High Winds, White Sky is the second studio album from Bruce Cockburn, released in 1971 on the True North label. It was remastered in 2003 by Rounder Records with two bonus tracks recorded live in 1970. The album received a Canadian gold record award in 1986.

The Canadian publication RPM attributed some of the album's "solid sales success" to campus radio stations across the country, which provided airplay to several of its songs, particularity the title track. Cockburn's popularity within that market was further bolstered by his performance opening at Convocation Hall at University of Toronto. He also completed a one week stint at Riverboat Coffee House in Toronto, which consisted of some sing-along songs that Cockburn played on the piano along with other folk-oriented songs.

"One Day I Walk" was also released as a single, with RPM labeling it as Cockburn's "first entry with enough of the needed commerciality to appeal to Top 40 programmers."

Critical reception

In a contemporary review, RPM wrote that "beautiful packaging conceals an equally beautiful album" and that every song was "outstanding".

In a retrospective review, music critic Thom Jurek, writing for AllMusic, called the album "a remarkably fresh and timeless recording... Overall, however, this album—like Sunwheel Dance that follows it—presents a far more mystical Cockburn. His tenderness and poetic vision are almost pastoral on these early recordings, something that would get burned off and become hard-bitten (if no less romantic and more dramatic) as his music and social vision grew."

Track listing "Happy Good Morning Blues" – 2:39 "Let Us Go Laughing" – 5:20 "Love Song" – 2:26 "One Day I Walk" – 3:06 "Golden Serpent Blues" – 3:33 "High Winds White Sky" – 3:01 "You Point to the Sky" – 2:56 "Life's Mistress" – 3:24 "Ting/the Cauldron" – 6:30 "Shining Mountain" – 5:14

2003 bonus tracks <li>"Totem Pole (Live)" – 3:25 <li>"It's an Elephants World (Live)" – 2:39

Tracks 2 thru 9 recorded at RCA's Thunder Sound Studios, Toronto Tracks 1 and 10 recorded at Eastern Sound Studios, Toronto Tracks 11 and 12 recorded live on January 23, 1970 at the Bitter Grounds Coffee House in Kingston, Ontario

Personnel Bruce Cockburn – guitars, dulcimer (track 10) Eugene Martynec – guitar (tracks 6–7) Eric Nagler – mandolin-banjo (tracks 2–3), mandolin (track 10) Michael Craydon – marimba, tables, tree bell, boobams, and Pygmy Rhythm Log (track 9) John Wyre – cymbals, gongs, and salad bowls (track 9)

Production Eugene Martynec – producer Henry Saskowski – engineer at Thunder Sound Studios Chris Skene – engineer at Eastern Sound

Chart performance Chart (1971) PeakpositionCanada Top Albums (RPM) 26

Certifications

References