Barry Keane is the long-time drummer from Gordon Lightfoot’s band. I mean 50 plus years long time! Barry joined Gordon as the only touring drummer ever in the band in 1972. Bassist Rick Haynes joined in 1968! Keyboard player Mike Heffernan was a latecomer in 1981 as was guitarist Carter Lancaster (recruited after the death of Terry Clements). This is the band who recorded and performed all those hits of Gordon Lightfoot, Canada’s revered singer-songwriter. They will be at the Iron Horse on 4/24 for their only New England appearance. Of course, Gordon passed on 5/1/2023 and the band convened to consider how to continue to showcase these amazing songs. They chose long-time friend of the band Andy Mauck to sing and play rythm guitars (Same guitars as Gord! Gibson B45 and Martin D-18)

The result is a triumphant return to these amazing songs like “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Early Morning Rain”, “Carefree Highway”, “Sundown” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Many more hits and deep cuts will be in the setlist at the Iron Horse on Thursday 4/24. My chat with Barry Keane was a joy for a Lightfoot fan like myself and anyone curious about the legacy of these songs. I began with “Rainy Day People” and began a discussion about Keane’s carreer which includes over 400 sessions for albums, an Oscar for the film “Last of the Mohicans”, appearing in a Budweiser commercial!, as well as having a record label named after him! All this even before Gordon’s studio engineer asked him to sit in on “Old Dan’s Records” in 1972. Keane told some amazing stories about recording sessions and world-wide tours as well as some insights about the man himself. We finish this amazing segment in musical history with the story about the recording (almost not) of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.

Details at LightfootBand.com and IronHorse.org for details.