"Throughout his work John ensures that Manitoba’s music history is kept alive, exciting and relevant, and he believes that if we don’t record or preserve our history it’s lost to further generations forever."
By Lisa Lewis
I met John Einarson a couple of years ago when he asked me for feedback on the Indigenous content of his book, Heart of Gold: A History of Winnipeg Music. I was pleased that he was interested in getting it right by listening and consulting with members of the Indigenous community as he shared the many stories of First Nation and Métis musical artists who played a significant role in our musical landscape.
Over the years, I had heard John on the radio discussing our music legends and had read his articles in the paper. I had no idea, until I began my editing work with him, just how prolific a writer and historian he is and what his contribution has meant on so many levels. In the relatively brief time that I’ve known him, I’m now editing his third book.
Rock ‘n’ roll put Winnipeg on the international music map and John is one of the world’s foremost renowned and requested experts. He has earned the respect of his journalistic colleagues. Canadian arts journalist Bob Mersereau states simply, “John Einarson is widely regarded as one of this country’s premiere cultural writers.” Giants of the music industry hold him in the highest regard with many collaborating with him on their own biographies such as Neil Young and Richie Furay of Buffalo-Springfield, Ian & Sylvia Tyson and former Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers member, Chris Hillman.
Discussions, debates and arguments (as I am finding out, music aficionados are a highly opinionated group) occur on social media every day discussing John’s music commentary.
John’s love of music and his work in preserving and promoting music history is important and worthy of recognition and I’ll circle back to that, but I want to take a detour and talk about what it means to be an ally to a community. Allies use their strengths and gifts to support and bring visibility to other, typically underrepresented, communities. In this time of truth and reconciliation, we’re becoming more familiar with gestures such as land acknowledgements at the start of gatherings. These can be worthwhile steps towards reconciliation by recognizing and showing respect for Indigenous peoples and their lived experiences. However, in many cases, they have become empty and hollow statements read at the start of a meeting without explicit meaning or action.
True reconciliation occurs when someone moves the dialogue between communities forward and not just because they feel obligated to. They do it because that’s the kind of person they are and John is that kind of person. He has a willingness to learn, change and seek out voices that have been marginalized in the past. In 2022 John was honoured in a Star Blanket Ceremony for his collaboration with Errol Ranville on his acclaimed autobiography Run As One and is currently collaborating with Errol on a biography of the ground-breaking C-Weed Band. John was a contributing consultant to the documentary Brown Town, Muddy Water by filmmaker Jesse Green and he wrote the Juno-nominated Bravo TV documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life.
Throughout his work John ensures that Manitoba’s music history is kept alive, exciting and relevant, and he believes that if we don’t record or preserve our history it’s lost to further generations forever. History is all of us and all of our stories need to be told.
The late Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese said, “We are a story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time.”
John has done that by his tireless commitment to chronicling and celebrating the evolution of our rich and diverse musical legacy. He describes himself as “just a guy who loves music”, and as he has also said, “I’m just drawn to write about artists who may be outside the mainstream but have significant stories surrounding them that should be told and remembered. Without these stories our knowledge and appreciation of music history would be less.”
It is for those reasons that I was honoured to nominate John for the Order of Manitoba and even more pleased that he has been selected to receive the province’s highest honour on July 20th 2023.
