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Music

RIP James Gray (1960-2013)

Toronto’s music community paused in shock Tuesday to remember James Gray, the multi-instrumentalist who, most notably as the keyboardist for Blue Rodeo, helped solidify the city as a pre-eminent contributor to roots rock. He was 52.

After the initial surprise, I reflected on Gray’s contribution to my own musical upbringing. Growing up in a blue-collar Southern Ontario city in the 90s, there were certain inescapable mainstays of a young man’s life. One of which was certainly Five Days in July, an album that became so omnipresent it was, at first, a burden forced upon sons by their fathers.

Yet as I grew older and Five Days in July inevitably worked its way into my subconscious, I began to discover the record’s subtleties: the album became an accurate soundtrack to my life crossraods: feelings of being confined by our suburban life yet simultaneously wary of the big city of Toronto. I eventually moved past the stories of lost loves and ragged guitar solos to discover the backbone of the record was the talented and seemingly inexhaustible efforts of a man I learned was keyboardist Gray. From the wide-ranging solo on Head Over Heels to the haunting and stunning touches he placed on Bad Timing, Gray helped me appreciate music from a different stance -how a keen ear can lead to a better understanding of roots rock as opposed to simply being beat over the head with riffs, as was becoming the case on rock radio.

Five Days in July was his first album with Blue Rodeo, and it’s no great coincidence it’s regarded by many as their masterpiece.

Gray himself was a musician’s musician. He was a member of The Rheostatics briefly, yet as Dave Bidini stated in book Have Not Been The Same, “had too much talent,” which, coming from Bidini, is truly saying something. Respected by nearly everyone he worked with, Gray was relentless in what mattered most: his work, and his efforts to help foster a community of musicians and a musical identity for the city he called home.

Gray parted ways with Blue Rodeo in 2005 but could still be seen quite regularly throughout Toronto. If you were lucky, you may even have caught a glimpse of him on a variety of instruments while he busked throughout the city. Gray was a man who made residents of Toronto, both new and established, proud of the city and what it could produce. Gray would continue to benefit Toronto’s music history and community by serving as a mentor to young musicians, up until his last days.

While many musicians would quickly retreat into darker corners after their time in the spotlight, Gray continued to employ the blue-collar ideals that so many of his fans held in such high regard namely, that a dedication to one’s work should come first and foremost and that the work, however beautiful and/or tragic should speak for itself.

Joshua Kloke is a music writer who has spent far too many hours in venues, bars and record stores across the country trying to understand and define the Canadian sound. His first book, Escape is at Hand, was released by Eternal Cavalier Press in June 2013.

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