Singing Along to Stan

I toured around east­ern Canada with my par­ents when I was in my early teens. While we were stay­ing in a tiny hotel some­where in Nova Scotia, the Irish Descendants played in the pub down­stairs. They cov­ered a few Stan Rogers songs, like “Barrett’s Privateers” and “The Mary Ellen Carter.” I bought their cas­sette tape and lis­tened to it in the car over and over. We must have only brought a cou­ple of tapes on that trip. Anyway, I could sing along to sev­eral Stan Rogers songs before I even knew he existed, and did so at the top of my lungs in a small car. My poor par­ents. A whole­hearted thanks to the Canadian folk artists that keep per­form­ing those spir­ited songs.

–Becky McEachern