January 6, 2023

Ian Tyson, legendary Canadian songwriter who penned the standard Four Strong Winds died in December at age 89. Tyson’s career stretched back to the influential Toronto folk scene in the early sixties, when he was performing with his wife at the time Sylvia Tyson as Ian & Sylvia.

In the early 2000s Rayland Baxter was a college lacrosse player living in Baltimore when his father gave him a guitar. Baxter got kicked out of school for a year and when he returned he gave up lacrosse in mid season in favor of the guitar and music. Baxter’s father was a professional, having played in Steve Earle’s band the Dukes in the 90s and maybe he knew a bit more than Rayland did about where his interests truly came from.