The Stan Rogers LegacyOne of Marine Drive's most famous and beloved "native sons" wasn't native to Nova Scotia at all. But that doesn't seem to matter one bit to the folks up in Guysborough County. Folk singer Stan Rogers, the big man with the even bigger voice, had salt water running through his viens and a heart that beat with the rolling waves. His songs echoed the tales of the Eastern Shore and the laments of fishermen who lived there. And to know his music was to know the sea, the wind and the tides.
Although Stan Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario, his roots and his heart were in Nova Scotia. His mother was born in Canso, a small fishing town jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean at the entrance to Chedabucto Bay. As a boy, Stan spent summers at a cottage in Queensport and as an adult, he spent every spare moment there, with his friends and fellow musicians. Locals say the minute Stan hit town, the jam session started and lasted long into the foggy night. He sang of places like Fogarty’s Cove—a fictitious name for Indian Cove—of waves crashing, lighthouses, and Cape Islander boats. He made the concerns of the ordinary man—the farmers, the fishermen—real and close to home for all Canadians who listened to his music.
In 1983 Stan Rogers died, tragically, in an airplane fire. It is said that he had a dream to create a body of work, of songs, that spanned Canada from coast to coast. He had started in the place that was closest to his heart—Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. From that dream came another, from the people of Canso—a dream of a music festival held at the edge of the sea, to honour Stan Rogers.
In Canso, this summer, for three days in July, the salt-spray air will be filled with the sounds of music unique to the Maritimes. Music that sings to the heart, to the sea and to the soul. Performers will be gathering for a jam session to end all jam sessions—a giant Nova Scotia kitchen party. And Stan wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. ... But my fathers knew of wind and tide, and my blood is maritime And I heard an old song down on fishermen’s wharf Can I sing it just one time? Can I sing it just one time?
—Stan Rogers