Making ROOTS AND BRANCHES: “Famous Blue Raincoat”

It came out in 1971, the year I graduated from high school, on Songs of Love and Hate. I was hooked. It manifests a perfect combination of mystery and unintended obfuscation that seems to contain some kind of self-sabotage at the core of one’s being. Cohen continued to play it his…

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Making ROOTS AND BRANCHES: “Driving from Calgary”

I wanted to write a song in the great Canadian indie singer-songwriter folk-roots tradition.  Canada has always had a vibrant folk-roots scene, one that we in the States should know more about.  I began to learn about the scene beyond the obvious international headliners when I was a student at McGill University…

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