Last December, the distinguished country folk entertainer, Ian Tyson, invited eastern Manitobans to take a musical journey with him across the rolling prairies to the foothills of Alberta. The rich sound of his voice blending in with the tenor harmony of accompanying guitarists, Gord Matthews and Gord Maxwell, then took the audience, in the Pinawa Community Center, back with him to the nostalgic peal of life on the range.

The journey found Tyson's ballads often alluding to the beauty of a valley vista fading into a painted sunset; and in the same vane, some of his lyrics easily could have found their birth while the cowboy poet rode on his pony in the foothills of Alberta. At other times, Tyson's resonant excursions transported listeners to the mountains of Montana, or gave the stinging sensation of a desert wind in Nevada. Still on another occasion, his composition departed from the essence of a cowboy's life and took the euphonious traveller to Smuggler's Cove, on the West coast, where the echo of breakers washing up along the Pacific shoreline became a resounding experience, as Tyson encouraged his audience to climb with him to the top of the world.

Ian Tyson is a Canadian legend; and after spanning close to four decades as a successful entertainer, his brand of vibrant harmony gives him a prominent place in the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. However, in as much as his trail of resilience and success started to evolve back in the '60s, as part of the folk singing duo known as 'Ian and Sylvia;' Tyson's victories continued to mount, when he was inducted into the Prairie Music Awards, 'Hall of Fame,' last September.

Tyson: the Cowboy

A sketch of Ian's English-born father, George Tyson, arriving in Calgary, back in 1906, at age nineteen, and buying a saddle and a six-gun, seems like a good point to start with the amazing story of how talent and determination found Ian Tyson becoming one of Canada's most outstanding entertainers. George Tyson spent the next three years working as a ranch hand in the Bowden-Innisfail area north of Calgary; and in 1933, his son Ian came into this world, in the picturesque city of Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

Some of Ian Tyson's fondest childhood memories return to growing up on British Columbia's west coast; and reading the Will James books his father gave him. Those stories helped the youngster's mind's eye visualize an earlier western landscape, filled with the graceful images of wild horses; and as the years passed, all Ian wanted to become was a cowboy. In fact, the young Tyson did take his turn in the rodeo circuits, performing as an amateur bronc rider and calf roper. While on the other hand, the dangerous business of riding bucking horses did not sit well with his father; and rightly so, because an ill-fated accident, in 1956, at one of Alberta's local rodeos, found the young performing artist laid up in a Calgary hospital after suffering from a severely damaged ankle.

The legendary tale of Ian Tyson breaking into music, then sees a talented youth, with a deep appreciation for music, learning how to play the guitar; while recovering from the surgery that 'pinned' his shattered ankle; and later, as a determined musician setting out to become one of Canada's most respected folk singers.

Tyson: the folk singer

In 1958, at the age of 24, Ian Tyson left the uncertainty of his nomadic logging and rodeo lifestyle, and hitchhiked to Toronto to follow his musical career. It was here, he met Sylvia Fricker; and the revival of folk music found the two singers forming the renowned duo of Ian and Sylvia. They married in 1964, and Ian & Sylvia recorded over a dozen timeless albums, including such songs as Ian’s Four Strong Winds and Sylvia’s You Were on My Mind. As the years passed, the British Invasion also found Ian and Sylvia evolving into pioneers of country-rock; with their band, the Great Speckled Bird, helping to create modern country a decade before the Urban Cowboy phase hit the scene.

However once established, Ian Tyson became disillusioned with city life. His biographies tell us he eventually purchased a small ranch outside of Toronto; and although his ankle injury prevented him from returning to the rodeo circuit, Ian went into the cutting horse competitions. It must have been satisfying to return to the ponies and the stables; but the more Ian became absorbed in his new venture, the more he longed to go back to the foothills of Alberta.

In the years that followed, after hosting a national Canadian television music show from 1970 to 1975, the music and marriage of Ian and Sylvia ended; and Ian disheartened by the Canadian music scene returned to the ranching country of southern Alberta, and back to his first love of training horses.

Tyson: the country singer

The wide-open spaces in the Alberta foothills did a lot for the man's soul; and then at a local cowboy bar, called the Ranchman, on Calgary's Macleod Trail, Ian met waitress Twylla Dvorkin.

