Joining a conversation with Tom Coxworth host of the weekly program Folk Routes on CKUA is a bit like setting the needle down on a record. There’s not too much static before the topic turns naturally to music. Even asking him where he’s from is likely to lead into a playlist: “I was born in Orillia Ontario same as Gordon Lightfoot. My mother was from Canso Nova Scotia which is Stan Rogers country.”
You get the idea there aren’t too many Canadian towns Tom doesn’t know at least in a musical sense. He has enormous pride in Canada’s folk heritage from the singer-songwriters he heard growing up to the artists he seeks out and showcases today. He also has boundless curiosity and a tendency to turn the tables on the interviewer if you’re not careful. (My notes included a long list of albums Tom insists I seek out and hear.)
For the past four decades Coxworth has been a fixture in Alberta’s folk scene starting as a writer and journalist an organizer with the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and later as director of the Calgary Folk Music Festival. His longest-running gig however is as host of CKUA’s Folk Routes which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this Sunday February 8.
Over coffee one recent morning Coxworth marvelled how he’s “taken a two-hour radio program and turned it into a 30-hour week.” He records and edits Folk Routes out of his own home and studio in south Calgary which also houses his collection of approximately 14000 vinyl records. Coxworth’s involvement reaches far beyond the radio into the many folk clubs in town (eight by Tom’s count) and its multifaceted ever-changing folk community.
Two years ago to the shock of many in that community CKUA announced a programming change that would take Folk Routes and by extension Coxworth off the air. At the time he had to accept that change is part of the radio business though not without some sleepless nights and walking around in circles. For listeners though the decision provoked an outpouring of complaints letters and cancelled subscriptions an experience Coxworth found “emotional and quite humbling.” In the end Coxworth says “If there’s one thing CKUA represents it’s the listener. They decided to do what the public wanted and I’m still there.”
That brush with radio mortality only strengthened Coxworth’s sense of purpose. “If you’re really passionate about something and it’s so fleeting you appreciate every minute and second of it. I thank every listener I meet.” CKUA has also turned a big corner in the last six months he says under new content director David Ward with a renewed commitment to hearing from listeners.
“He’s a huge folk keener” says Calgary Folk Music Festival artistic director Kerry Clarke of Coxworth. “He always has his ear to the ground discovering new music which adds to his long history and memory of all things roots — and beyond. There are many artists I’ve programmed based on Tom’s recommendation from the then 23-year-old brilliant songwriter Thea Gilmore to the 60-something Garland Jeffreys. He’s a music nerd whose concern for his album collection is a key housing consideration.”
The 20th-anniversary celebration will comprise two events both at the Ironwood Stage and Grill this Sunday and both hosted by Coxworth. First will be a live broadcast during the show’s normal time slot 10 a.m. to noon featuring interviews and performances by several of Coxworth’s favourite artists: David Francey Steph Cameron 100 Mile House and T. Buckley and Mariel Buckley — Calgary siblings with their own powerful approaches to country music. Seats for that live broadcast are sold out.
Once the staff wipe down the tables though Coxworth will host a fundraiser concert from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. featuring sets by 100 Mile House Lizzy Hoyt the Ellen Doty Trio The Doll Sisters and The Travelling Mabels. It’s an all-Albertan lineup which Coxworth helped select for a showcase later this month at the Folk Alliance International (FAI) Conference in Kansas City a major venue to promote up-and-coming artists. Expect lots of great conversation and essential playlists.
Tom Coxworth’s FOLK ROUTES 20th Anniversary Party takes place on Sunday February 8 at The Ironwood.
