James Gordon

Who is James Gordon?

James Gordon is a Canadian singer-songwriter, known as a founding member of Tamarack. He has also released more than 20 solo albums. As a prolific songwriter, he is known for such diverse songs as "Sweaters for Penguins" and "Frobisher Bay". He wrote the weekly song for the CBC Radio program Basic Black. He is proficient on a variety of instruments including guitar, piano, banjo and mandola.

He has toured internationally in North America, the British Isles, Southeast Asia, and Cuba.

His songs have been covered by other musical artists such as the Cowboy Junkies and Melanie Doane.

He is a co-founder of Guelph's annual Hillside Festival and was its first creative director, from 1985 to 1988. He also founded the Canadian Songwriters' Festival, and was a board member of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals. Gordon is active in arts-, civics-, and environment-related causes in the Guelph region, for which he was given the Guelph Mayor's Award in 2008.

He was the candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the riding of Guelph in the 2011 Ontario provincial election but lost to incumbent Liz Sandals. He ran again in 2014 but once again lost to Liz Sandals.