NEM#262: Bruce Cockburn Expands Political/Spiritual Folk

After playing lead guitar for a couple of years in rock bands, Bruce has released 34 solo albums between 1970 and the present. He’s a very accomplished finger-picker and often plays entirely solo but has also written rock, jazz, Christian, and 80s syntho songs.

We discuss “Louis Collins” (written by Mississippi John Hurt in 1928) from The Blood of Others (2026), “Look How Far” from Breakfast in New Orleans Dinner in Timbuktu (1999), and Let’s Go Laughing” from High Winds White Sky (1971). End song: “Café Society” from Bone on Bone (2017). Intro: “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” from Stealing Fire (1984).

Watch the video for “Rocket Launcher”; some of his other hits with videos include “Lovers in a Dangerous Time,” “If a Tree Falls,” and “Call it Democracy.” A much more recent one is “Put It in Your Heart.” Watch others on Bruce’s Vevo channel.

Watch a recent live solo set, here’s a live set from his band in 1986, and here’s a set from 1979. Watch an old live recording of his other biggest hit, “Wondering Where the Lions Are.” See a recent performance of “Let’s Go Laughing.”

Hear a song Bruce wrote for one of his pre-solo bands, The Children, back in 1966. Hear Mississippi John Hurt perform “Louis Collins.”

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