Stomping Tom Conners

At 17 armed only with a guitar and with 2300 popular county songs learned in his youth Stomping Tom went on the road filled with an ardent desire to be paid for performing his own songs. He hitchhiked across Canada eleven times before motels or the inter-provincial highway system were built. He wrote incalculable numbers of songs about the people, places, legends and history he met. His personality, musical talents and unique performance style delighted and united all regions of Canada. Independently producing and selling his records at shows, he sold more than Two million records. Always a crowd pleaser he was held over in Timmins Ontario for eighteen consecutive months before his wanderlust and fame could not be contained for any price. During the 70s he retiredm to his farm in Norval, Ontario to protest the lack of support given to Canadian stories by the policies of the Federal government, particularly the CRTC. He remained in retirement for 12 years before persistent love from young roots revivalists drew him back into the studio and on to the stage. Stomping Tom never fails to sell every available ticket for a performance A heart wrenching autobiography detailing his childhood years in a female prison, orphange and as indentured farm labour became a best seller in 1997.It details his life "before the fame". Recent years have seen the re-release of 25 of his record albums.