Any mention of the thriving coffeehouses
in Winnipeg during the ’60s and ’70s
always elicits one name: Jim Donahue. He
was the kingpin on the local folk music
scene.
“Jim set the standard for every other folk
performer in town,” notes younger brother,
musician Dan Donahue. “He was bloody good.
He sang well, played well and engaged
people in a way that others didn’t. He had
integrity and a personality as an artist.
He blew everyone away.”
“Jim was a two-sided folk singer,”
reflects contemporary Bobby Stahr, “as he
had a wealth of traditional music stored
up in him as well as being one of the
finest poet/singer/songwriters I ever
heard. What made him such a major
influence was his conviction when
performing. You could feel the Civil War
in the air when he played The Spoon River
Anthology or the Highlands when he crooned
Wild Mountain Thyme. He made movies in
your mind.”
As Loreena McKennitt states, “Jim was one
of a handful of musicians in Winnipeg whom
I admired greatly. A salt-of-the-earth and
thoughtful musician and lyricist, I recall
quite fondly enjoying his music in various
coffeehouses or at the Winnipeg Folk
Festival and benefited from his curiosity
and his intellect in our various
conversations.”
Born in Ottawa, Jim moved to Winnipeg at
age two when his father took a position
teaching architecture at the University of
Manitoba. The Donahue children (Jim and
Dan have a younger sister) grew up in a
culturally stimulating household.
“Music was always played at home although
neither parent played themselves,” notes
Dan. “It was primarily the black music of
the time and the great operas which made
for an interesting exposure to things.
That Jim became so closely identified with
the movements of the ’60s was no big
surprise as both our parents encouraged us
to think outside the box and were rather
inclined to challenge conventional
thinking.”
Already adept on guitar and banjo, Jim
came of age with the folk boom that
exploded in 1958 with The Kingston Trio
hit Tom Dooley.
“There was a real sea change with that and
I was at the right time for all that
because I could sing and play guitar. It
just seemed very natural to me,” Jim
explains.
Graduating from St. Paul’s High School,
Jim opted for a more eclectic life over
academia. “I would occasionally pop in and
take a term of courses that interested
me,” he recalls. “But I never felt
comfortable in that environment. I did
hang around the English Department and
really connected with an Irish man named
John Moriarty at University College. He
was a very powerful influence on many.”
Indeed, Jim would later urge budding
Celtic performer Loreena McKennitt to seek
out Moriarty in Ireland.
Coffeehouses like the Wyse Eye, Wing’d Ox,
Latin Quarter and Ting offered diverse
fare — everything from folk and bluegrass
to jazz, blues and poetry. “There were all
these church basement coffeehouses around
town,” says Jim. “There was no money in it
but it was fun.” Nonetheless he managed to
sustain a career. “I always got by. I had
the naive belief that if you did something
well and consistently you would reap the
rewards, although there weren’t a lot of
rewards.”
He was also a regular at the 4D
coffeehouse out by the University of
Manitoba. “It was quite a sophisticated
place. There were a lot of artists who
came in from New York to play there. I met
Don (American Pie) McLean there and Len
Chandler. Len was almost like a missionary
of folk music at the time. He was a big
influence on many, including me. I used to
see Neil Young singing at the 4D. He was
so focused back then. He knew where he was
going.”
For a time Jim played the folk clubs of
Greenwich Village as well as Toronto’s
Yorkville before returning to Winnipeg.
Stahr remembers, “Upon his return from a
trip out east, Jim played a set at the
Latin Quarter on a Sunday evening and sang
Suzanne by Leonard Cohen and the applause
afterwards was deafening.”
Indeed, Cohen was an early mentor. “I
loved poetry tremendously,” notes Jim.
“Leonard played a concert at the
university and was singing his own poetry
and blew me away. Afterwards I played him
some of my songs and he was very kind and
encouraging to me.”
A true renaissance man, Jim’s interests
embraced poetry and literature, history,
photography, architecture and astrology.
In the latter ’60s, he was involved with
the Poseidon Book Store on Osborne Street
near Confusion Corner.
He also composed original music for the
Contemporary Dancers and several CBC music
and children’s productions. He played the
inaugural Winnipeg Folk Festival and has
appeared four more times, opened concerts
for the likes of Leon Redbone, John
Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and Procol Harum,
played a youth rally for Prince Charles
and Princess Anne, and appeared regularly
at Main Street club The Blue Note Cafe in
the 1980s before arthritis sidelined him.
“I kind of faded from the scene, not with
any regret or anything.” In 2005 his
photos were published in Retropeg:
Archival Photography of Winnipeg in the
’70s.
Although he never recorded an album (“I
was never really interested in permanently
etching my name in stone on an album. I
was always shy about my songs”), his
composition Two Diamonds still resonates
for many.
Reminded of his stature on the local music
scene, Jim demurs, “It almost seems like
another life. I can’t relate to it because
it was only one facet of who I was. It was
a youthful time and music was a big part
of it, but it’s not how I define myself. I
certainly don’t feel like any kind of
celebrity. There was so much going on and
it wasn’t just the music. Everything
seemed interesting. We were so fortunate
to be around at that time.”
Best
known as a musician and song writer, Jim
took these B & W photos of Winnipeg in
the early 1970s.
"It was another world then. It was an easy
time, much easier than now," said Jim in
an interview for this project.
Jim shows us an intimate view of Winnipeg
after the figurative 'Dawning of the Age
of Aquarius' as it met a new era of
promise and change. So bold and endearing
were the 70s that its styles and fashions
are still wildly popular over thirty years
later. Retro is in vogue and this book
offers us a retrospective look at why that
decade is so fondly remembered and, in a
sense, relived.
Taken between the years 1970-72, these
photographs of a small Canadian city
experiencing tumultuous growth tell us
what is universal about those particular
times and that specific place. Despite the
clash of styles and values between a
generation that wore fedoras and another
that wore their hair long, the human
condition in all its marvelous diversity
still remained and Jim presents Winnipeg
as a microcosm of that human spectrum.
Behind the lens is a compassionate eye
that always places humanity at the center
of life. The moments Donahue captured are
remarkable for their spontaneity and
sincerity. The images are often archetypal
and iconic, captivating in their span of
emotion and mood. Most of these
photographs are warm but some are haunting
and others are surreal. In their entirety
they offer us an unusual archive of what
the 70s in Winnipeg looked and felt like.
"I love Winnipeg," said Jim. "The really
extraordinary thing about Winnipeg is that
it can be so moody. When I look at these
photos now, I realize just how many
different moods the city had back then. I
think I caught the feel of the city then."
He did. This is Donahue's photography at
its best.
Author: James Donahue, with
Michael Melanson (ed.)
Title: Retropeg: Archival Photography of
Winnipeg in the 70s by James Donahue
Publisher: Winnipeg: Omniscope Publishing,
2005
