Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and the daily lives of working people, especially those from the fishing villages of the Maritime provinces and, later, the farms of the Canadian prairies and Great Lakes. Rogers died in a fire aboard Air Canada Flight 797 on the ground at the Greater Cincinnati Airport at the age of 33.
Rogers was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the eldest son of Nathan Allison Rogers and Valerie (née Bushell) Rogers, two Maritimers who had relocated to Ontario in search of work shortly after their marriage in July 1948. Although Rogers was raised in Binbrook, Ontario, he often spent summers visiting family in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.
It was there that he became familiar with the way of life in the Maritimes, an influence which was to have a profound impact on his subsequent musical development. He was interested in music from an early age, reportedly beginning to sing shortly after learning to speak. He received his first guitar, a miniature hand-built by his uncle Lee Bushell, when he was five years of age. He was exposed to a variety of music influences, but among the most lasting were the country and western tunes his uncles would sing during family get-togethers. Throughout his childhood, he would practice his singing and playing along with his brother Garnet, six years his junior.
While Rogers was attending Saltfleet High School, Stoney Creek, Ontario, he started to meet other young people interested in folk music, although at this time he was dabbling in rock and roll, singing and playing bass guitar in garage bands such as "Stanley and the Living Stones" and "The Hobbits". After high school, Rogers briefly attended both McMaster University and Trent University, where he performed in small venues with other student musicians, including Ian Tamblyn, Chris Ward and fellow Hobbit Nigel Russell. Russell wrote the song "White Collar Holler", which Rogers sang frequently on stage.
Rogers signed with RCA Records in 1970 and recorded two singles: "Here's to You Santa Claus" in 1970, and "The Fat Girl Rag" in 1971. In 1973, Rogers recorded three singles for Polygram: "Three Pennies", "Guysborough Train", and "Past Fifty."
In 1976, Rogers recorded his debut album, Fogarty's Cove, released in 1977 on Barnswallow Records. The album's subject matter dealt almost entirely with life in maritime Canada, and was an immediate success. Rogers then formed Fogarty's Cove Music, and bought Barnswallow during the production of Turnaround, allowing him to release his own albums. Posthumously, additional albums were released.[citation needed]
Rogers' songs often had a Celtic feel which was due, in part, to his frequent use of DADGAD guitar tuning. He regularly used his William 'Grit' Laskin built 12-string guitar in his performances. His best-known pieces include "Northwest Passage", "Barrett's Privateers", "The Mary Ellen Carter", "Make and Break Harbour", "The Idiot", "Fogarty's Cove", and "White Squall".
Rogers died alongside 22 other passengers most likely of smoke inhalation on June 2, 1983, while traveling on Air Canada Flight 797 (a McDonnell Douglas DC-9) after performing at the Kerrville Folk Festival. The airliner was flying from Dallas, Texas, to Toronto and Montreal when a fire of unknown ignition source within the vanity or toilet shroud of the aft washroom forced it to make an emergency landing at the Greater Cincinnati Airport in northern Kentucky.
There were initially no visible flames, and after attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, smoke filled the cabin. Upon landing, the plane's doors were opened, allowing the five crew and 18 of the passengers to escape, but approximately 60 to 90 seconds into the evacuation the oxygen rushing in from outside caused a flash fire. Rogers had initially been one of the passengers to escape, but he at some point re-entered the plane to assist in the effort to help others escape.
Rogers' legacy includes his recordings, songbook, and plays for which he was commissioned to write music. His songs are still frequently covered by other musicians, and are perennial favourites at Canadian campfires and song circles. Members of Rogers' band, including his brother Garnet Rogers, continue to be active performers and form a significant part of the fabric of contemporary Canadian folk music. Following his death, he was nominated for the 1984 Juno Awards in the category for Best Male Vocalist. That same year, he was posthumously awarded the Diplôme d’Honneur of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. In 1994, his posthumous live album Home in Halifax was likewise nominated for Best Roots and Traditional Album.
Stan's son, Nathan Rogers, is also an established Canadian folk artist with a voice and lyrical acumen similar to his father's. He has released two critically acclaimed solo discs and tours internationally as a solo act and in the trio Dry Bones.
Canol Road
Stan Rogers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the bone-white-knuckled grip upon the road,
Sixty-five miles into town, and a winter's thirst to drown,
A winter still with two months left to go.
His eyes are too far open, his grin too hard and sore,
His shoulders too far high to bring relief,
But the Kopper King is hot, even if the band is not,
Then he laughs and says "It didn't get me this time, not tonight,
I wasn't screaming when I hit the door."
But his hands on the tabletop, will their shaking never stop,
Those hands sweep the bottles to the floor.
Now he's a bear in a blood-red mackinaw with hungry dogs at bay,
And springtime thunder in his sudden roar,
With one wrong word he burns, and the table's overturned,
When he's finished there's a dead man on the floor.
