'Music here is more than a business': folk legend Murray McLauchlan on being a Canadian musician
Murray McLauchlan is being presented with a #GGAward for a Lifetime Artistic Achievement in Music
At the age of 17, Murray McLauchlan took his guitar and hitchhiked from his home in the Toronto suburbs to the sawmills of British Columbia. He caught rides on freight trains, laboured in the mills and sang and played guitar until he returned to Toronto.
Today, Murray McLauchlan is a Canadian folk legend, having released 19 albums over his illustrious music career. On Friday he's being honoured with the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award in Popular Music at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
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McLauchlan is best known for his Juno Award-winning 1974 hit Farmer's Song. He's been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of fame and hosted the CBC radio program Swinging on a Star from 1989 to 1994.
Born in Scotland, McLauchlan's family immigrated to Canada when he was five years old. After trying to launch his music career in New York, he returned to Toronto in 1970, and went on to win 11 Juno Awards and several nominations. Even outside of his music career, McLauchlan always had his sights set sky-high: the singer-songwriter held a commercial pilot license and flew a Cessna 185 across the country for CBC's Floating Over Canada television special in 1986.
McLauchlan continues to tour with his band Lunch at Allen's. His latest album, Love Can't Tell Time, was released last year on True North Records, the same label he signed to back in 1970.
In the clip above, he speaks about what makes Canada a real haven for music makers: "The thing that really differentiates this place from practically anywhere else, is that this place — music here is still like more than a business."
On June 1, Tegan and Sara, among other laureates, are being honoured with the highest distinction a performing artist can achieve in Canada — a Governor General's Performing Arts Award. Find out more.