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Their history with the singer-songwriter goes back to the ’90s, when they did a segment on him for a doc called Country Gold. They later worked with him on the Junos – he’s won 16 in his career, and also performed at various ceremonies. So when the notion of making a feature-length doc about him came up, so did they.

“Joannie and I just kept hanging around,” Kehoe explains with a grin. Lightfoot is more direct: “I have faith in their ability.”

The doc covers the ups and downs of Lightfoot’s life, including his three marriages, six children, alcoholism and sobriety, and the aneurysm in 2002 that almost took his life, leaving him in a coma.

“I woke up from that hearing ‘Minstral of the Dawn,’” he says, referring to one of his 1970 hits. ”For six weeks, I was unconscious, and my sister was getting them to play stuff to see if it would jog my brain enough to wake me up.” Turns out Lightfoot can raise Lightfoot.

The documentary also reminds viewers just how many musicians have covered his songs. A partial list includes Neil Young, Liza Minelli, Herb Albert, Olivia Newton-John, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Don McLean, Petula Clark, Glen Campbell, Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Judy Collins, Elvis Presley, Diana Krall, Sarah McLachlan and Peter Paul & Mary. But not Frank Sinatra.

“Sinatra tried ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ and ended up throwing the music on the floor,” he recalls. “He said, ‘I can’t do this.’”

The new album — he’s still tinkering with the format, but says it might just be him and a guitar, akin to Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska — will include some new songs as well as some older material that has never been released.

“I have stuff that I wrote a long time ago that I’m getting ready to use right now,” he says happily. “It was lost and I found it. I found it when I was cleaning out my office one day. As strange as it may sound.”