Twylla would become a very important part of his life. After three idyllic years of cattle punching in the Rockies, at Pincher Creek, Twylla urged Ian to record Old Corals and Sagebrush, an album consisting of cowboy songs, both traditional and new. It went on to become a sort of musical Christmas card for his friends, as Tyson recalls. That same year, a revival of cowboy art was also starting to make its appearance at the first Elko Poetry Gathering.

By 1983, a closely associated group of cowboy poets, guitar pickers, saddle makers, and rawhide braiders had discovered each other in a small cattle town in northern Nevada; and Ian Tyson's performance of his “new western music," brought an overwhelming response at the Stockman’s Casino, giving him the realization that he had found a true audience.

Ian Tyson and Twylla Dvorkin were married in August 1986. The couple have a daughter named Adelita, and the family now lives at the T-Bar-Y ranch, near Longview, south of Calgary.

These days, Ian Tyson's music takes him to concerts all over North America; where he is able to surround himself with the most talented musicians he can find. The musician's arrangements then give people, not directly from a ranching culture, the added chance to enjoy an evening of fine entertainment.

Several of Ian Tyson's most recent songs tell the story of today’s “West;" the place where agribusiness continues to grow, while the lifestyle of little towns continues to suffer. The cattle business has certainly gone through changes in recent years, as the smaller communities continue to vanish and fewer ranchers can afford to work the range in the old traditional horseback way, unless they have a second source of income.

The whole scene, makes the economics of raising cattle in the 'new West' a difficult experience; and Tyson's latest CD, Lost Herd, comes after a long period of writer’s block; which he worked his way through by reading non-fiction written about the West. The veteran entertaining artist also likes to withdraw to an old stone house on his property, where he writes his ballads; however today, as he rides in the foothills, Tyson knows that he has a good life, even though the growth of eco-tourism and urban sprawl is becoming a greater concern. Perhaps that may be the reason he feels that the years ahead will not be as easy to handle as those that have passed; but at the same time, Tyson's knowing that others care and understand, makes his job as a Western songwriter easier.

Tyson's style

In the world of Canadian music, Ian Tyson’s accomplishments and opinions command respect; and according to his most recent opinion, Tyson feels that country music is dead; and that must surely be the reason for his latest style of western ballads starting to take us back to the roots of country music.

Country music originated two or three centuries ago, when the Irish, English, and Scottish settlers brought folk music to the Southern Appalachia; and the main types of popular music, as we know them today, came from those roots about eighty years ago, through an introduction by white Southerners.

Country music grew out of those roots, while other popular musical styles were shaped by entertainers close to the social identity of their audience; and with those points in mind, there is no doubt that Ian Tyson's latest style of music, in the second verse of his career, will become another inspiration to the Canadian music industry.

Ian Tyson's gift of music

Ian Tyson is an important fixture in our changing Western culture. He has recorded dozens of albums, hosted his own TV show and written an autobiography, as well as enjoyed a comparatively successful run with the Canadian Stony Plain recording label.

Lost Herd, the title track of his latest disc, touches on the loss of roots and organized religion among today's youth and the other eight tracks include colourful metaphors describing the changes we all face. The celebrated singer/song-writer and storyteller gets his message across very well; and everywhere he goes, he gains approval as one of the best spokespersons for the West.

The demand for Ian Tyson's music has never been greater since the days he entertained in the legendary duo of Ian & Sylvia; and besides having tremendous musical talent, Tyson has a deep appreciation for the type of music his audience wants to hear.

When Oliver Greenfield, past president of the Eastern Manitoba Concert Association (EMCA), recognized that his patrons wanted a taste of country music, he started thinking about the best possible choice. Fortunately, his selection committee chose Ian Tyson, and they could not have made a better choice.

Tyson has inspired generations of Canadian musicians, throughout his remarkable career; and EMCA's decision to ask him to host an evening in Pinawa, not only brought in an entertainer just inducted into the Prairie Music Awards Hall of Fame, but also found an elder statesman of Canadian music, who is the guiding force behind a new wave of Western music.

Tyson's ballads and music were a delight to the Pinawa audience; and in another instance, about 18 talented Alberta musicians took to the stage, last Jan. 25 at 'Festival Place' in Sherwood Park and Jan. 26 at 'the Arden' in St. Albert, to play in the tribute concert, called 'The Gift:' The Words & Music of Ian Tyson.

