“Cold on the Shoulder” is a song by Gordon Lightfoot, the title track of his 1975 album. Like much of Lightfoot’s work, it is a reflective, finely written ballad about the strains within a relationship, carried by his understated voice and acoustic guitar.
Tony Rice was among the bluegrass musicians most drawn to the singer-songwriter catalog of the 1960s and 1970s, and Lightfoot was a particular favorite of his. Rice recorded “Cold on the Shoulder” and made it the title track of his own 1984 album.
That record was part of a body of work in which Rice showed how naturally folk and contemporary songwriting could sit in a bluegrass-rooted acoustic setting — his clear voice and fluid flatpicking giving Lightfoot’s song a new and lasting home.
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