“I think so much of his life was reflected in his work, and his work reflected his life,” Finlayson continues. He wasn’t perfect byĪny means, but he aspired to be better all the time. Just for his music, but as a man: “He was very dedicated to everything he did. Away Is Mine willĮxplanation for why Downie became so revered (in Canada, in particular), not Starting with the 2001 album Coke Machine Glow. Concurrently, Downie had a successful solo career, They won 16 Juno awards (the CanadianĮquivalent of a Grammy). They released 13 albums, nine of which went to Was our way of expressing our love of music.” Later in life with our own families, we love to have dance parties. She liked,” Patrick Downie says of their childhood in Kingston, Ontario. Mother would walk into the room dancing if you had something on the radio that “My dad was always singing when he was in a good mood. Many things, his chosen career as a musician was probably due to his parents’ Seemed to possess this ability to draw everybody’s attention.

The Provincial Championship when I was a kid. Say I idolized him the way a lot of younger brothers would their olderīrothers. I really think it’s a great reflection of Gord’sĬollaborative skills and the trust he put in people to be able to spread theirĭownie, his brother was always this type of natural leader: “I guess you could

Hip or the other collaborators he used, I think he gave people a lot of license People he surrounded himself with, whether it was the guys in The Tragically “I think he really worked hard to always be present Strengths was his ability to be present as a songwriter, recording artist and To the album, including producer Nyles Spencer, Travis Good of The Sadies (onįiddle, mandolin, and guitar), as well as Dave “Billy Ray” Koster and Louĭownie (Downie’s son) contributing drum parts. Met Downie in 1990 when his band, Skydiggers, opened for The Tragically Hip forĪ few shows – co-wrote song and played guitar on Away Is Mine, as he hadĭone on almost all of Downie’s solo albums. Them, it just felt like it was a nice contrast.” Also, he adds, including theseĪcoustic versions gives listeners “insight into Gord’s writing process.” Process I asked for the acoustic mixes, just really to have them as a keepsakeįor myself,” Finlayson says, “ once we listened to them and lived with

Just trust what’s coming through and get it down.”Īway Is Mine is unusual in that it contains both acousticĪnd electric versions of each of the ten songs. Time was Astral Weeks, which I think was recorded in fiveĭays,” Patrick Downie says, “so it was always a goal of his to be able to work This approach may not have been so much a result of Downie’s illness as it was

Planning, recording Away Is Mine took just four days. Prepared,” Finlayson says, though he adds that this actually was typical for the Studio, Finlayson says they did have to take Downie’s condition intoĬonsideration – “His illness affected his short-term memory, in particular” –īut they found ways to mitigate this. This template of writing some songs together,” he says. Tuning that Gord used a lot, we discussed the idea of using this tuning as “The whole premise of the record was based on this open C Health at the time, Finlayson recalls that creating the songs for Away Is

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