Canadian folk music icon Ian Tyson died Thursday morning, his ex-wife confirmed to CBC News.⁠ ⁠ His former wife and musical partner, Sylvia Tyson, said the 89-year-old's impact on Canadian culture is hard to overstate.⁠ ⁠ "I sat in with a young band at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and they wanted me to do Four Strong Winds with them. It was quite a young audience and I didn't really expect that kind of response but everybody in the crowd sang Four Strong Winds," she told CBC News in a phone interview Thursday.⁠ ⁠ "It's kind of like a Canadian national anthem."⁠ ⁠ Tyson had major surgery a few years ago and never fully recovered, she said.⁠ ⁠ A fellow Canadian country singer-songwriter, Corb Lund, grew up listening to Ian Tyson and eventually played shows with him.⁠ ⁠ "He's kind of our Willie Nelson or Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen. He's a guy who's most embodied the region in art, musically at least," Lund told CBC News in a 2019 interview.⁠ ⁠ Referring to Four Strong Winds, Lund said the song's staying power speaks for itself.⁠ ⁠ "For songwriter guys that are really good at it, you're either born with it or you're not," he said.⁠ ⁠ More at the LINK IN BIO. #yyc #iantyson #alberta #folk