Ian Tyson's New CD

Stony Plain Records announces a March 24 release date for Yellowhead to Yellowstone, the new album from legendary singer/songwriter Ian Tyson. Yellowhead to Yellowstone is Ian Tyson's 14th album for Stony Plain and first since his 2005 release, Songs from the Gravel Road. The new album was recorded primarily in Nashville, with two tracks recorded in Edmonton, and produced by Harry Stinson, who's worked with a long list of major talents, including George Jones, Marty Stuart, Rodney Crowell and Steve Earle. Tyson's songs on the new disc reflect on his life as a rancher in Alberta, Canada, and the prospect of facing his senior years (Ian is now 75 years old). The most immediate change long-time fans will hear on Yellowhead to Yellowstone is that Ian Tyson has a new voice: a grainy, gravelly, deeply emotional tone dramatically different from the smooth-voiced tenor heard on his classic recordings. The new voice is the result of several factors. "A couple of years ago, " says Tyson, "I played a big outdoor show in Ontario. I fought the sound system — and I lost. I knew I'd hurt my voice, and it was recovering slowly when I was hit with a bad virus, which seemed to last forever. My old voice isn't coming back, the doctors told me, so I've had to get used to this new one. Audiences seem to pay more attention, now, to the lyrics and the stories in the songs. And while I've lost some of the bottom end of my voice, the top range, oddly enough, is still there." The eight new songs by Tyson (of the album's 10) cover a range of emotions and stories relating to Alberta's cultural landscape and the disappearing cowboy, as well as his personal life. The title song of the Cd was co-written by Tyson with Stewart MacDougall, and tells the story of a pack of wolves transported from the Yellowhead Pass to Yellowstone Park, where the species had become extinct — told in the voice of one of the wolves who made the journey. Another remarkable song, contributed by Toronto songwriter Jay Aymar, is about hockey commentator Don Cherry and the death of his beloved wife, Rose. A regular performer at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering held in Elko, Nevada, Ian Tyson will be honored at the 25th annual event in late January with the presentation from his fans of a Lifetime Achievement Award: a custom-made, silver-mounted saddle created by the world-famous Hamley & Company. of Pendleton, Oregon....