Bruce Cockburn

One of Canada’s finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by musical diversity. His journey has seen him embrace many styles while travelling to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mozambique, and Nepal, writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. “My job is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal.” That scratching and pulling has earned him high praise as an exceptional songwriter and revered guitarist. His songs are among the best to have emerged over the last 40 years. His guitar playing, has placed him in the company of the world’s top instrumentalists. Throughout his career, Cockburn has captured the joy, pain, and faith of human experience in song. Whether singing about retreating to the country or going up against chaos, tackling lies or embracing ecclesiastical truths, he has always expressed a tough yet hopeful stance: to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight. “We can’t settle for things as they are,” he once warned. For his many achievements, the artist has been honoured with 13 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. His commitment has made Bruce Cockburn both an exemplary citizen and a legendary artist whose prized songbook will be celebrated for many years to come.