The program, organized by Peter North of Edmonton, traced the last 20 years of the country rock pioneer's career, while also honouring the diversity and breadth of his work.

Many have been influenced by the Alberta icon, including Tyson’s former band mate Stewart MacDougall; who like millions of others, first heard him singing Four Strong Winds, (while only a 10-year-old kid listening to a New Brunswick radio station). Unlike most however, MacDougall ended up playing with his early inspiration, in Tyson's ’88-89 Cowboyography tours.

Stewart MacDougall helped to organize the salute to the Alberta cowboy, serving as its musical director. The cross-generational revue of Tyson's songs covered a broad range of musical styles, ranging from punk and jazz, to the blues, and the feel of Celtic and bluegrass thrown in for good measure. The interspersed sounds and video clips of Tyson, running throughout the program, also served as a reminder to Albertans, that Ian Tyson is someone from their own back yard, who is an internationally acclaimed entertainer.

Meanwhile out here in Eastern Manitoba, separated from the Alberta heartland, we're still looking forward to another musical journey, across the rolling prairies, to the foothills of Alberta, and an evening with Ian Tyson, reliving the ballads of his life, in a world of deserts and sagebrush.

Ian Tyson surrounds himself with the most talented musicians he can find. The "two Gords" guitar picking and back-up vocals delighted the Pinawa crowd last December.

Some of Ian Tyson's Datelines:

1906 - English-born George Tyson (Ian's father) arrives in Calgary at age nineteen. He buys a saddle and a sixgun and spends the next three years working as a ranch hand in the Bowden-Innisfail area north of Calgary.

1933 - Ian Tyson is born in Victoria, B.C.

1956 - A serious accident at an Alberta rodeo claims Tyson's career as a cowboy;
- while in hospital, recovering from his damaged ankle, he learns to play the guitar.

1958 - Ian Tyson decides to pursue a career in music; and shortly after moving to Toronto, meets and marries Sylvia Fricker. They have one son named Clay.
- The legendary duo, Ian & Sylvia, form, and they go on to produce dozens of albums.

1970 - Ian Tyson lands a job, as host of a Canadian musical variety show, which lasts for five seasons.

1975 - Husband and wife duo, Ian & Sylvia, break up both on and off the stage.
- Ian Tyson moves back west, to his first love and life on a ranch near Calgary.
- Big Country Awards names him the 'Outstanding Male Performance' for that year, and the 'Ian Tyson Show' is also named 'Top Country TV Show' for 1975.

1986 - Love finds Tyson, once again; after meeting Twylla Dvorkin, a waitress at 'The Ranch', a country bar Tyson often frequented. The couple marries, and have a daughter named Adelita. All three live on the T-Bar-Y Ranch south of Calgary.

1988 - Four Strong Winds is named as an All Time Favourite Canadian Country Song, by readers of Country Music News. The Tyson hit has been recorded 120 times by major artists.
- Alberta Recording Industry Association names Ian Tyson 'Best Country Artist on Record.'

1989 - The Canadian Country Music Association honours Ian Tyson with an induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
- Alberta Recording Industry Association names him ' Best Country Artist on Record' for the second year in a row.
- Finalist, World Championship Cutting Horse Futurity, Fort Worth, Texas

1992 - First male country singer to achieve two Gold Albums in Canada.

1992 - The Juno Awards inducts Tyson into the Juno Hall of Fame.

1993 - Alberta Recording Industry Association names him 'Best Country Artist on Record' for the third time.

1995 - Ian Tyson receives the Order of Canada.

1997 - Ian Tyson's autobiography; 'I Never Sold My Saddle', by Ian Tyson, Colin Escott - makes for some interesting reading.

1999 - Alberta based country and folk legend Ian Tyson's tenth solo CD and latest album “ Lost Herd”, wins 'Outstanding Country Recording.' At the Prairie Music Awards inaugural ceremony in Winnipeg. Appropriately, the final track of Lost Herd included the age old song 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow;' the song which was placed in top place, in 2001, out of 365 Songs of the Century, by the National Endowment of Arts and the Recording Industry of America.

2001 - Cowboy poet, folksinger and country artist Ian Tyson joins The Guess Who and Joni Mitchell in the fledgling Prairie Music Hall of Fame Awards.

2002 - For more information go to 'The Legendary Ian Tyson Official Website' http://www.iantyson.com/awards.htm

Next: Habitat's Cycle of Hope