Goodbye, Stompin' Tom



"It's true as I feel it" (Stompin' Tom Connors)

Those who've seen Stompin' Tom say his foot stompin' was dithyrambic, at times spellbinding. The tempo was flawless. Those, like me, who haven't  have loved Stompin' Tom all their lives because he was so uniquely one of us: in the faltering speech, self-effacing mannerisms and bar room patriotism. He was the Canadian Hank Williams though, of course, he'd get angry at the suggestion. His life was hard, too; as a child he'd often had to beg for food. And at the height of his career Stompin' Tom 'd turned down offers to go abroad. He never sold out, always true to his roots. He once returned his Juno Awards because he hated to share them with Canadians who'd gone to the States.

Stompin' Tom died March 6, 2013 in Halton Hills, Ontario.

Goodbye Stompin' Tom...I'll think of you next time I go up to Sudbury or Peterborough; I'll  hear your music in rain's pounding splash or a wind's wail against my window, even in the geese's crackling timbre; and I'll appreciate just a little bit more the Easterner whose life's been etched deep in the weather-beaten face. Our very best have always come from there.