‘Eighteen Inches Of Rain’

Mi compadre and co-founder of the Sisters Folk Festival, Dick Sandvik, dumped his whole CD collection to go completely digital. He gave me first crack at the cull, and I snapped up all the Ian Tyson stuff. Dick has been an avid Ian Tyson fan since the days of Ian & Sylvia, and he introduced me to the great Canadian singer-songwriter.

Tyson has had a unusual career. There was nobody except Dylan who was a bigger deal during the folk boom of the 1960s than the duo of Ian & Sylvia, and the man’s first song was a masterpiece — “Four Strong Winds.” After the folk boom faded away, Ian seemed to have a hard time finding traction in the country-rock and Outlaw movements of the ’70s. He produced some good work, but it just didn’t seem to connect. He was a TV host for a while in Canada, then took to ranching in Alberta. Always a cowboy at heart, he found something there that reignited his creativity. He started really living the life and writing and recording modern-day cowboy music (mixed with some classic stuff) and in 1986 he released “Cowboyography,” which was an unexpected breakout hit. He all of a sudden, without quite meaning to, had a whole new career.

That new career hit a real pinnacle with the 1993 album “Eighteen Inches of Rain.” I hadn’t listened to the whole thing in years, but I pulled it out of the stack a few days ago and spun it in the truck — and now I can’t stop. What a fantastic set of songs, perfectly executed. The production is polished but not slick — which is a neat trick. Perfect setting for Ian’s smooooooth voice. I’d like to point out that Tyson was in his 60s when he released this masterpiece. Writing and singing at the peak of his powers. Inspiring.

I am particularly obsessed with the song “Big Horns,” which is an exemplar of Hemingway’s iceberg principle. It’s a story, but not much of it is laid out explicitly, leaving the reader to conjure his own tale out of the poetic images Ian lays down in the lyric.

The powerhouse song in the collection is “MC Horses” which depicts end of an era in the sale of the cavvy of the legendary southeast Oregon ranch.

The collection closes with a cowboy benediction which may be the finest blessing a man could hope to receive.

 

If I may humbly urge you — get the record; don’t just listen to snippets on your computer. “Eighteen Inches of Rain” really should be listened to in your truck, driving through some pretty country on a spring day when the grass is greening up and the world feels clean.