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For 40 years, this Canadian musical legend has been capturing in song the essence of human experience

One of Canada’s finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock and worldbeat styles while traveling to far-flung places like Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique and Nepal and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. “My job,” he explains, “is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal.”

That scratching and pulling has earned Cockburn high praise as an exceptional songwriter and a revered guitarist. His songs of romance, protest and spiritual discovery are among the best to have emerged from Canada over the last 40 years. His guitar playing, both acoustic and electric, has placed him in the company of the world’s top instrumentalists. And he remains deeply respected for his activism on issues from native rights and land mines to the

On the Sunday before he died, Paul Quarrington was doing what he’d spent the last seven months doing: as much as possible. Whether it was writing, performing, recording, travelling, fishing, watching his beloved Leafs or partying with family and friends, Paul was packing it in, squeezing the juice out of everything before taking his leave.On this particular Sunday, Paul was in the studio laying down one more track for his solo album, in this case a part for his brother Joel, an accomplished classical double bassist. I wanted to witness this session featuring two talented individuals who’d been in my life since childhood.Back then, I was best friends with Joel and knew Paul as his shy and ins...

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