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FYI

Headstones: The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

The veteran hard rockers deliver an unlikely yet compelling version of the Gordon Lightfoot classic, with Hugh Dillon's virile vocals driving the narrative.

Headstones: The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

By Kerry Doole

Headstones  -"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" (Cadence): Gordon Lightfoot's classic folk tale of a nautical disaster may seem an unlikely choice of song to be covered by veteran punk/hard rock band Headstones, but their motives are pure.


In a label press release, the group states, "We've always loved this song. It's profoundly meaningful. We started to play it during our tour VIP soundchecks, and our fans responded to it.... The feedback was exceptional."

Thankfully the band doesn't mellow out on its version. The typically virile vocals of Hugh Dillon, the most charismatic frontman in Canadian rock, are to the fore, he throws in some credible harmonica, and his comrades deliver tough guitar-led accompaniment.

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The evocative video was shot on location in Kingston. 

The band has been rejuvenated by the success of their last album Little Army and last year's 25th anniversary reissue of their debut album Picture Of Health and a national tour. Headstones have again been busy recording new music in Kingston, the original hometown of Hugh Dillon, using The Bathouse Studio, home of their comrades The Tragically Hip.

Summer dates have been announced, beginning at The Sound Of Music Festival in Burlington, ON, on June 8 alongside Monster Truck, Bush and LIVE, and including the Roxodus Music Festival in Clearview, ON, July 11 - 13.  

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David Wiffen
Courtesy Photo

David Wiffen

FYI

Obituaries: Peers Pay Tribute to Canadian Folk Great David Wiffen

This week we also acknowledge the passing of controversial hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, U.S. guitar ace Wayne Perkins and Hamilton musician and author Douglas Carter.

David George Wiffen, an Ottawa-based folk singer-songwriter revered by his peers and best known for his classic tune "Driving Wheel," died on April 5, at age 84.

A Globe and Mail obituary reports that "Wiffen was born in 1942, in Redhill, Surrey, a market town south of London. He first arrived in Canada as a 16-year-old with his family when his father, an engineer, was transferred to Toronto. Wiffen returned to England but eventually doubled back to Canada to stay."

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