon observations.
Rogers' mother, Valerie, runs the family's record
business. She said Stan wanted to learn about the fresh
water fishermen and arranged a trip on a Turtleback boat
on Lake Erie in 1981. When he returned, she asked what
he had learned: "I learned not to throw up into the
wind," he said, according to Mrs. Rogers, who added that
he generally had a cast- iron stomach. He then wrote
"Tiny Fish for Japan," about inland fishermen out of
work.
If the CD of From Fresh Water is an indication, some of
the sound problems inherent on earlier releases have
been resolved. But, while the CD version is better than
the vinyl, it's not remarkably better, largely because
the music was typically over-produced and the CDs were
not remixed.
Rogers' music is available from Silo/Alcazar, Box 429,
Waterbury, Vt. 05676, 800-541-9904, or Valerie
Enterprises, 1051 Woodburn Rd., RR#1 Hannon, Ontario
(416)-692-4020, and also Fogarty's Cove Music.
An excellent mix can be found on the CD "For the
Family," a self-produced album released just before
Rogers' death. It contains songs written by family
members and others.
Also available is the video documentary release One Warm
Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers, a CBC production with
interviews with Stan and video of some performances.
Though only 45 minutes, it features some of his best,
from "The Mary Ellen Carter" and "Northwest Passage" to
"Barrett's Privateers," with stirring footage. The CD
releases of Rogers' other albums, Turnaround, Between
the Breaks...Live and Northwest Passage will be along as
production allows, Ariel Rogers said.
Rogers downplayed his guitar-playing abilities, though
he was capable and often used unusual tunings. But it
was his crafted lyrics and voice -- that grew like a low
rumble from a distant engine to a raucous bellow -- that
drew admirers.
"In the last couple of years he was alive, he was really
getting a sense he had found his path or metier," said
his brother, Garnet. "He realized he was also getting
the approval and appreciation from his peers, not just
the audience.
Stan Rogers' music affected many. Eric Bogle and John
Gorka dedicated songs to him. Gorka remembered meeting
him on Friday, Dec. 6, 1980, at the Godfrey Daniels
coffeehouse in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Rogers' songs
left an indelible impression on him. "They aren't just
songs, they're literature. They're rich with detail and
full of life," Gorka said recently. "They are songs you
felt like you could learn something from."
"For every song that he was coming out with he was
trying to explore and explain something about the human
condition," Garnet Rogers said. Garnet is enjoying his
own success as a singer-songwriter, after at least 10
years of singing and performing with his brother and
arranging the music.
Stan, in April 1982, wrote that "no other person can
claim to be so much of an influence on my music, or so
indispensible to what I do as Garnet."
As children, the Rogers were surrounded by many styles
of music. Their uncles sang and played guitar. Garnet
said he and Stan got their voices from their father,
Nathan, a bricklayer. Stan got his first guitar at 5,
built by an uncle out of birch plywood, welding rods and
a toothbrush. Intellectually ahead of his peers by high
school, Rogers began playing music in earnest.
By the mid-'70s, he was commissioned to work on Canadian
Broadcast Corporation documentaries on aspects of
Canadian life. Though raised in rural Hannon, Ontario,
Rogers spent summers with family in Nova Scotia, and
became influenced by the lives of fishermen and the sea.
In 1977 Fogarty's Cove contained many songs written for
CBC recordings: "Make and Break Harbour," about the hard
life of inshore fishermen, and "The Rawdon Hills," about
inland gold mining. It also had his raucus sea chanty,
"Barrett's Privateers."
But the first album caused some confusion, associating
Rogers as a Maritimes writer. "We were coming from
'away' (a name for outsiders) and going to the Maritimes
and singing songs about dying Maritime culture...They
wanted to hear Hank Williams," Garnet Rogers said. Then
we'd come back to Ontario and play the club circuit, the
coffeehouses, and they would see us as being a real
Maritime act."
In 1978, Turnaround, was less thematic. It featured one
of Rogers favorites, "The Jeannie C," about the loss of
a boat and a fisherman's spirit. The tender "Song of the
Candle," was written in 1972 when Rogers was enriching
his repertoire among a group of London, Ontario
musicians, known as the London Mafia, that included folk
singers Doug MacArthur and Willie P. Bennett.
By 1979, Between the Breaks...Live became Rogers' only
live album, featuring the inspiring "Mary Ellen Carter,"
the tale of a man who, against all odds, had the verve
to raise a sunken ship: "And you to whom adversity has
dealt the final blow/With smiling bastards lying to you
everywhere you go/Turn to, and put out all your strength
of arm and heart and brain/And, like the Mary Ellen
Carter, rise again!"
In 1981, Northwest Passage unveiled a new side of
Rogers. He was taking his music to western Canada and
the Yukon. There, he watched a Saskatchewan farmer
plowing fields into the early morning for "Field Behind
the Plow," and sang an anthem to farmers' wife in
"Lies."
On June 2, 1983, Rogers was headed home from the
Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. A fire started in the
restroom on Air Canada flight 797. It was forced to land
in the Greater Cincinatti Airport. Rogers was one of 23
people who died of smoke inhalation. He was 33.
Reprinted with permission of
Stephen Ide.
This article ran in The Patriot Ledger, a daily
newspaper just south of Boston. |
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For Your Bookshelf |
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Chris Gudgeon's book, 'Northwest Passage' (formerly 'An
Unfinished Conversation') includes further insight into
Stan's life and work. |
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Get your copy |
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Stan Rogers Recordings |
View details & listen to clips from Stan's recordings. |
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