Jack Semple will perform shows featuring Gordon Lightfoot songs in Vernon on Feb. 2 and 3. (submitted image)

By Kevin Rothwell

Two shows in Vernon

A legacy of Lightfoot comes to Vernon

Jan 12, 2024 | 6:30 AM

Fans of Gordon Lightfoot will soon have a chance to truly experience Lightfoot in Vernon.

Regina blues and guitar legend Jack Semple is performing his tribute to the Canadian music icon at two shows in February.

Lightfoot passed away May 1, 2023. The singer-songwriter and guitarist achieved international success in folk, folk rock and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 70s. He has been referred to as Canada’s greatest songwriter and his songs have been recorded by some of the world’s most renowned musical artists.

“His name is synonymous with timeless songs about trains and shipwrecks, rivers and highways, lovers and loneliness,” Lightfoot’s biographer, Nicholas Jennings, said.

He won 16 Juno awards, was nominated for five Grammy awards, and received dozens of other accolades including being inducted into the “Songwriters Hall of Fame.”

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Semple, who is also a Juno award winner, brings his virtuosic guitar skills and a supporting cast of world class musicians to these special concerts.

Interest is high in Lightfoot with the recent release of the documentary – If You Could Read My Mind on CBC and other television and streaming services.

“A few us watched the documentary the other night, and we have also been watching Jack Semple tribute videos. Lightfoot fans are in for a real treat when Jack Semple plays in Vernon on February 2 and 3 – you will want to get tickets to these concerts,” Katie Dahl, owner of 1516 Pub and Grill and one of the shows promoters, stated.

Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is now streaming on CBC Gem.

Semple, spent most of his life listening to and looking up to Lightfoot, and later got a chance to connect with him personally.

“He was one of my first heroes as a young guitar player,” Semple recalled.
“I tried to learn his music. I listened to his records. I was a devotee of his music. There’s lots of great guitar-playing on his records, and not to mention the brilliant songwriting.”

The first concert Semple ever saw was a live performance by Lightfoot back in the late ’60s s or early ’70s.

Semple followed Lightfoot’s career closely over the decades, and the music resonated with Semple to the point where he decided to record a cover album. He said he was able to give a copy of the album to Lightfoot himself during a concert in 2007.

“I did a tribute album of Gordon Lightfoot pieces, all instrumental guitar versions,” he said. “He happened to be playing at the casino in Regina while I was in the process of making it, so I talked my way backstage and got to meet him and give him a copy of my work in progress. He was very gracious and promised to listen to it.”

Lightfoot did listen to the cover album, and Semple said Lightfoot called him personally two weeks later to share his thoughts.
“He said he listened to all the pieces and said he liked nine of them, except for one of them I should try again – a song called ‘Don Quixote’ – he said it ‘sounded like a bit of a handful,’” Semple said. “I hung up the phone and I was so thrilled to have just talked to Gordon Lightfoot.

“I listened to my version of ‘Don Quixote’ again and I thought to myself, ‘It was pretty good.’ The phone then rang again and it was Gordon and he said he just listened to ‘Don Quixote’ again and said ‘It was pretty good; I wouldn’t redo it.’ I had just got a ringing endorsement from the author, so that was a big thrill for me.”

There are two shows planned: an intimate 100 ticket event at 1516 Pub and Grill on Friday February 2 (tickets are $75). The Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre is the venue for a larger public show on Friday, February 3, with tickets for $30 and $55.

For ticket information, check Ticketseller and Eventbrite.