Tom recorded his "Icarus" (different from the Anne Lister and Paul Winter songs of the same name) on "How Come the Sun," an LP from the early-1970s on Reprise that's been out-of-print for many years.

In 1969, when I was 15 and in high school, I went to a folk concert in a big gym at McGill University in Montreal that was billed as a blanket concert. Most of the people sat on blankets on the gym floor. There was one long bench at the back of the gym. Being there alone, I sat on the bench.

The first half of the concert was a series of short sets by the cream of local performers: Penny Lang, Bruce Murdoch, Jesse Winchester and a couple of others. The singing MC was Tex König.

Sitting next to me on the bench was man of about 30. We struck up a conversation, and he made some good suggestions to me about folk music performers and records I might enjoy. At the intermission, he said his goodbye and left.

To start the second half, Tex came on stage and introduced "the man we'd all been waiting for...TOM PAXTON!" and, to my surprise, out comes this guy I'd been talking to all night.

Tom, to say the least, was wonderful that night. And it was that concert, more than any other that set me on the path that continues to this day.

Years later, when I was running a folk club in Montreal, Tom did annual concerts there and we became friends. A friendship, I'm pleased to say, that still endures.

And Tom remains one of my very favorite performers and songwriters.

Mike Regenstreif