Ballinafad ontario stomp in tom connors biography

Born Thomas Charles Connors in St John, New Brunswick in , he spent a short time as a child living with his single mother while she did time in a low security pentitentiary. He also had musical roots in his family, as his older maternal cousin was Ned Landry, a fiddling sensation across the Maritimes. At the age of 15, he ran away from home after several previous unsuccessful attempts.

With a guitar over his shoulder, he hitch-hiked across Canada, while working at various odd jobs over the next 13 years, all the while putting his experiences on paper and finding the occasional gig in a local tavern. The bartender, Gaeten Lepine, agreed to give him one if he played a few songs, which happened to be covers of earlier Canadian superstars Hank Snow and Hank Thompson.

It led to a second night, then a third, then a month long contract — and the birth of a legend. He stayed in touch for the rest of his life, who ended up co-writing dozens of songs with Connors over the years. An executive at CKGB saw him perform and hired him for a weekly spot at the local station. This in turn led to the station releasing eight singles on the Quality label.

After stomping a hole in the wood, he would pick it up and show it to the audience, usually accompanied by a joke about the quality of the local lumber, before calling for a new one. When the first two records were re-released several years later, the original master tapes had been lost, and were actually re-recorded. Ahead of his time, he also released two box sets by , each containing 60 tracks.

How old was stompin' tom when he died

It also coincided with a film of the same name, part documentary and part live footage. It ran for 26 episodes over one season. For twelve years he remained retired, stomping the plywood only occasionally, and only for private parties and special occasions.