Photo Insert

Jumping a jet plane: Lightfoot at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, 1966. © Daniel Kramer.

Bev, Gord Sr., Jessie and Gord Jr. in Orillia. All photos courtesy of Gordon Lightfoot, unless otherwise noted.

The choirboy at St. Paul’s United Church, 1947.

The Four Winds recording for Johnny Stark, 1957: Pat LaCroix, Teddy Morris, Lightfoot and an unidentified Westlake College student. Courtesy of Pat LaCroix.

Singin’ and swingin’ on Country Hoedown: with Tommy Hunter (back row, center) and Lightfoot (right). © CBC Photo Collection.

Have folk will travel: en route to the Algoma Festival, Sault Ste. Marie in 1963: with (from top) Estelle Klein, Bonnie Dobson, Klaas Van Graft, Lightfoot, Beverlie Robertson and Ken Duncan. Courtesy of Beverlie Robertson.

Local boys make good: Lightfoot and Terry Whelan, with bassist Howie Morris, for the Two Tones appearance at Mariposa in Orillia, 1962.

Harry Belafonte, Lightfoot and admiring fan at the Riverboat, July 1967. © York University Libraries, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Telegram Fonds, ASC00607.

Backyard boys: with sidemen Red Shea and Rick Haynes, 1968. © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

A night on the town with wife Brita and Ian and Sylvia Tyson at Steele’s Tavern, 1965. © City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 3413.

“If Children Had Wings”: at home with son Fred, 1968. © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

“Fine as Fine Can Be”: at home with daughter Ingrid, 1966. © Daniel Kramer.

Chuck Mitchell with his then-wife and musical partner, Joni, recording Lightfoot’s “When Spring Was O’er the Land” in Detroit, 1966. © Detroit News.

Family beers: with Jessie, Gord Sr. and Bev in Orillia.

Talkin’ Silver Cloud Blues: with Brita and Ronnie Hawkins’ Rolls Royce in Mississauga, Ontario, 1968. © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

Lightfoot with manager Albert Grossman (left), known as the “Floating Buddha,” Ronnie Hawkins and Grossman’s partner Bert Block, in Woodstock, New York, 1968. © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

The Man in Black meets the Orillia Kid: with Johnny Cash before taping The Johnny Cash Show in Nashville, 1969. © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

Checking the tapes backstage at Massey Hall, March 1969: with (left) Elliot Mazer, Rick Haynes (standing) and Robert Markle (seated, right). © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

With Anne Murray and Stompin’ Tom Connors at the Juno Awards, 1973. © Bruce Cole, Plum Communications.

Sound check at Massey Hall, March 1969: with Bernie Fiedler and Rick Haynes. © Jim Marshall Photography LLC.

Seven Island Suite: navigating Georgian Bay waters in Sundown, 1970s.

On the Back River in the Northwest Territories, 1978: with fellow paddler Bill Miller. © Bob Dion.

Slipping away on the Carefree Highway, near Phoenix, Arizona: with Cathy Smith.

Getting in tune, late 1970s: Lightfoot with (from left) Rick Haynes, Terry Clements, and Pee Wee Charles. © Arthur (Art) Usherson.

Sundown sales bonanza, 1974: Lightfoot flanked by Warner executives Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker, with (from left) Bev, Jessie, Rick Haynes and Terry Clements.

Rolling Thunder Revue, Maple Leaf Gardens, December 1975: with (from left) Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Terry Clements, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Lightfoot, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mick Ronson, Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Neuwirth, Ronee Blakley and Rob Stoner. © Arthur (Art) Usherson.

Lightfoot’s home at 5 Beaumont Road in Rosedale, Toronto: where Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue partied and Lightfoot composed classics like “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” © Bob Krawczyk.

Sylvia Tyson, Murray McLauchlan, Liona Boyd and Lightfoot in his backyard prior to June 1976 benefit for the Canadian Olympic team. © Bruce Cole, Plum Communications.

With New York City cop in Central Park 1974. © Carl Samrock.

Backstage at Toronto’s Nickelodeon, May 1973: Lightfoot, Cathy Smith, Kris Kristofferson, Terry Clements, Rita Coolidge and Ronnie Hawkins. © Arthur (Art) Usherson.

“Eric, try to hold the camera straight”: with Cathy Coonley. © Eric Lightfoot, courtesy of Cathy Coonley.

Lightfoot, 1971. © John Reeves.

Dylan inducting Lightfoot into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 1986 Juno Awards. © Bruce Cole, Plum Communications.

Cowboy shirts and tuxedos: with the Good Brothers (from left) Bruce, Brian and Larry Good. Courtesy of Bruce Good.

Early morning parenting: with son Eric. © Cathy Coonley.

Galen: Lightfoot’s California-born son with Joanne Magee.

With longtime friend Alan Thicke. © Tom Bert.

At the Toronto Maple Leafs’ home opener in 1992, with Steve Yzerman, Darryl Sittler and Wendel Clark.

Discussing the Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking with Great Lakes captains Fred Leete and Tom Allor.

Preparing for the next leg of the journey: Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories in July 1984.

Saving the Amazon rainforest: with David Suzuki near Manaus, Brazil, in 1989. Courtesy of David Suzuki.

Family time: with Elizabeth Moon and son Miles in the ravine below Beaumont home, 1992. © Rick McGinnis.

Looking on, admiringly, at daughter Meredith, Occupy Toronto, 2011. Material republished with the express permission of the Toronto Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

Gords of a feather: with Gord Downie at Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame evening, 2010. © David Chan.

The Tower of Song: with Leonard Cohen at Cohen’s 2006 induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. © Anjani.

With longtime friend Ronnie Hawkins at the launch of “Christmas Must Be Tonight” in Toronto, December 2015. © J.P. Moszulski.

Tying the knot with Kim Hasse at the Rosedale United Church, December 2014. © Kate Hood.

The band: Carter Lancaster, Mike Heffernan, Rick Haynes and Barry Keane with Lightfoot outside Graceland, Memphis, in March 2016. Courtesy of Rick Haynes.