Beyond 'Four Strong Winds': 5 essential Ian Tyson songs

The death of singer-songwriter Ian Tyson on Dec. 29 marks the end of a legendary career spanning more than six decades.

Tyson emerged on the scene in the early 1960s, singing folk music with his girlfriend (and later wife), Sylvia Fricker. Ian & Sylvia's duet "Four Strong Winds" launched their careers, and would gain iconic status over the decades: it's performed on the last night of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival each year; Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot sang it at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games, and it's even referenced in John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Tyson later moved from folk to country music, "inspired by his need to make a statement about 'Western' culture as a thing apart from mainstream North American culture," according to the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, bringing the cowboy story-song into the postmodern era.

While Tyson was active as a singer-songwriter into his 80s, most people today remember him for "Four Strong Winds." Below, we survey five more songs by Tyson for essential listening.

1. 'Someday Soon'

If the only Tyson song you know is "Four Strong Winds," then "Someday Soon" is the logical next step. Tyson wrote it at Sylvia's apartment in the Lower East Side of New York, where they were part of the burgeoning folk music scene. Released shortly after the couple's June 1964 marriage, the song is written from the perspective of a cowboy's girlfriend: "My parents cannot stand him 'cause he works the rodeos/ They say, 'He's not your kind, he'll leave you cryin'." The song got a boost in 1968 when Judy Collins released it on her album Who Knows Where the Time Goes. In later years, Tyson sang it solo and released it on his 2002 album, Live at Longview.

2. 'Navajo Rug'

"Navajo Rug" was released as the second track on Tyson's 1986 album Cowboyography, and was selected by the Western Writers of America as one of the top 100 western songs of all time. The track, co-written with Tom Russell, is filled with nostalgic lyrics that paint a picture of an old lover who disappeared along with the titular blue and red rug. It's a simple ode to lost love and the impermanence of time. "You don't find things that last anymore/ Like an old woven Navajo," he sings, conjuring up feelings of melancholy.

Cowboyography became a banner album for Tyson, earning him a Juno for country male vocalist of the year in 1987, and also picking up three Canadian Country Music Awards that same year for male artist of the year, album of the year and single of the year for "Navajo Rug."

"The world may not be interested. If it is, you are lucky. And if you can write one great song in your life, you are blessed," he told The Atlantic of Cowboyography's success. 

3. 'Red Velvet'

Although "Red Velvet" was first recorded by Ian & Sylvia for the duo's album Early Morning Rain, it's the version by Johnny Cash that most listeners know best. Considering Tyson was a self-taught musician who first learned Cash's hit "I Walk the Line" on guitar while in his 20s, it was a full-circle moment. Cash's version made it onto his 1968 album, but only reached the No. 60 spot on the charts. Nonetheless, it was an important song for Cash. Although the man in black covered "Four Strong Winds," in John M. Alexander's book The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash, he wrote that "Red Velvet" was the song Cash would not let go of.

4. 'M.C. Horses'

Tyson mourns the sale of steeds on this downcast song, on which he poured his heart out about losing a herd to the auction block. But it's not just a tune that's emblematic of the cowboy days of the wild West, it's also an important track due to Tyson's relationship with fellow country star, Corb Lund. Lund was a friend, an influence and a mentee of Tyson's, and the two collaborated on tracks together including a cover of AC/DC's "Ride On." To give Tyson his flowers, Lund covered "M.C. Horses" for the 2007 album The Gift: A Tribute to Ian Tyson. "We've been friends for years, we're both from the foothills of the Rockies up here in Alberta," Lund said in an interview. The two performers and pals shared the stage on several occasions, celebrating their shared Western roots for audiences across Canada.

5. 'Cottonwood Canyon'

Tyson released his final album, Carnero Vaquero, in 2015, when he was 82. One reviewer said, "he still sounds sandpapery and weathered — and far more emotive than he once did." It's as true of his well-loved cover of Will Dudley's "Colorado Horses" as it is of the album closer, a Tyson original called "Cottonwood Canyon." Full of slowly loping nostalgia, the song contains the typically Tysonian lyric, "There ain't no cell phone towers in Cottonwood Canyon/ Maybe some old coyote will give you a call."