Folk and country music icon Murray McLauchlan will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this Saturday, July 9, at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia.

It’ll be the first in-person songwriter induction ceremony since the pandemic.

He will be inducted by long-time friend and fellow inductee Gordon Lightfoot.

The 74-year-old Scottish-born, Toronto-raised McLauchlan began singing in coffeehouses as a teenager, often performing at Yorkville’s The Riverboat; a hub for the folk-rock music scene in the 70s, where other Canadian icons like Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell also sang.

Winner of 11 Juno awards, McLauchlan wrote more than 35 hits, like ”Whispering Rain,” ”The Farmer’s Song,” and ”Down by the Henry Moore,” which was his first No. 1 hit to cross over on both pop and country charts.