He’s been hailed as one of Canada’s most culturally conscious
songwriters of the 70s’ but Murray McLauchlan’s sympathetic song
portraits of ordinary folk have appealed to our social conscience for
more than five decades. The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) is
pleased to announce the Induction of singer-songwriter Murray
McLauchlan, composer of more than 35 hit singles including the SOCAN
Classics Farmer’s Song, Down by the Henry Moore, and Try Walkin’ Away.
Marking its first in-person songwriter induction ceremony since the
pandemic, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is partnering with
Mariposa Folk Festival to recognize McLauchlan on Saturday, July 9 on
the Festival’s main stage. Since 2018, the CSHF began partnering with
music events and festivals across the country to connect with fans and
celebrate the songs and songwriters to their musical roots. McLauchlan
will be officially inducted at Mariposa by long-time friend and CSHF
Inductee Gordon Lightfoot and honoured with a special tribute
performance by Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
“I am honoured to join my respected friends Gordon Lightfoot, Joni
Mitchell, and so many others in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame,”
says McLauchlan.
Murray McLauchlan was born in Scotland, and raised in Toronto ON,
where he studied art and began singing in coffeehouses at age 17. He
frequented Yorkville’s The Riverboat, a hub for the folk-rock music
scene in the 70s where fellow singer-songwriters Joni Mitchell, Gordon
Lightfoot, and other Canadian icons would play – that was also a
favourite tour stop for American artists including Simon and Garfunkel,
and folksinger Tom Rush. McLauchlan would play his bittersweet
compositions Old Man’s Song and Child’s Song on the backsteps of The
Riverboat for Tom Rush, who became the first artist to record one of
McLauchlan’s insightful songs. Child’s Song was recorded by Tom Rush in
1970; and would later garner McLauchlan three JUNO Awards for Folk
Single, Country Single, and Songwriter of the Year.
In 1971, McLauchlan signed with True North Records and recorded his
debut album, “Song from the Street,” that reached Top 40 in Canada. His
first Top 10 single came from The Farmer’s Song which drew attention to
the industrial forces decimating family farms, while earning him his
first JUNO Awards for Best Songwriter, Folk Single, and Country Single.
His follow up album “Sweeping the Spotlight Away” earned him a JUNO for
Best Country Vocalist; and his homage to Toronto, Down by the Henry
Moore, became his first No. 1 hit to cross over on both pop and country
charts.
McLauchlan’s first gold record came with the 1976 album “Boulevard,”
which included the hit single On the Boulevard. Through the 1980s,
McLauchlan enjoyed further success with hit singles like Do You Dream of
Being Somebody?, Somebody’s Long Lonely Night, Little Dreamer, and
Never Did Like That Train. He rounded out the decade with the anthem If
the Wind Could Blow My Troubles Away,participation in Tears Are Not
Enough, and his JUNO-nominated album “Swingin’ on a Star.”
His most recent endeavors include his 2012 hit albums “Human Writes”
and “Love Can’t Tell Time.” and 2021’s Hourglass that has made numerous
Top 10 lists in Canada, the U.S. and throughout the world. He was won 11
JUNO Awards throughout his esteemed career and is among the Top 20
most-winning JUNO artists of all time.
McLauchlan’s songwriting, whether in his earlier narrative style or
his later impressionistic one, has definite grassroots appeal. And the
visual sense he developed while studying art as a youth still inspires
his songwriting: “I always try to write visually, to put someone into
their context,” he explains.
His love for songwriting and art came together in 2021’s “A Thomson
Day”, a tribute to the work of Group of Seven painter Tom Thomson that
resulted in a collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Recently, Child’s Song was featured in the hit NBC TV show “This Is
Us;” and Widespread Panic recorded a hit rock cover of McLauchlan’s dark
ode Honky Red. Others to cover McLauchlan’s work over the decades
include Bonnie Dobson, John McDermott, Renée Claude, David Wiffen,
George Hamilton IV, Waylon Jennings, Kathy Mattea, David Bromberg, The
Ennis Sisters, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, R. Harlan Smith, Walter
Ostanek, Bob Neuwirth, 3’s a Crowd, Melanie Safka, and Junkhouse.
https://www.murraymclauchlan.com