Well they watched for him in Carmacks, Haines, and Carcross,
With Teslin blocked there's nowhere else to go,
But he hit the four-wheel-drive in Johnson's Crossing,
Now he's thirty-eight miles up the Canol road.
He's thirty-eight miles up the Canol road,
In the Salmon Range at forty-eight below...
Well it's God's own neon green above the mountains here tonight,
Throwing brittle coloured shadows on the snow,
It's four more hours til dawn, and the gas is almost gone,
And that bitter Yukon wind begins to blow.
Now you can see it in his eyes as they glitter in the light
And the bone-white rime of frost around his brow,
Too late the dawn has come, that Yukon winter has won,
And he's got his cure for cabin fever now.
Well they watched for him in Carmacks, Haines, and Carcross,
With Teslin blocked there's nowhere else to go,
But they hit the four-wheel-drive in Johnson's Crossing,
Found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road.
They found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road,
In the Salmon Range at forty-eight below,
They found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road...
The song "Canol Road" by Stan Rogers is a haunting ballad about a man's struggle with alcoholism and isolation in the harsh Canadian wilderness. The singer is a heavy drinker who relies on alcohol to numb his physical and emotional pain. Throughout the song, the man is described as driving recklessly on icy roads, laughing maniacally, and getting into fights. The lyrics convey a sense of desperation and sadness, as the man seems unable to break free from his addiction and his environment.
The song's imagery is powerful and bleak, capturing the harshness of the Canadian winter and the isolation of the northern wilderness. The bone-white rime of frost, the bitter Yukon wind, and the brittle coloured shadows on the snow all contribute to a sense of coldness and emptiness. The singer's journey up the Canol Road, a remote and treacherous highway in the Yukon, is a metaphor for his reckless and dangerous path through life.
The lyrics also touch on the theme of fate and inevitability. The man seems resigned to his fate of being a heavy drinker, and his actions seem to be leading inexorably towards a tragic end. The chorus, with its repeated refrain of "thirty-eight miles up the Canol road," emphasizes the sense of foreboding and doom that pervades the song.
Overall, "Canol Road" is a haunting and powerful song that captures the struggles of addiction and isolation in a harsh and unforgiving environment.
Line by Line Meaning
Well you could see it in his eyes as they strained against the night, And the bone-white-knuckled grip upon the road,
The man driving is under immense pressure, as visible in his eyes and his tight grip on the steering wheel.
Sixty-five miles into town, and a winter's thirst to drown, A winter still with two months left to go.
He is driving 65 miles to the town to quench his thirst, that is caused by the winter which is two months away from ending.
His eyes are too far open, his grin too hard and sore, His shoulders too far high to bring relief,
The man is uncomfortable and tense, which is reflected in his behavior and facial expressions.
But the Kopper King is hot, even if the band is not, And it sure beats shooting whiskey-jacks and trees.
He finds solace in drinking at Kopper King, even if the music is not good, and it's still better than aimlessly shooting trees and birds.
Then he laughs and says 'It didn't get me this time, not tonight, I wasn't screaming when I hit the door.' But his hands on the tabletop, will their shaking never stop, Those hands sweep the bottles to the floor.
He laughs at his recent behavior and the situation he's in but is still struggling with the effects of alcohol, as his hands keep on shaking.
Now he's a bear in a blood-red mackinaw with hungry dogs at bay, And springtime thunder in his sudden roar, With one wrong word he burns, and the table's overturned, When he's finished there's a dead man on the floor.
The man becomes aggressive and violent after drinking, and a single provocation turns him into a bear that causes chaos and causes harm to others.
Well they watched for him in Carmacks, Haines, and Carcross, With Teslin blocked there's nowhere else to go, But he hit the four-wheel-drive in Johnson's Crossing, Now he's thirty-eight miles up the Canol road.
The authorities were on the lookout for him in different places, but he managed to escape their search and drove 38 miles up the Canol road.
Well it's God's own neon green above the mountains here tonight, Throwing brittle coloured shadows on the snow, It's four more hours til dawn, and the gas is almost gone, And that bitter Yukon wind begins to blow.
The scenery is beautiful, with neon green lights shining above the mountains and the snow casting brittle shadows. However, it's almost dawn, and the gas is running out, with the cold Yukon wind starting to blow.
Now you can see it in his eyes as they glitter in the light And the bone-white rime of frost around his brow, Too late the dawn has come, that Yukon winter has won, And he's got his cure for cabin fever now.
The man is now in a state of delirium, with frost on his brow, and he has given in to the cold winter of Yukon, resulting in his downfall.
But they hit the four-wheel-drive in Johnson's Crossing, Found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road, They found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road, In the Salmon Range at forty-eight below, They found him thirty-eight miles up the Canol road...
They found the man's vehicle 38 miles up the Canol road, in the freezing Salmon Range, where the temperature was 48 degrees below freezing point. His search for a cure for cabin fever has ended in his demise.
Contributed by Isaiah G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.