Gordon Lightfoot at the Adler Theatre -- July 19.
Monday, July 19, 8 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
After a pair of unanticipated re-schedulings, a bona-fide folk-rock legend makes his eagerly awaited return to Davenport's Adler Theatre on July 19, with the Canadian icon Gordon Lightfoot performing from a repertoire that dates back more than 50 years and boasts such iconic chart-topping hits as “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
As a singer/songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, the 81-year-old Lightfoot is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. Lightfoot's songs, including “For Lovin' Me,” “Early Morning Rain,” “Steel Rail Blues,” “Black Day in July,” and “Ribbon of Darkness” – the latter of which became a number-one hit on the U.S. country chart when Marty Robbins performed a cover version in 1965 – brought the artist widespread recognition in the 1960s. Canadian-chart success with his own recordings began in 1962 with the number-three hit “(Remember Me) I'm the One,” followed by recognition and charting abroad in the 1970s. He topped Billboard's U.S. Hot 100 with 1970's “If You Could Read My Mind,” 1974's “Sundown” and “Carefree Highway,” 1975's “Rainy Day People,” and 1976's “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and had numerous additional hits that all landed in Billboard's Top 40.
To date, Lightfoot's discography comprises 19 studio albums, three live albums, 16 greatest-hits albums, and 46 singles. Robbie Robertson of The Band once described Lightfoot as “a national treasure,” while Bob Dylan called him one of his favorite songwriters and, in an often-quoted tribute, observed that when he heard a Lightfoot song, he wished “it would last forever.” Lightfoot was a featured musical performer at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta, and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1979 and the Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003. In November of 1997, Lightfoot was bestowed the Governor General's Performing Arts Award – Canada's highest honor in the performing arts and in February of 2012, the artist was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. In June of that year,e was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Beyond his astounding 16 Juno Awards, Lightfoot has received five Grammy nominations and induction into Canada's Walk of Fame, and has even had his visage appear on a Canadian postage stamp.
Gordon Lightfoot performs locally at 8 p.m. on July 19, admission is $30-75, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting AdlerTheatre.com.
