The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie Announces Two Gigs

Downie broke the news to fans in May that he had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in December 2015 and that the Canadian rock band would be doing one last tour over the summer. The excursion began with a July 22 show in Victoria, British Columbia, and wrapped with a sold-out show in Kingston, Ontario, Aug. 20 that included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the audience.

Downie will be back on stage next month to play an Oct. 18 gig in Ottawa, Ontario, at the National Arts Centre Southam Hall and an Oct. 21 show at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall.

The singer/songwriter has been called Canada’s unofficial poet laureate, composing tunes “about hockey and desolate small towns, about literature and the French explorer who named Canada,” according to the Associated Press.

Secret Path takes a look at a darker part of Canada’s history.

The project tells the story of a 12-year-old boy named Chanie Wenjack who died after running away from an Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, 50 years ago. The child was hoping to return home to the family he was taken away from more than 400 miles away.

“Chanie haunts me,” Downie writes in a statement on his website. “His story is Canada’s story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written. We are all accountable, but this begins in the late 1800s and goes to 1996. ‘White’ Canada knew – on somebody’s purpose – nothing about this. We weren’t taught it; it was hardly ever mentioned.”

“All of those Governments, and all of those Churches, for all of those years, misused themselves. They hurt many children. They broke up many families. They erased entire communities. It will take seven generations to fix this. Seven. Seven is not arbitrary. This is far from over. Things up north have never been harder. Canada is not Canada. We are not the country we think we are.”

He adds, “The next hundred years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him – as we find out about ourselves, about all of us – but only when we do can we truly call ourselves, ‘Canada.’”

Secret Path is set for release Oct. 18, available in a deluxe vinyl and book edition, as well as a book with album download.

The 10-track album was fleshed out with producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin from poems Downie had written.  With Downie handling vocals and guitar, the album features guest appearances by Charles Spearin (bass), Ohad Benchetrit (lap steel/guitar), Kevin Hearn (piano) and Dave “Billy Ray” Koster (drums). Drew and Hamelin play all other instruments on Secret Path. 

The music was given to comic artist Jeff Lemire in winter 2014 and he created an 88-page graphic novel to illustrate Chanie’s story.

Secret Path has also inspired an animated film, which will be broadcast on CBC Oct. 23.

Tickets to the live shows go on sale Sept. 23. All proceeds will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at The University of Manitoba.  Visit GordDownie.com for more information.