Author Giles Blunt takes us on a music tour of his home town of North Bay, Ont.
CBC Radio ·
Writer Giles Blunt takes us through a music tour of North Bay, ON. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Originally published on March 1, 2017
In a segment we call the q Block Party, we invite guests to pay musical tribute to the neighbourhoods they hold dear to their hearts.
Today, author Giles Blunt takes listeners on a guided musical tour through his home town of North Bay, Ont. Blunt's book series, Cardinal, has been adapted for television and airs on CTV.
Take a listen below to Blunt's soundtrack to the northern town, including some local talent, and how these songs and North Bay have inspired his work.
Gordon Lightfoot, Song for a Winter's Night
"I was a guitar player and a singer and his songs were some of the first I ever learned. This was one that was beyond my skill level at the time. I can kind of hack it now."
Eric Andersen, Close the Door Gently
"When I was a kid there was a great radio show on the local radio station with a host named Pete Handley, who still today has his own radio show up there. This was devoted to folk music and particularly the new wave of folk music that was exciting everyone at the time. He was playing Bob Dylan and Donovan and Eric Anderson and Dave Van Ronk long before any one else was."
Breen Leboeuf, Avec Toi
"I have a friend who went on to become a very successful rock singer and bass player. A guy by the name of Breen Leboeuf who played for a long time, he did over 200 dates with Céline Dion and his voice is good enough that he sings duets with Céline Dion."
(FRANÇOIS GERVAIS)
Jake Thomas, Black Cat Bone
"One of the other 'band bums' in North Bay when I was a kid was a guy named Jake Thomas, who's still up there. He's an absolute fixture, he's an institution in North Bay."
(Jake and the Fundamentals/Facebook)
Leonard Cohen, Winter Lady
"I really miss Leonard Cohen. He's a writer who was in my heart when I was 16. I was carrying around his selected poems and listening to his first couple albums and I can still read him and listen to him with great pleasure."
