Ian Tyson, the celebrated Canadian folk musician best known for writing the contemporary standard “4 Strong Winds,” died Thursday, Dec. 29. He was 89.
Tyson’s death was confirmed in an announcement on his Facebook page. He died at his ranch in southern Alberta, Canada from “on-going health complications,” though no further details got.
One among Canada’s most distinguished and influential artists, Tyson enjoyed a lengthy profession as one half of the folks duo Ian and Sylvia (with Sylvia Fricker), and as a solo artist. “4 Strong Winds,” in addition to one other Ian and Sylvia classic, “Someday Soon,” were covered widely by artists like Johnny Money, Bob Dylan, and Judy Collins; Neil Young included a rendition of “4 Strong Winds” on his 1978 album Comes a Time, and performed it with the Band during The Last Waltz.
Tyson was born Sept. 25, 1933 in Victoria, British Columbia. Raised on a small farm, as The Recent York Times notes, he grew up riding horses and competing in rodeos. After falling and breaking his ankle during one competition, he began playing guitar while he recovered. After graduating from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958, he moved to Toronto where he worked as a industrial artist and commenced gigging at local clubs.
In 1959, Tyson met and commenced singing with Fricker. By 1961 they were an official duo, and one yr later they’d relocated from Canada to the hub of people music at the moment, Recent York City. There, they met Albert Grossman — manager of Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary — who helped them secure a record cope with Vanguard. Their self-titled debut — which mostly featured traditional British and Canadian folk tunes — was released in 1962.
The next yr saw the discharge of 4 Strong Winds, which contained more traditionals, a rendition of Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time,” and Tyson’s soon-to-be-seminal title-track. Tyson credited Dylan with inspiring him to try his hand at songwriting, and he wrote “4 Strong Winds” in a small coffee house below the famed McDougal street bar, Kettle of Fish.
The song itself drew on his pangs for a girlfriend back in British Columbia. “I used to be all the time leaving and regretting it,” Tyson said in a 2014 interview. He added: “I wrote ‘4 Strong Winds’ in 20 minutes desirous about that lady back in Vernon, BC — she’s still there!” (It later turned out that Tyson and his girlfriend, Evinia Pulos, maintained an on-again-off-again relationship for many years.)
Ian and Sylvia remained in Recent York City throughout the mid-Sixties, releasing several more albums. Their 1964 record, Northern Journey, contained one other Tyson original, “Somewhere Soon,” which became a minor hit for Judy Collins in 1969. Tyson and Fricker also married in 1964.
Because the Sixties drew to an in depth, Ian and Sylvia — like others from the folks world, reminiscent of Dylan and the Byrds — relocated to Nashville in the hunt for something recent. Their 1968 album, Nashville, is a country-rock cult classic that helped pave the best way for more popular records that soon followed, just like the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Dylan’s Nashville Skyline. (“It was an experiment,” Fricker told Rolling Stone in 2015. “We had an unlucky habit of being somewhat ahead of our time.”)
After Nashville, Ian and Sylvia released several more albums together, including one as a full-on country rock group, Great Speckled Bird (their self-titled 1969 record was produced by Todd Rundgren). In 1975, the pair’s marriage ended, and in addition they decided to part ways musically. Tyson decided to step away from music as well, returning to southern Alberta to coach horses on his ranch.
Tyson did eventually start playing again, this time with a heavy interest in cowboy and country-western music. Albums like 1983’s Old Corrals and Sagebrush and 1986’s Cowboyography (which went platinum in Canada) featured a combination of latest originals and traditional tunes. That very same yr, Tyson also married his second wife, Twylla Billow, an adolescent lower than half his age (they divorced in 2008). He also reunited with Fricker for an Ian and Sylvia concert special that included appearances from Gordon Lightfoot, Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins, and more.
The early Nineties saw a string of status-cementing honors, including Ian and Sylvia’s induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1994, each Tyson and Fricker were made Members of the Order of Canada. Tyson continued to record, release music, and perform frequently up until 2006, when he strained his voice at a concert, and a subsequent virus worsened the damage. After a pair years of therapy, nevertheless, Tyson was in a position to return with one other collection of cowboy songs, 2008’s Yellowhead To Yellowstone And Other Love Stories.
Tyson would release three more solo albums, his last, Carnero Vaquero, arriving in 2015; two years later, he shared what could be his final single, “You Should Have Known.” Tyson also remained a dedicated rancher and cowboy throughout the remaining of his life.
