Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn (pronounced "Coburn"), while a cult artist in the United States with a couple of radio hits (Wondering Where The Lions Are and If I Had a Rocket Launcher), has had a long and distinguished career with much success in his native Canada. His first albums were fairly straight ahead folk music spotlighting his brilliant guitar playing. In fact, there were a good number of instrumental guitar numbers on those early recordings. A Christian element came into his music around the time of the album Salt, Sun And Time, and over time his writing has taken on a stronger and stronger political orientation. Perhaps the most consistent element of Cockburn's music has been his willingness to change and evolve over time. In this way, he is similar to fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. His albums in the 80s are considered some of his strongest, including Humans, Inner City Front, Stealing Fire, and Big Circumstance. After Big Circumstance he struggled with writer's block, and his output began to slow down; but he recovered with the formidable Nothing But A Burning Light, which led the way back to a sparer, more folk-oriented form of music. His later album The Charity Of Night contains one of his most thoughtful songs, Pacing The Cage. His 2006 album Life Short Call Now was preceded by Speechless, a collection of instrumentals, many of them from earlier albums. This last album is an important event since it highlights Cockburn's abilities as a guitarist.