Lancaster joined the Lightfoot Band 13 years ago and toured the world with the Canadian music icon
When Carter Lancaster was 11 years old, he walked into the backyard of his Mount Forest Drive home and heard a neighbor playing guitar.
Lancaster ran back inside and begged his mother to buy him an instrument of his own for his birthday or Christmas or both. This year, a Saturn guitar from Sears was under the tree.
Decades later, the Burlington resident took over the guitarist position in Gordon Lightfoot’s band.
“Gord was on a TV show about icons of Canadian music,” Lancaster said. “Gord’s guitarist was pretty sick at the time, so he needed a replacement for that one gig.”
Lancaster was recording an album with Bob Doidge when he came into the studio to check something. Doidge was on the phone but quickly hung up and said simply, “I think our answer just came through the door.”
The producer questioned Lancaster, pulled sheet music from the shelves and had him play it as fast as he could. The two repeated this process a few times before giving him a sheet of paper with about eight songs on it.
“That was The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, If you could read my mindand the hits,” Lancaster said. “I knew they were all Lightfoot songs, and I said I could probably do most of them with no problem. Bob told me I had to be able to play them like I’d known them for 40 years. I said I’d need at least a day per song.”
Lancaster originally thought the project was for a cover band, but then he learned that Lightfoot’s longtime bassist Rick Hatnes was in touch. The two hit it off, and Lightfoot himself called the next day.
Lancaster was invited to Lightfoot’s Toronto home shortly afterward to begin rehearsals. Although Lancaster was not part of the TV special, he joined the band full-time when guitarist Terry Clements died in 2011.
“I started coming to rehearsals and was invited to go on two tours with the band, including Massey Hall, so I was fully involved,” Lancaster said. “About a week before we left, his guitarist died, so I sort of took over Terry’s position.”
During this time, Lancaster toured Canada and the world with the band.
At the band’s last concert round, it became clear that the 84-year-old was on the verge of retirement.
“Gordon still had tours booked, but he cancelled them for health reasons,” Lancaster said. “He liked it so much, he booked, we met for rehearsals, but it didn’t look so hopeful that we would tour again.”
Because the band spent so much time on tour, each member had their own roles and responsibilities – aside from keeping the rhythm on stage.
After disembarking from the planes the band always used for travel, Lancaster, drummer Barry Keane and keyboardist Mike Heffernan went to their hotels while Gordon and the others made their way to the venue.
After unloading their bags and collecting their room keys, the trio headed to the venue. Lancaster always made a point of finding Lightfoot’s dressing room, going in and telling him they had arrived. Lightfoot always responded, “Great, thanks, man!”
“When I saw him at the funeral and still couldn’t believe that it had really happened, I went to the open casket and said, ‘We’re all here, man,'” Lancaster said. “And he didn’t say anything. That’s when I realized it had really happened. That this wasn’t a dream. He was dead and I was at his funeral.”
After Lightfoot’s death in May 2023, the band took a few months apart. The members later met at a restaurant in Mississauga to catch up and see how each other was doing.
Lancaster said the members overwhelmingly felt they should continue playing the music if there was a way. Singer Andy Mauck was hired as the Lightfoot Band’s singer because he had grown up listening to Lightfoot’s music and could achieve that “gord timing,” as Lancaster put it.
“We organised a rehearsal at Mike Heffernan’s house and Andy came over – it was pretty tough,” said Lancaster. “But there was hope. His timbre was scary, it was so much like Gord’s. But Andy had no formal musical training, so we had to get down to business and work really hard with him. He was up to the challenge.”
Lancaster said that when they are on stage now, he can close his eyes and find it incredible.
As a Burlington resident, Lancaster is especially excited about the band’s upcoming performance on Friday, October 25, at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre. It’s the same place as the BPAC, where he learned to play guitar at his old teacher’s house.
“My first guitar teacher, Lloyd Peach, rented a house a block or two west of Brant in Burlington, right where the Performing Arts Centre is now,” Lancaster said. “It’s hallowed ground for me. I took lessons from him there. The first time I played there with Gord about five years ago, I drove up to the gig and said, that’s Lloyd Peach’s house! They had demolished Lloyd Peach’s house! I walked in and said, that’s exactly where his living room was.”
He added that it is quite an accomplishment for a Burlington player to travel around the world to play with Gordon Lightfoot and then return home.
