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It has been referred to as one of Canada's unofficial anthems by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, [5] and former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson quoted the song both in her first official address [6] and in her speech at the dedication of the new Canadian embassy in Berlin. [7]
Aug 31, 2010 · Stan Rogers died, tragically, in 1983, but his famous ode to the Northwest Passage is alive and well and remains a folksy Canadian anthem among college students from sea to shining sea.
- Early Years
- Early Career
- Recording Career
- Death
- Praise and Testimonials
- Posthumous Releases
- Influence
- Legacy
- Awards
Born and raised in Hamilton, Stan Rogers spent childhood summers in Nova Scotia, mainly in his mother’s hometown of Canso. The musical culture of the region, from country artists like Hank Snow and Wilf Carter to traditional fiddle music, left a lasting impression on him. He showed an ear for music at an early age and taught himself to play guitaro...
Rogers began his professional career in 1969, working the Ontario and Maritime folk club and festival circuits. While still at teacher’s college in 1970, he was signed to RCA Canada and released the single, “Here’s to You, Santa Claus.” Uninterested in RCA’s vision of turning him into a novelty act, Canada’s answer to Burl Ives, Rogers moved on. He...
After another failed recording contract, this time with American folk label Vanguard, Rogers all but gave up on mainstream record companies. He did some early recording with CBC Radio in Halifax and for Sylvia Tyson’s radio show, “Touch the Earth.” He also appeared in the mid-1970s on the TV shows of John Allan Cameron, Noel Harrison and Bob Ruzick...
On 2 June 1983, Rogers was returning home on Air Canada Flight 797 following a feature performance at the Kerrville Folk Festival near San Antonio, Texas. En route from Dallas to Toronto, an electrical fire broke out on the plane, filling the cabin with smoke and knocking out electrical cables and cockpit instruments. The crew made an emergency lan...
The folk music world was stunned by the news of Rogers’s death. The tributes came quickly. Peter Yarrow, of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, called Rogers “an extraordinary talent, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Bob Dylan,” while Tom Paxton said that Rogers “was to Canada what Woody Guthrie was to the United States.” Pete Seeger, the ...
Within months of Rogers’s death, two previously recorded albums were released. The first was For the Family (1983), an album of traditional folk songs, as well as two tracks written by Stan’s uncle, Lee Bushell. Recorded at Daniel Lanois’s Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton, the album was a commission for the Folk Tradition label. Rogers’s final studi...
Rogers left a profound impact on Canadian music and culture. He was an early popularizer of traditional Celtic music, helping to pave the way for widespread acceptance of such artists as Spirit of the West, The Rankins, and Great Big Sea (see also Celtic Music Reels in New Fans). He was also a music industry pioneer whose success as an independent ...
Rogers’s greatest impact, though, is as a songwriter. Dozens of artists around the world have recorded his music, while songs like “Barrett’s Privateers,” “The Mary Ellen Carter” and “Northwest Passage” have become modern folk classics. Although Rogers still gets little radio play outside of the Maritimes and the CBC, his work has gradually filtere...
Diplomme d'honneur, Canadian Conference of the Arts(1984)Inductee, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame(2019)“Northwest Passage” is the opening song off of Rogers’s 1981 album of the same name. It compares the voyages of the first European explorers in Canada to Rogers’s own experiences as a touring musician.
- Vicki Erwin
Sep 4, 2023 · The most famous of the shanties is the aptly titled ‘Northwest Passage’, a haunting melodic tune tinged with the hope of discovery as the sailors sing of “tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage”, referencing the icy tundra surrounding the famous sea lane.
- Sophia Alexandra Hall
Aug 21, 2015 · The Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers: A Canadian Anthem. When I first heard this song a shiver went up my spine and perhaps a tear or two fell from my eye. Stan Rogers' epic ballad is about the brave explorers who opened up the Canadian Northwest and especially those who sought the infamous Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic.
Towards the end of his set, he made reference to his father, and a song that he thought was sort of an unrecognised alternate Canadian national anthem, and he asked everyone to please sing along, and as he started playing The North-West Passage, he sounded hauntingly like his father, everybody sang along, realising that in the world today, this ...
