I don't know if anyone is still watching this thread, but I will add one Monte Dunn story. First of all, I am saddened to hear of his passing. Far too many of that generation are going, and soon we will all be minor entries in the history books.
I hung around the Buffalo coffee houses, and I even managed one for a while: The Boar's Head (aka The Golden Boar) on Pearl Street. The Limelight was a couple of blocks over, and the hub of activity was Laughlin's Bar, but that is a whole other bunch of stories...
Jerry Raven owned the Limelight, and he also owned a coffee house near UB that I can't remember the name of... The Ninth Circle? Lots of good people hung out there, and that is where my one Monte Dunn story took place.
Steve Mann had just finished a set when a strange man walked in and started greeting everybody like old friends. I asked who it was and Gary Faulmann said it was Monte Dunn, guitarist for Ian and Sylvia. Monte sat down and chatted until Steve came off the stage, and Monte asked Steve if he could try his 12 string. It was a brand new Guild, if I remember correctly, and Steve handed it to Monte with a bit of reluctance. Monte proceeded to play, talk, smoke and mostly play for over half an hour. Regardless of what his mind and voice were doing, his hands kept weaving the most mesmerizing thirty minutes of music I had ever heard. He played so hard that he broke two strings on the guitar, and it did not slow him down a bit. Steve Mann did not say a word. He was just as mesmerized as every one else. It was a special moment, and I will never forget it. There were some amazing guitarists in the room that night, and they all deferred to Monte.
A little later Monte left, and I never saw him again.
Not much of a story I know, but I was listening to "Early Morning Rain" today,and Monte's name popped into my head. I have read all of the posts in this thread and I see that he contributed far more to the world than backup guitar on a few albums.
My wife and I live on forty acres halfway between Lexington and Louisville KY. I am now a landscape photographer, and those days in Buffalo and Toronto seem very far away, except at 3 AM when I can't sleep, and I pull out a David Blue or Ian and Sylvia album, and then it seems like only yesterday.
My sympathies to all the people who lost a father, husband, companion and mentor.