Bruce Cockburn bringing 50-year musical treasure trove to The Palace

May 30—Through more than 50 years of making music, Bruce Cockburn has generally been identified as a Canadian singer/songwriter.

The designation is no longer strictly accurate. In 2022, Cockburn became a dual Canadian-United States citizen.

"I got a green card because I married an American, and I married an American because I loved her," said Cockburn, 78, who now lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. "The U.S. has been very good to me for a long time, so it's pretty natural to be here."

Best known for the songs "Wondering Where the Lions Are," from 1979, and "If I Had a Rocket Launcher," from 1984, Cockburn is touring behind his May 12 album release, "O Sun O Moon."

He has a show at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg at 7:30 p.m. June 10.

Though the Ottawa native is a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, has 17 albums certified gold in Canada, is an officer of The Order of Canada and owns 13 Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Award), and despite touring extensively in the U.S., he remains something of a cult figure here.

Comparing him to Canadian contemporaries like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot, American listeners often have pegged Cockburn "mostly as an impassioned, Reagan-era peacenik ... (who) ranks with such neglected greats as Judee Sill and Nick Drake," said Daniel de Vise, writing in 2022 on allmusic.com.

Cockburn doesn't worry much about that.

Attitude of gratitude

"I'm very grateful for the audience I have and I don't feel any sense of resentment about the size of that audience," he said. "If anything, it's the opposite because when you start out, you don't expect anything. I think it would be foolish to start out or even to continue at any point thinking, I gotta get more people out here.

"I've known people who approach it that way but, to me, it's not what it's about."

Rather, he strives to honor his musical muse.

"I feel like these songs are given to me and there's intention behind that, and I honor that intention. Whatever comes, comes," he said.

The adult alternative radio stations that proliferated in the late 1980s and '90s were a boon to musicians like himself, he said, but they've given way to other algorithms.

"Of course, it would be nice to have a big audience or get radio play like we used to do," he said. "But nowadays, unless I make music with fake drums or write sort of teen-angst lyrics, I'm not going to be on the radio very much."

Cockburn's guitar-playing blends rock with folk and jazz inflections, set to lyrics that reflect his relationships, environmental and human rights activism and Christianity. The songs demand to be written, he said.

"There's a lot of real problems to be solved and we won't solve them by hating each other and calling each other names. Yet that seems to be the level on which most public interaction is being carried on," he said. "Does the world need me to say things? Not necessarily. But that's where I am."

His writing process is different for songs with lyrics and those that are instrumental.

"Songs with lyrics start with lyrics, then it's a question of finding music suitable for those lyrics," he said. "Instrumental pieces often come out of fooling around on the guitar and discovering something that sounds like it could be extrapolated into a whole piece.

"Instrumental pieces are born out of the guitar and the songs with lyrics are born out of the lyrics."

Because of the intricacy and imagery of his lyrics, he said he's been asked on occasion if he would consider doing a book of poetry.

"I have a hearty amount of esteem for the real poets, and there are many, and all of them are better at that than I would be," he said. "I think my song lyrics are meant to go with music. They're not meant to stand alone on a page the way real — quote — poetry would."

Horizon approaching

"O Sun O Moon" is Cockburn's 40th album. His songwriting process has evolved over the years, dating back to his self-titled debut release in 1970.

"I'm a lot fussier about how I write now. I'm less accepting of second-rate images and lines," he said. "It becomes harder to avoid repeating myself, and that's something that really matters.

"There's always going to be some element of familiarity about the songs, but it is important to me not to keep writing the same songs," he said. "Once in a while we hear somebody who does that and it's very boring."

Several songs on the new album grapple with mortality and what lies beyond this life.

"It's not that I sit around thinking about it all the time, but you can't not notice," Cockburn said. "The older I get — and I think it's not just true for me — the more you notice that horizon approaching. It changes what you think about.

"It doesn't necessarily mean you're thinking morbid thoughts all the time, but different things seem important," he said. "The energy is different and the way you approach your day, and that all shows up in the songs, for sure."

Though Cockburn sometimes tours with a band, it will be just him and his guitars at The Palace. The opening act will be pop/folk singer-songwriter Dar Williams.

"Dar and I have done this before," Cockburn said. "I don't know her well, but I've worked with her here and there for a long time. I like her and I think she's good."

Tickets to the show are $25-$60, available by calling 724-836-8000 or online at thepalacetheatre.org.

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .