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That time Ian Tyson took a nap in Athabasca

Singer-songwriter given honorary degree by AU in 90s
Ian Tyson, iconic Canadian country and folk singer, is coming to Bert Church Live Theatre on Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. to perform old favourites and some new material.
In 1993 famed singer-songwriter Ian Tyson was bestowed by with an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Athabasca University and sang his iconic sing 'Four Strong Winds' at the convocation. Tyson also put on a sold-out show at the Nancy Appleby Theatre. He passed away at his home near Longview, Alberta on Dec. 29, 2022. File

ATHABASCA — It started off as a wish list item to have Ian Tyson perform in Athabasca and ended up with him serenading Athabasca University (AU) graduates with his iconic song "Four Strong Winds."

Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Global Studies Mike Gismondi recalled his then-roommate and colleague Jeremy Mouat successfully bringing Canadian band Prairie Oyster to town to perform at the Nancy Appleby Theatre (NAT) as part of trying to have AU be present and involved in the community. 

“Jeremy Mouat was a professor of history and he had just been here a couple of years in the early 1990s and he started to bring in some musical acts to the Nancy Appleby. He brought Prairie Oyster in ... and it was a big success. They sold out," said Gismondi. "He decided that he would try to get Ian Tyson to come.” 

Mouat quickly struck Tyson – who passed away at 89 years old in his home near Longview, Alberta, on Dec. 29, 2022 – off the wish list because 30 years ago, Tyson was a big name, who commanded big bucks; American bucks. 

“So, he gave up on that idea, but every year they ask us to nominate people for honorary doctorates and Jeremy thought since Tyson wrote a lot of songs about Alberta, he lives in Alberta, he nominated him for the honourary doctorate and the committee thought it was a great idea,” he said. 

Then AU president Terry Morrison sent Mouat off on a mission to find a way to meet Tyson at a concert in Edmonton and offer him the honorary degree to entice him to Athabasca. And it worked. 

“He was thrilled … he wanted to come here,” said Gismondi. “In those days, we did the convocation in the (Nancy Appleby) theatre. I was on stage with a bunch of the other professors and Tyson came to get his honorary degree and it was great.” 

Morrison asked Tyson if he would consider playing "Four Strong Winds" and he graciously picked up his guitar but that’s not the whole story, Gismondi said. 

“A couple of weeks before the convocation, Jeremy got a call from the band's manager and the manager asked Jeremy, 'The band usually works on weekends so is there any chance we could do a concert or something while we're in Athabasca?’” 

Mouat noted the NAT is a small venue and Tyson was outside the price range, but a deal was struck. 

“For about two weeks my friend Jeremy was the most popular guy in Athabasca,” laughed Gismondi. 

The show sold out quickly. 

“The past is not just nostalgia for us,” Gismondi said. “At AU we've done a lot of really creative things around convocation and one of them was getting this man to come up here and honour him before a lot of other universities were giving honours like that and for him to sing the song. But the other thing was a large number of people in the community got to go to this great concert at a very affordable price.” 

It was hanging out at their house with his roommates Mouat and Linda Mouat, Tyson, and some of his entourage before the concert that made one room of the house live in infamy, at least for Mouat.

“He stayed in our house all afternoon,” said Gismondi. “I think he had a nap in the afternoon and then after that Jeremy used to walk around jokingly saying, ‘This is the room Ian Tyson had a nap in.’”

Tyson was staying in a local hotel but took advantage of a moment after lunch to take a siesta at the house before his performance. 

“A whole bunch of us made potluck meals and we did a big potluck in the green room at the theatre for the band,” said Gismondi. “We all got to meet his wife at that time, Twylla, and he was there, and the band and the roadies and everybody and it was great. It was a really nice community evening and then there was music; the event was a sold-out house which there's nothing more exciting.” 

AU has also given Edmonton jazz musician Clarence “Big” Miller, who passed away in 1992, an honorary degree and he also came and performed in Athabasca and Dempsey Bob, a distinguished Tahltan and Tlingit artist of the Wolf Clan, came from the west coast for a few weeks and held several workshops when then AU president Frits Pannekoek chose him for an honorary degree. 

“People often just talk about the tent we used to put up and the colours and all the flowers and all the people coming but there were other things going on," he said. “And this is a good example of a spontaneous kind of community thing that grew up around the honorary doctorate.” 

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