Soon, Lightfoot had a pivotal role in the burgeoning music scene that developed amid the clubs and coffee houses of Toronto’s famed Yorkville area. In 1960, at the instigation of friends Pete Seeger and fellow Canadian Music Hall of Famers Ian and Sylvia Tyson (who included Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me” in their repertoire) he began his solo career under the management of legendary American manager Albert Grossman, who also helped guide the careers of Dylan, Janis Joplin and The Band. As a musical innovator, he’s mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan, a confessed Lightfoot fan. As it happens, however, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” is only one of dozens of classic, enduring and chart-topping Lightfoot compositions, which include, “Early Morning Rain,” “Alberta Bound,” “Cotton Jenny,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Carefree Highway,” “Rainy Day People,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “Sundown.” For the past five decades, Lightfoot has contributed some of the richest colours to the tapestry of Canadian culture.
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