Gordon Lightfoot may never seem to be doing anything all that unusual—his melodies tend to be simple, his subjects seldom original, his voice is nice enough but rarely lends itself to anything fancy, and in fact the whole genre he works in is anything but new. But Lightfoot, unlike virtually all other folk artists who started out successful in the early Sixties, has managed to mellow so gracefully (and without any need for a current comeback, or any gratuitous shots at rock and roll) that he's at his absolute strongest right now, as Don Quixote and the album before it [Summer Side of Life] bear witness. Even though—or perhaps because—what he does isn't nearly as unusual as the fact that he does it so well….

Gordon (Meredith) Lightfoot 1938– Ken Regan/Camera 5

[Part] of his appeal must certainly stem from his considerable gift for songwriting, which...