VA - The Al Purdy Songbook (2018)

THE AL PURDY SONGBOOK is an album of music inspired by the life, words and landscapes of legendary Canadian poet AL PURDY (1918 ? 2000).

The involved artists have contributed their work in support of the Al Purdy A-Frame Association, a registered charity that has successfully restored Purdy's historic home in Ontario's Prince Edward County and created a residency program there for a new generation of poets.

Artists featured on The Al Purdy Songbook are:
BRUCE COCKBURN, SARAH HARMER, GORD DOWNIE,
FELICITY WILLIAMS, DOUG PAISLEY, GREG KEELOR,
MARGARET ATWOOD, SNOWBLINK, JASON COLLETT,
DAVE BIDINI, LEONARD COHEN, and CASEY JOHNSON.

Al Purdy was born December 30, 1918 in Wooler, Ontario and died April 21, 2000 in Sidney, British Columbia. He has been called the first, last and most Canadian poet. "Voice of the Land" is engraved on his tombstone. But before finding fame as the country's unofficial poet laureate, he endured years of poverty and failure.

Dropping out of high school at 17, he rode freight trains during the Great Depression, worked odd jobs, and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Purdy lived all over the country, labouring in mattress factories. In 1957, he and his wife Eurithe built an A-frame cabin near his birthplace in Ontario. There, after two decades of writing what he admits was bad poetry, he found his voice, and finally broke through with The Cariboo Horses (1965), which won the first of his two Governor General's Awards for Poetry. Purdy published 33 books of poetry, a novel, a memoir, and nine collections of essays and correspondence.

In 2008, nine years after his death, his statue was unveiled in Toronto's Queen's Park. The A-Frame project inspired both the film Al Purdy Was Here and The Al Purdy Songbook.

Tracklist:
6:02 | 01. Bruce Cockburn - 3 Al Purdys
4:10 | 02. Doug Paisley - Transient
4:21 | 03. Sarah Harmer - Just Get Here
4:30 | 04. Gord Downie, The Country Of Miracles - The East Wind
5:29 | 05. Jason Collett - Sensitive Man
3:41 | 06. Snowblink - Outdoor Hotel
4:29 | 07. Greg Keelor - Unprovable
2:59 | 08. Snowblink, Margaret Atwood - Wilderness Gothic
3:10 | 09. Gord Downie - At The Quinte Hotel
4:20 | 10. Dave Bidini, The Billie Hollies - Say The Names
4:44 | 11. Felicity Williams - Country North Of Belleville
1:25 | 12. Leonard Cohen - Necropsy Of Love
3:07 | 13. Casey Johnson - Cowboy