Folk/Roots: Show (15/11/2016) – Leonard Cohen Special

Tonight’s show was a special one for all the wrong and some of the right reasons. Wrong in that we were mourning the passing of a unique artist, Leonard Cohen who, in many ways blazed the trail for generations of songwriters and someone whose creative output could not be measured in terms of quantity; his was deeply felt, achingly crafted and fully expressed to his own exacting standards. It was appropriate to do more than just play his music, although that would have been just fine for his many fans on the Folk/Roots show. It was right in that sense and I was helped by his many fans to make this special show happen.

We went on later that usual but then, as anyone who saw his triumphant concerts in recent years will attest, sometimes you just have to go with the moment and if it takes three hours then so be it.

I was fortunate to be able to call on songwriters locally, nationally and internationally to bring to mind their own personal favourites. I was doubly fortunate to have a chat with his biographer, Sylvie Simmons. Our chat was edited for reasons of time on the night but I’ll post the full interview separately.

Thanks to KCLR as always for allowing me to go out on a limb and their constant support, to listeners for their stories and thoughts both by text and online and to the following songwriters who did the almost impossible and picked just one song from the masterful back catalogue of a true artist: Gráinne Hunt, Emlyn Holden, Gordon Barry, Kate Fenner, Clare Sands, Conan Doyle, Justin Cullen, Fiach Moriarty, Chris Brown, Jeremy Nail, Tim V. Smyth, Gerard James Hough, Mike Ryan, Clive Barnes, David Corley, Kairen Waloch, Ed Romanoff & Suzanne Jarvie

Here’s what was selected and played: