Lightfoot is part "sea shanty", part country, part folk, very masculine and outdoorsy. He is at his best with picking songs in which the notes stand alone and there is a richness to the band behind him, with bass and rhythm and lots of guitars. I don't feel that he found his style until the 1970s. I think his voice was at its best as an instrument at that time too. Until then, he was playing '60s folk that everyone else was playing with arrangements that didn't suit him and that tried to sound like pop songs of the time. In the '60s, he sang in too high a key and now his voice has changed dramatically on the higher side.

I love that there is a very sly sense of humor and sexuality in songs like "Sundown", "Slide on Over" and "The Watchman's Gone".   The 12-string guitar songs just impress me with the overall musicianship. The ballads with string arrangements are the most beautiful. Canadian Railroad Trilogy is fantastic story-telling on an epic level. It has a gorgeous arrangement musically also.

My favorites albums are in this order (I own every album and every box set):

1. Sundown
2. Cold on the Shoulder
3. Summer Side of Life
4. Don Quixote
5. Summertime Dream
6. Old Dan's Records

"Gord's Gold" is what my Mom had originally during the '70s when I was a kid. It was what got me hooked in the first place and I wore out the cassette tape making her play it in the car all of the time in Southern California. I will listen to it forever. Now I love to play these CDs in the winter and think about the snow, staying in a cabin and being in the Midwest.

There is no bigger fan of Gordon Lightfoot's work on the planet!