Stan Rogers Anchors a Canadian Style Folk Monday

Folk Monday kicked off with Endless Wire spinning on the turntable — Gordon Lightfoot sounding as warm and familiar as ever. Something about Lightfoot always puts me in a good place, and today it set off a whole chain reaction.

While the album played, I started revising older posts, and the first one that surfaced was my write-up on Dave Gunning’s Lift. I’d forgotten how much I liked that record — and how many East Coast voices Gunning pulls into his work. Here’s the updated post if you want to take a look:

👉 Link to the Dave Gunning / Lift post

All that got me thinking…

The Canadian Connection

Lightfoot led to Gunning, and suddenly I realized how many Canadian voices have shaped my listening over the years. They’re not all alike, but they share that same mix of storytelling, heart, and wide-open Northern landscapes:

Gordon Lightfoot – the foundation
Dave Gunning – modern East Coast voice with Stan Rogers’ storytelling DNA
Ian Tyson – I may need to pull out Cowboyography next
James Keelaghan – one of the finest storytellers working today
Stan Rogers – I knew I had one of his albums somewhere… turned out to be two

And just like that, I was all the way down the Canadian folk rabbit hole — the good kind — which led naturally to putting Stan Rogers on the turntable next.

By this point, I was fully down the Canadian folk rabbit hole — the good kind.

Stan Rogers First on the Turntable

Once I dug a little deeper into my shelves, I found the two Stan Rogers albums I’ve picked up over the last couple of years. First on the turntable: Fogarty’s Cove.

Fogarty’s Cove was Stan’s debut, released in 1977 on Barnswallow Records — a label he later purchased and turned into Fogarty’s Cove Records. My copy is the 1979 pressing on that very label, which feels just right for the music.

While the needle dropped, I realized I never really knew how young Stan was when he died — only that I’d heard Gene Shay mention it years ago. A quick stop at Wikipedia filled in the gaps:

About Stan Rogers

Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983)[1] was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter who sang traditional-sounding songs frequently inspired by Canadian history and the working people’s daily lives, especially from the fishing villages of the Maritime provinces and, later, the farms of the Canadian prairies and Great Lakes.[2] He died in a fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797, grounded at the Greater Cincinnati Airport, at the age of 33. Wikipedia

Before his death in 1983, Stan — with his brother Garnett often co-producing — released five albums. He stayed a staple of the folk community long after, with live releases, tribute concerts, and, of course, the annual Stan Rogers Folk Festival up in Canso, Nova Scotia.

Listening again, it’s easy to be reminded why Stan’s music has stuck around. His baritone, that hint of Celtic phrasing, the DADGAD-tuned guitars — and the songs themselves. “Northwest Passage,” “The Mary Ellen Carter,” “White Squall,” “Make and Break Harbour”… they all still land.

Barrett’s Privateers – from Fogerty’s Cove – Stan Rogers

But the one that always leaps out, no matter how many times I hear it, is “Barrett’s Privateers.” Before I wander any farther down this Canadian trail, here it is — the perfect way to wrap up this Rogers detour.as Remembering Stan Rogers, which peaked at number 36 on the RPM Country Albums chart.

If the day stays at this pace, who knows where I’ll end up — maybe ending the night with Tyson’s “Four Strong Winds” or Keelaghan’s For now, I’m calling this the first stop on what’s turning into a full-on Canadian Folk Monday. I’ll circle back soon with Tyson, Keelaghan, and maybe a few vinyl surprises I dig out of the stacks.