“The Mary Ellen Carter” is a song written and first recorded by Stan Rogers in 1979. It tells the story of a heroic effort to salvage a sunken ship, the eponymous Mary Ellen Carter, by members of her crew. The song ends with an inspirational message to people “to whom adversity has dealt the final blow”: Never give up, and, “like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!”. As a tribute to Stan Rogers, “The Mary Ellen Carter” has been sung to close the annual Winnipeg Folk Festival every year since his death. During the finale of the Annual Summerfolk Music and Crafts Festival held in Owen Sound, Ontario, “The Mary Ellen Carter” is sung together by many of the weekend festival’s performers and the audience in tribute to Stan Rogers, who was one of the festival’s original supporters and after whom the main stage was named.
Songs with Banjo from Harold Hagler
