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This is the original mural for the first show to grace the Opera’s Stage in January 1909 (it was painted in late 1908).

It's a charming little spot, and I'd like to go back there before I'm pushing up sod."

There is no such thing as a song called Going Back to Lunenburg, but perhaps there should be and maybe one day there will be. On Wednesday, Gordon Lightfoot, a balladeer of some note, pays a visit to Nova Scotia's South Shore to play a rare small concert at the historic Lunenburg Opera House.

The 77-year-old Lightfoot, whose own original timber is not nearly as old as that which makes up a venue built in 1907, has never played the picturesque village, but he has visited. Speaking to The Globe by phone, the Sundown singer searched the recesses of his mind and recalled his one and only trip to Lunenburg, perhaps in 1967.

"I was still struggling at the time," he says. "I was playing the Privateer Coffee House, in Halifax, so we drove down. I have a photograph of myself sitting on the prow of the Bluenose II."

The original Bluenose, of course, is a famed 1921 racing schooner known to anyone who is a sailing enthusiast (which Lightfoot is) or to anyone who has ever plugged a dime into a payphone.

When it came to the unlikely concert in the sea-salt town of 2,300 people, it was businessman Farley Blackman who put in the call to Lightfoot's management. Over the past decade, Blackman and his wife have purchased various commercial buildings in Lunenburg's downtown, including the Opera House. The venue underwent years of painstaking restoration, and now Blackman is ready to start booking music shows and other events with more regularity.

"I always try to take the go big or go home approach," says Blackman, when asked about booking a legacy act such as Lightfoot into such a small hall. "I did that with Gordon, and he obliged."

The performer obliged because of a break in his normal tour schedule. He prefers to play four or five nights in a row, with a day off between gigs. On his current Eastern Canadian swing, there happened to be one too many open nights this week between a concert at the Fredericton Playhouse and three at Halifax's Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.

"We wanted to tighten things up," explains Lightfoot, who tours with a contingent of 14 musicians and crew members. "Any day that everybody is sitting at rest unnecessarily is not a good thing."

Everybody, including the singer?

"Especially him."

According to Lightfoot's former manager and current booking agent, Blackman made a "pretty compelling financial offer" to bring the performer to town. "It sold out in seconds," says Bernie Fiedler, who remembers a limousine side trip years ago with Lightfoot from Halifax to Peggy's Cove, a lovely one-lighthouse village. "I'm not sure the guy will make any money on the concert. He'll probably break even."

The Lunenburg Opera House was built by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Blackman is a bit of a peculiar fellow himself. Though born in New York and now based in London, he spent his formative years in a Vermont village that was a fraction of the size of even Lunenburg.

Blackman, who in his Twitter profile describes himself as a "corporate interventionist; a guardian of unique, historic and natural properties; a supporter of the arts; and an investor in the not so obvious," prefers to conduct media interviews via e-mail. Asked about the profitability of the Lightfoot concert, he declined to answer.

He was more forthcoming when it came to his business plans for Lunenburg. "I am doing my part to enhance what is already a great town," he writes. His vision involves a full calendar of activities and enterprises, with the goal of creating a sustainable economy throughout the year.

Blackman and his wife, Courtney, spend summers in Lunenburg. He hopes their stays there will be longer and longer in the future, and on the night of the concert he'll be working the door at the Opera House.

Asked about any special preparations for (or rock-star requests from) the Lightfoot camp, Blackman sheds no secrets. "We have arranged a great dinner for Gordon and the band and will be gracious hosts. We know no other way."

Lightfoot himself, a creature of habit if there ever was one, also knows no other way. He is particular about his schedule and his set list. Would he take song appeals from the locals? Perhaps Farewell to Nova Scotia, a folk song taught to him by Ian and Sylvia Tyson? "I try to honour a request if it fits into the pacing," he says. "I'm careful. I'm professional. Sometimes I do requests. Sometimes I don't."

Lightfoot performed Farewell to Nova Scotia for 35 years, but no longer does so. There's a line in the song about nature being inclined to rest – "but still there was no rest for me."

And so he carries on, with no plans for a farewell tour. "I figure I'll keep going until it becomes apparent I should give it up," he says. "But I haven't reached that point yet. We're not thinking that way."

Gordon Lightfoot plays Lunenburg, N.S., on Aug. 24; Halifax, Aug. 25 to 27.

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