The Lightfoot Band Kicks Off The Festival
By John Swartz
Last November SUNonline/Orillia broke the news Gordon Lightfoot’s band members had been working through the fall with a new singer, Andy Mauck and were planning a debut concert at Toronto’s El Macombo. With their Lightfoot Days Festival appearance at the Orillia Opera House October 31, it’s a good time to revisit the conversation of a year ago and see how things have panned out.
At the time bassist Rick Haynes was hoping they could continue touring and performing, but nothing was guaranteed. Based on what transpired in 2024, Rick believes they made the right choice to carry on.
“Absolutely, we believe the songs are some of the best songs that have ever been written and they deserve to be played live for people,” Rick said.
They have been barnstorming around Ontario, played some dates in the Maritimes, and have shows lined up in December in the American Midwest.
“It’s been quite gratifying and it’s been, I think, quite successful so far. It’s a work in progress.”
They went for the obvious, having always been the Lightfoot band, they figured springing for a capital B would make a sufficient band name people would recognize. You’d think, but Rick discovered the public doesn’t always make connections they should.
“It’s a work in progress. We have a long way to go. We have the task of educating people that we are the original Lightfoot band and this is where to come to hear the real deal.”
“The most surprising thing is probably we have an uphill battle to educate the public that we are – because there’s so many tributes, there’s four Abba bands, there’s three Hotel Californias (etc., etc.) – we are trying to separate ourselves and get people to understand we are not a tribute band. We are the original band that recorded the songs and played on tour with Gordon for, amongst us all, about 150 years collectively. This is different. It’s probably the most surprising thing is getting people to understand that and getting promoters and venue operators and managers to understand that. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of competition out there”
The Lightfoot Band is playing the Orillia Opera House, Thursday, October 31. There is still time to get tickets online, with only 16 seats on the main floor and a little more than 100 in the balcony left.
Of course, the big question is how is that going to work without Gordon Lightfoot singing the songs? It turns out very well. The new guy is Andy Mauck. He’s a Floridian, originally from Ohio, who has been singing Gord’s tunes since he was in high school (he knows more than 150 of them), struck up a friendship with Gord’s guitarist Terry Clements more than 45 years ago, and since become friends with the rest of the band. His voice sounds remarkably like Gord’s and when the band started talking about the future, they naturally thought of bringing Andy in.
Last November Andy said, “A smarter guy would have joined a band in his own town.” He laughed when reminded he said that.
“Yeah, actually after about 15 trips back up to Canada and lots of frequent flyer miles, I still think that’s true, but I didn’t have any choice”
He already had a second – in retirement – career playing clubs in and around his home in Punta Gorda, which he left behind to become an expert flier. He keeps his Martin D18 and Gibson B45 12-string guitars (“Those are the same models that Gord played. To me it would be sacrilegious to play anything else,”) in Toronto and only travels with carry-on bags, so he can get off the plane and be at the curb in 5 minutes after landing.
Andy was riding a wave of adrenalin mixed with angst of their first gig in January. There are a few nervous states one goes through when approaching the season opener, so to speak, relief and pride when it’s over, nervousness about the execution and reception of each passing song and the what am I doing here? feeling waiting in the wings before being called to the stage.
“I didn’t give it a thought, it’s no big deal at all,” he laughed.
“I don’t know if I could ever describe a lot of it. I will say I had been practising with these guys so much, learning what I had to learn. They improved me as a musician so much. The guys have been patient. My head was full of technical thoughts, which probably helped to not get overwhelmed at the fact I’m stepping into the role of the guy who in my opinion and millions of others is probably the best singer of his generation, maybe of all time. I didn’t have to worry about writing the songs, so there was no pressure there, but to perform them so perfectly like he did, and his with his voice, if had thought too much about that I might have just become a puddle on the floor,” Andy said.
“Walking onto the stage (at the Elmo), what crossed my mind was my brain went back to 1972, the first time I ever saw Gord in a concert in Columbus, Ohio, he walked on the stage and Rick Haynes was walking behind him. Here I am walking on the stage to Gord’s role and here’s Rick behind me, and here’s Barry and Mike, I was almost dizzy for a second. Then when Barry counted the song off my brain went to OK, keep it on time, keep it right. It took a few seconds, maybe a verse or so to realize – OK, I didn’t freeze and it went OK.”
“What really helped, I could see faces right in front of me, including Kim (Lightfoot) and Meredith (Moon) and they were smiling and by the end of the song there were some cheers, so I kind of felt OK, it must have been OK.”
“I remember thinking; I think I did that pretty well. The very first time though, there were so many emotions going around. It was a warm room. I had 42 friends and family from all over the country. The band was calling it Mauck-a-palooza and Andyfest. That was helpful.”
