One cold Winter season in the early 1970's was when my father thought I was old enough to learn about one of his greatest passions, duck hunting.  He was a skilled man and was known by his friends as a compassionate hunter, while still respecting wildlife and nature, and always strictly sticking to all the hunting rules and etiquette.  He raise English Pointers and trained them to flush out the quail he also had raised.  With about 30 hens and a rooster and some dogs, I'd say we probably had a little farm and I enjoyed all the animals around me at home. 

 And so my father was avid about teaching me everything about duck hunting, and I remembered that every Saturday morning, throughout that one cold Winter season, I would be gotten up early, about 4 or 5, and my dad and I would soon head to his favorite hunting place, a vast, wooded marshy area in Northern New Jersey.  This was about a 30 minute drive and Dad always had his favorite AM station playing in our station wagon.  And it seemed that, every Saturday morning we made this trip, I would hear the same awesome song on the radio.  At the time, I never knew who sang on that song, since I did not ever really listen to the DJ, but just looked forward to the music part of the broadcast.  But I loved that one song and later learned that it was sung by Gordon Lightfoot, a song called, "If You Could Read My Mind".  To this day, whenever I hear this song, I always think about my Dad and the cold frosty days we went hunting together, as if I was really standing in a field by that woody marshland, watching my dad do what he loves.

 About 8 years ago, and I don't know why I took so long, I bought Gordon Lightfoot's CD, "Gordon's Gold", which had 21 tracks of his best songs.  And when I drove out West in the years to follow, I would always bring that CD and would listen to it at least 6 to 8 times during the the whole trip, there and back.  And when that song started playing, I would think about my dad (who had passed away on a cold November morning in 2006), and I would remember our hunting days in the cold, and I would wish that I could hunt with him just one more time.  My dad was gone, the song and my memories were still here.

 Kowbelle photographer Mark Butler and I saw Gordon Lightfoot perform at the Tivoli Theater in Chattanooga back in March, 2011, the first year he got back on tour.  That was the time I was working on my 3 song demo recording.  We were sitting in the third row from the stage, about 20 or thirty feet from this great musician.  I remember feeling many things and how I connected with Gordon in a certain way; that was I seem to be diving into the same career and passion as he was in, the music business.  Near the end of the concert, he sung "If You Could Read My Mind", and it was then that I started to really tear up. And I was thinking of my dad and those cold Winter Saturdays, and the song on the radio, and the field that Dad and I would walk across.  I remembered looking at Gordon and feeling thankful for the gift he had given me through this song. 

 But Gordon gave my dad a wonderful gift as well.  It was last Christmas when my mom pulled out my dad's small CD collection (about 20 CDs)  She said that I can go through them and take which ones I wanted.  I picked up one CD, showed it to my mom, and said, "I already have this one and it is absolutely my favorite".  That CD, as may have already guessed, was "Gordon's Gold".  My mom told me that this CD was also his favorite and she remembered him playing it quite a bit on the long road trips they would take.

 I am quite sure that my dad would also think about our days, hunting in those frosty fields, every time he would listen to Gordon.  And when I put the CD back in my Dad's collection, I looked at my Mom and showed the same tears I had when I saw Gordon in concert.  I think it is possible for a song to have so much meaning for a family, and as you watch this video, I ask you to think about the ones you love and how many people love you.

Lou Ross