Bruce Cockburn has always been a free spirit, a traveller both near and far. But his music has never been so closely aligned with his wanderlust as it is on his stylish new album, Small Source of Comfort, the 31st in the catalog of one of the most influential and enduring singer-songwriters in Canadian music.
“I do a lot of highway driving, and the songs reflect that more on this album. I’ve been doing more in the last few years than I have been,” says Cockburn, on the road from California to his home in Kingston, Ont., to prep for a tour that brings him to Massey Hall this month. “I’ve always loved it. Any chance to get out on the road is welcome to me. A lot of imagery comes from that and shows up in the songs.”
One particularly moving travel experience was a trip Cockburn took to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2009.
“I’ve always been interested in playing for the troops, but it never came up for some reason,” says Cockburn, who performed the classic song “If I Had a Rocket Launcher,” among others, during the trip. “For some reason, no one had seen fit to send me.… My brother joined the army three years ago as a doctor. After a career in medicine, he decided to join, and he was sent to Kandahar for six months to work in the hospital over there. When I found out, I thought, ‘OK, this is my chance. This is a clear PR angle for the army.’”
And although it wasn’t easy, Cockburn was invited to join a Team Canada mission to the country along with rock band Finger Eleven and hockey great Guy Lafleur, among others. But the trip took on a sombre tone almost immediately when, upon landing at the base, the party was caught up in a ramp ceremony (for fallen soldiers).
“A C-130 came in with two young Canadians killed that day, and we became part of the ceremony honouring them,” Cockburn explains. “The coffins were taken off the plane by their buddies, peers and comrades, and we were standing right by the ramp. It was very moving, you know, and it sort of set the stage. And throughout the experience of the week that followed, which was all exciting and fun, I never forgot what it was really about.”
He wrote “Each One Lost” about the experience just days after landing as well as the intrumental “The Comets of Kandahar,” but Cockburn says the experience didn’t change his views on war.
“I regard war as a kind of inescapable part of human nature,” says Cockburn. “I don’t think it is a good thing. I don’t think of myself as a pacifist, but nobody with a brain wants war.”
Although the songs are a bit of a side trip on the album, the emotion and poignant beauty of “Each One Lost” is well worth it.
Of the 14 tracks on the record, five are instrumental, with Cockburn’s guitar virtuosity on full display. Guesting on Small Source of Comfort, produced by Cockburn’s long-time studio mate Colin Linden, are two newcomers to the fold: Montreal-native Annabelle Chvostek and Brooklyn-based violinist Jenny Scheinman, who contributes on a number of songs and will head out on the road with Cockburn in support of the disc.
Cockburn first met Scheinman while she was playing alongside the great Bill Frissell at a concert in New York City.
“She sounded cool, and we talked for a couple of minutes after the show, and she said, ‘Whenever you’re touring, I have this little gig, in this tiny club in Brooklyn,’” Cockburn explains. “A few weeks later, we’re walking in Brooklyn and see this sandwich board in front of a little club, and Jenny’s show was going to start in 15 minutes, and I heard the most amazing concert.”
One show led to another and another, and soon Cockburn was back in that same club performing alongside Scheinman and passing the hat after the gig, just like Yorkville 40 years ago when he was breaking into the music business. At one of the gigs, a Hollywood music director was in attendance and asked the duo to record some material to accompany a movie he was having trouble scoring. And although the project didn’t pan out, their working relationship flourished.
“We got to work together a bunch, and I was convinced, before even but certainly after, that I wanted to work with her on my next album and tour if possible,” says Cockburn. “And it turns out, both were possible.”
Cockburn says the band will be touring across Canada this month and next, followed by forays into the United States and Europe before returning to Canada for more dates, finishing up with some festival dates toward the end of the summer. For more information on the album and tour dates, go to www.brucecockburn.com.