The Elmo gig showed the band there was an appetite for people to want to see the band play. The first show sold out quickly and a second one the next day was added. What remained was how people would respond to Andy taking Gord’s place. It turns out they liked it.
“Absolutely,” Rick said. “It’s been like that from the get-go. We’ve been very well received. We’ve had a lot of standing ovations in the middle of shows and at the end of shows. Encores, real heartfelt encores. It wasn’t just a matter of take two steps away from the stage and come back. People want us to come back. We get people telling us they are going to come see us again because they thought we were so good. We have people telling us they weren’t sure how they were going to feel about seeing the Lightfoot Band without Gord. I have to say 99% of the time it’s very positive and heartwarming.”
“They are thrilled with the way Andy is handling Gordon Lightfoot material. I haven’t heard one negative comment. I’m not kidding, I’m not exaggerating. People are really surprised and very pleasantly surprised.”
“We’re not trying to make him sound like Gord. He is Andy. He has that kind of a voice, so it works out great. We are not trying to put up a clone of Gord or imitate Gord. Gord’s material is really hard to nail. It really is.”
When Gord was alive, he was the focus, on stage and off. Now he’s gone, audiences, the fans, give more attention to the band members who we rarely heard from. Not that the band members didn’t each have their clutches of admirers, but they now are the ones signing autographs and posing for pictures for everybody. It’s new territory for them.
“It really is. We are getting to meet the people who come to see us. They don’t have to be in any kind of pass classification or buy into anything. We come out and meet them,’ Rick said.
“We agreed really early on, counter to the ever increasing tendency of promoters and venues to want have VIP things and charge people extra for meet and greets, no,” Andy said.
“We think that’s an insult to our fans who pay money to see us. We just tell them hang out after the show in the lobby and give us a few minutes and we’ll come out and just mingle with you. That’s what we’ve been doing and it works great. They want pictures taken and autographs and stuff, which just blows my mind because I’m not worthy of that. It’s been great.”
Another change for audiences is how the show unfolds.
“We do about 22 songs typically where they used to play maybe 28.We take time for the band to tell their stories, which the crowd, they seem to love that. We think it is really important, because we’re not trying to do the exact same show because the exact same guy isn’t here. What we’re trying to do is keep that music and let the fans get even closer to the goings on with these fabulous stories they (band members) have with Gord on the road. That brings the fans a little closer to Gord, we think. In my mind it’s good to get the fans focused on the band and get to see what good guys they are,” Andy said.
“The stories they tell are great, some nights it gets hysterical. Like (Mike Heffernan’s story was so funny everyone was just cracking and I almost couldn’t do the next song.”
How do Andy and Rick view this concert on a stage named for Gord?
“This is another milestone. This thing coming up has been on the emotional radar for quite a while. I totally do realize if Massey is the church of Gord, this is the house of Gord and this is his hometown. It’s a really big deal and it kicks off the big celebration. Just to be a part of that, I started out as a fan, so to be doing all this is just bazaar. I’m sure when I walk on that stage with these guys it will be very similar to the El Macombo. This is a big emotional deal for a lot of people,” Andy said.
“Orillia really is a huge deal to us. They (the organizing committee) doing a great job and we’re trying to support it and we’re trying to get the word out,” Rick said.
The band is staying over for a special event at Creative Nomad Studios Friday afternoon and evening. The band members will hold a workshop and demonstrate how the music was put together and give insights into Gord’s music. It’s at 1 p.m. and repeats at 2:30. You can get tickets ($30) by etransfer to orillialightfootdaysfestival@gmail.com.
At 7 p.m. they will all participate, along with Gord’s long-time agent Bernie Fiedler, in a panel discussion as part of the festival’s free Memories of Gordon Lightfoot: Stories and Music. Also on hand to tell stories are Steve Eyers (Gord’s newphew), Wanda Hawkins (Ronnnie’s wife) and this writer. Linda Leatherdale will emcee and the music between tales will be performed by Steve McEown, Don James and Steve Porter. Nicholas Jennings will also be there to autograph copies of his biography, Lightfoot.
There is a list of performers to enjoy at various venues throughout the festival, which you can check out here. And, St. Paul’s Centre’s Sunday service at 10:30 a.m. is a remembrance of Gord. It features a new hymn composed by Jim Lewis and the Orillia Community Children’s Choir will sing along with recordings made in 1951 by Gord when he was a member of the church’s choir.
Andy gets the last word.
“I’m just thrilled to be a part of this. I can’t believe a year has gone buy almost. This is pretty addictive. It ought to be illegal.”
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied)
