We’d been listening to this Stan Rogers guy on CBC and were wowed by his music. We lived in a rural area in Saskatchewan and were visiting friends in Calgary. While we were there, we heard Stan was coming into town later that week. We stayed in town days longer to go to his concert. Wow! The storytelling that went with the music. The quips exchanged with Garnet. The humour. I’ve never been a “groupie,” but I was so impressed that my husband and I took the opportunity to meet the band after the show. I explained how the music had affected us, and huge Stan reached down and gave me a big hug. I didn’t know performers ever did that. Less than a year later, Stan was dead. We still find it hard to listen to the songs, but it’s worth the pain. How we miss him and his music and his storytelling.

—Ellen Story Pegg