Stompin' Tom Connors

Stompin’ Tom Connors’ colorful stories about his home country, delivered with a signature left-footed stomp and an unmistakable Atlantic-Canadian lilt, made him one of the nation’s most beloved musical icons. Born in Saint John, NB, in 1936, Connors was placed in an orphanage as a child and adopted by a couple on nearby Prince Edward Island, but he ran away at 13 to hitchhike across Canada. His intrepid nature allowed him to experience and capture many different parts of the country, as he sang of wild Ontario mining town weekends (1967’s “Sudbury Saturday Night”), the journey of potatoes from P.E.I. (1969’s “Bud the Spud”), and getting swindled in Winnipeg (1975’s “Red River Jane”). These folksy visions of the country made him an unparalleled chronicler of mid-20th-century Canada, which alone would’ve set him apart. But Connors was also a fierce advocate for nurturing Canadian culture in Canada, never touring outside the country and sending back Juno Awards because the organization prioritized artists who moved shop to the United States. He died at home in Ontario in 2013, but his best work, like 1973’s arena soundtrack “The Hockey Song,” endures.