Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage [Paperback]

Chris Gudgeon (Author), Sylvia Tyson (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

Features Stan's radio playscript The Greenway Curse and his satire The Boss Is Always Right, as well as lyrics to his songs, including many unreleased compositions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Fox Music Books (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894997018
• ISBN-13: 978-1894997010
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,803,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It covers the facts, April 7, 2008

By 

Christopher Lee (WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage (Paperback)

I am a late developing Stan Rogers fan. I was aware enough to know when he died, but never saw him live and was relatively unaware of his songs. Over the years, however, I kept hearing about how terrific he was, and kept bumping into covers of his magnificent songs. So I finally decided to order all his CDs and this book. He was an amazing man and it is amazing music.

The book does a good job of covering the surface details of his life. Gudgeon does a nice job of presenting appropriate context without going overboard. He also makes it easy to keep track of who is who as you go along. I found it very readable.

The book also contains the lyrics of Rogers' songs and often a brief introduction explaining how the song came to be written.

In the end, however, the book stays on the surface and reads like an authorized biography. You will learn, if you did not already know, that Rogers was a big man with a big personality and a big voice; that he was softer on the inside than he sometimes appeared from the outside; that he was a serious drinker and a serious family man. You will learn the details of his tragic death. None of this is terribly surprising. Gudgeon alludes to controversies, but does not pursue them. You will likely get a deeper understanding of Rogers from listening to his songs than you will from reading this book. That said, I enjoyed the book and recommend it. I plan to pass it on to my brothers who will also enjoy it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balladeer extraordinaire, February 4, 2008

By 

Flight Risk (The Gypsy Moth) "Exiled Yankee" (usa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage (Paperback)

For true aficianados of Stan Rogers and his works, this book is a gem. Written with compassion and affection, it is a biography of the man and his career, and also contains his song lyrics, an article written for a folk music publication, and a radio play he penned.

I first encountered Stan Rogers' music about two years prior to his tragic death, and have never heard a voice quite as commanding as his coming out of a radio. I actually stopped what I was doing at the time and just stared at the stereo, in shock at the power of that voice. I became a rabid fan that moment. I was lucky enough to meet the man once, and the enduring memory is of a man who shook my hand with a grip of iron - no wilted-wrist handshakes for him! At the time I was involved with running a local coffeehouse, and I cannot impress upon you enough of Stan's sheer charisma. He was one person I'm certain no one ever forgot, once they met him. We were involved in trying to sign him for an appearance at our coffeehouse when we heard of his plane going down in Cincinnati in 1983, and it truly was a physical blow to me. I still miss him. He was a force of nature taken far too soon.

The first half of this book, with a foreword by Sylvia Tyson of Ian & Sylvia fame (if you remember them, you are a true folkie), covers Stan's early years as a musically inclined youth in a musical family (his uncle made guitars as a hobby), his absolute belief in his own music in the face of detractors, and his burgeoning emergence from obscurity only just before his untimely death. He was coming into his own that day in June; all the stars were coming into alignment for him. He had gone through a lot to get to where he was; and this book doesn't sugar-coat anything. He could be difficult, overbearing, even rude; but beneath it all was a talent that could not be denied, and I can vouch for his musicality, his lyricism, and the emotion that he imbued in every song he wrote and sang. Many of them still bring me to tears.

The second half of the book contains the lyrics to Stan's songs, released and unreleased; his article; his play; a bibliography; and a map of the Canada that constituted Stan's world. He wrote of the Maritimes, of Alberta, and of the Great Lakes area (he was principally from the Hamilton, ONT area, but had relatives in Nova Scotia), and he had an innate grasp of what it was to be a man or woman of the land. He wrote as eloquently from the viewpoint of a farmwife gazing at her own face in the mirror as he did from that of an old-timer on a Great Lakes boat who has seen too many greenhorn sailors washed overboard. Stan Rogers was a national treasure, and this book is a true tribute to him and to his music.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Is This A Paperback Version of "An Unfinished Conversation"?, November 2, 2008

By 

Reason Over Rant "Reason Over Rant" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage (Paperback)

Just wondering if this is a paperback re-issue of the hardcover book titled "An Unfinished Conversation" also about Stan Rogers by the same author. Does anyone know?