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Concert honours Stompin' Tom

Canadian country music legend Stompin’ Tom Connors will live on at a tribute concert offered by an Albertan musician who got to know the icon well.
Sundre musician Tim Hus, right, pictured here with Stompin’ Tom Connors, will pay tribute to Connors in the All Canadian Birthday Show at The Stop Coffee House and
Sundre musician Tim Hus, right, pictured here with Stompin’ Tom Connors, will pay tribute to Connors in the All Canadian Birthday Show at The Stop Coffee House and Gathering Place in Black Diamond Feb. 6 at 8:30 p.m.

Canadian country music legend Stompin’ Tom Connors will live on at a tribute concert offered by an Albertan musician who got to know the icon well.

Sundre musician Tim Hus is paying tribute to the icon with the Stompin’ Tom’s All Canadian Birthday Show at The Stop Coffee House and Gathering Place in Black Diamond Feb. 6 at 8:30 p.m.

Hus formed a friendship with Connors while opening for his cross-Canada tours in 2009 and 2010.

“A few years ago while I was playing the Hotel Saloon in Oak River, Manitoba I got a phone call on the bar telephone from Stompin’ Tom and he told me he liked all the songs I was writing about Canada and how I was working hard to bring it to little towns along the way,” recalls Hus.

“He wanted me to tour with him and warm up the audience. When you’re playing Canadian folk country music with Stompin’ Tom it’s like getting to play hockey with Wayne Gretzky.”

Hus said the two got along well due to Connors’ “down-to-earth nature.” He not only opened for the legend but played along side him.

“It was a legendary guy from the east coast and a young guy from the west,” he laughed. “I would open the show and stay on to back him up in the band, too, so I had to learn all his songs. When Tom died a few years ago I fronted the band that did his big memorial concert in Peterborough.”

Hus, who has performed birthday tribute concerts for the iconic singer each February for the last few years, couldn’t wait to organize another special concert celebrating the man with the black hat who would have turned 80 on Feb. 9.

“I’m going to do a bunch of his songs and some of my songs, but mostly telling stories about some of the adventures he’s had along the way and just tipping the hat to his legacy,” he said.

Among the things Hus remembers about Connors is the contract he signed before they headed off on their first cross-Canada tour.

“I had to sign this contract that I was going to drink Moosehead beer with him until five in the morning,” he said. “I thought it was a joke, but he actually holds you to it.

“Once you are five weeks into the tour after the show and it’s four in the morning and your eyes are starting to droop on you, he’d bring the paper out and say, ‘I got your signature.’”

Having toured with Stompin’ Tom for two years, Hus learned a lot about him and the songs he wrote. He will share some of those stories on Saturday night.

Outside his connection with Connors, Hus made a name for himself having been on the road the last 14 years sharing songs about things that are truly Canadian in about 150 concerts a year.

During those years, Hus had been a strong admirer of Connors.

“I always admired Tom’s independent approach,” he said. “In a way he’s the ultimate indie artist before that term even existed. He started in the ’60s just singing those logging and mining songs in northern Ontario.”

It was a style Hus, himself, developed when he started writing music.

“I kind of fell into that – not trying to emulate him but accidentally,” he said. “I grew up in British Columbia so my songs were salmon fishing and forestry type of songs.”

Hus said it didn’t occur to him to write about anything else as that was where he lived and what was familiar to him.

“It’s basically like country music in the truest sense — songs of people and places,” he said. “I get most of my ideas for songs while on tour.”

Tickets to see Tim Hus’ tribute performance to Stompin’ Tom Connors cost $25 and can be purchased in advance at The Stop Coffee and Gathering House or by calling 403-933-3002.

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