Need some Stompin' Tom right now to celebrate being Canadian? We thought so.
Connors was a great storyteller, writing hundreds of songs honouring Canada
Stompin' Tom Connors was Canada's very own troubadour — a singer with a voice that sounded like gravel in a bucket.
He made us distinctively Canadian — emulating our self-deprecating modesty, our quiet pride, and when necessary our high sticks and elbows.
Connors' songs captured experiences that hold us together as a nation: the glory of hockey, Sudbury on a Saturday night, picking tobacco in Tilsonburg, Ont., the life of a potato trucker from PEI.
He may have died 12 years ago, but his music lives on and resonates. At a time when Canadians are rallying around the flag, IDEAS thought it's a good time to go into our archives for some Stompin' Tom Connors to keep us going.
My Stompin' Grounds is a 2013 documentary, produced by Philip Coulter.
Becoming a star
Charles Thomas Connors was born and raised in St. John, New Brunswick. At nine years of age, he was adopted by a family in Prince Edward Island where he grew up in Skinner's Pond. By 13, Connors ran away from home.
He travelled through Canada, picking up odd jobs and playing guitar.
The turning point for Connors came in the '60s when he arrived at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ont. He was short a nickel for a bottle of beer.
"The waiter said that if I took out my guitar and sang a few tunes that he'd give me all the beer I could drink. So needless to say that night, after a few songs later, I didn't remember too much about going to bed, but anyway they put me up in The Maple Leaf and gave me a job for $35 a week," Connors said in the documentary.
"I was there for 14 months. I wrote songs about my own home of Prince Edward Island, with Bud the Spud, about the potatoes, and when I used to work on the coal boat over in Newfoundland and all through there."
This pivotal moment was the beginning of his career.
Connors says he remembers listening to a guy play music at the Maple Leaf Hotel, "singing songs galore about this country... that stuck with me."
"It made me know that I was on the right track. The world has to hear about Canada and Canadians have to hear about Canada."
Stomp to the beat
So how did 'Stompin' become a nickname that would forever be added to Tom? It has everything to do with keeping the beat on stage — stomping.
"He was doing this on carpets and people were apparently complaining that he was ruining the carpet," said Coulter in conversation with IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed.
Eventually, Stompin' Tom brought a piece of plywood to his shows so he could stomp on that to keep the beat, and keep the venue happy also.
"He got the name Stompin' Tom on Canada Day in 1967 when the barman at a club in Peterborough, Ont. introduced him as Stompin' Tom — and the name stuck."
Stompin' Tom knew very early in his career that he had to do something different to get people to listen to his music.
He figured the board-stomping might get people in the door and as he said, "it sure made people talk."
"They said, 'you should come and see this guy ripping boards apart, the sawdust flies everywhere and it's into your drink and on your clothes and it's all over the place," said Connors.
"But the second time they came to see me wasn't to see me bang my boot on the board. It was to hear what I was singing."
Connors was a natural entertainer but he did more than singing and performing on stage, he connected with his audience.
"When I was out there, I know for a fact that the people in every room that I ever played, they became friends instantly," Connors explained in the documentary.
"When I seen two tables sitting together, and they weren't talking to one another, I would introduce them right off the stage, one to the other, and say, 'hey, grab that guy by the hand.' Because he's a fisherman from Newfoundland, and you're a lumberjack from Northern Ontario, why don't you get to know each other?"
Whether someone was coming to see Stompin' Tom for the first time or they were a fan, everyone left that bar being friends.
Tip of the hat
Stompin' Tom's funeral in March 2013 was as singular as the man himself.
He decreed that it should be held in the Peterborough hockey arena — general admission, first come, first served, and 4,000 people showed up.
An honour guard of RCMP officers carried Connors' casket onstage, with his trademark black Stetson hat on top.
A Who's Who of Canadian musicians played and sang the night away.
Download the IDEAS podcast to listen to this episode.
*This documentary originally aired in 2013 and was produced by Philip Coulter.
