Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is a folk legend. He helped carve the popular folk-rock sound of the 60s and 70s, forming a poetry-based music with potent cultural and sociopolitical significance. Among his numerous hits, "Sundown" is one of his most laid-back reflections about a no-good girlfriend.
The song, a single from the album Sundown, hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Easy Listening charts in 1974. Neil Young, The Eagles, James Taylor and America were just a few of the folk rock artists that blazed a trail for the smoldering country rock sound that permeated the 70s.
While the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles is often thought to be the birth place of this type of music, that's not completely true. It was a sound and style of music that coalesced from different parts of the world to form a universally loved genre. "Sundown" captures the end of a relationship, but the dawn of a tried-and-true music genre, folk rock.
You can learn more about Gordon Lightfoot here:
About the Curator - Sonya Alexander
After graduating from UCLA, Sonya trained to be a talent agent. After realizing she belonged on the creative end, she started freelance writing, covering film festivals for Los Angeles local papers. She's written about film, video games, global affairs, wildlife conservation and, most recently, music. She specializes in classic rock, classic soul, blues, classic country, classical and world music and is tri-coastal, residing in Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans.
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