Bruce Cockburn

Last year, Canadian folk artist Bruce Cockburn belated launched a
tour celebrating 50 years in music. When we ran an excerpt from
this interview last Christmas season, we started off talking
about the tour. Since he's not on tour now, I cut some of that
material but did start with a conversation on how someone with
50-plus years in the business relates to the music he wrote
decades ago. 


We focused our attention on Christmas, his 1993 album of
Christmas music. We talk about its humble origins and the
versions that inspired some of his takes. To let you in on the
conversation, I also included Sam Phillips' version of "Hark the
Herald Angels Sing" and Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon's "Christ was
Born on Christmas Morn," which Cockburn recorded as "Early on One
Christmas Morn."  He also talks about why he chose to sing
the Huron Christmas carol "Jesus Ahtonnia" in its native
language.


It's a good conversation that fits the album into conversations
about faith and life, and what can happen over the course of more
than 50 years. 


On November 25, he will have three new releases—the digital album
Rarities, which features songs previously on the Rumors of Glory
box set along with tracks recorded for tribute albums to Gordon
Lightfoot, Pete Seeger, Mississippi Sheiks and Mississippi John
Hurt. He will also release vinyl versions of 1997’s The Charity
of the Night and 1999’s Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in
Timbuktu. You pre-order all of them now from his label, True
North Records.