Canadian icon Tommy Hunter, known to many as the "Travelin Man," will lean his guitar against a stool for the last time in Prince George.
Hunter will visit our city during his final cross-Canada tour on April 10 to say farewell to his fans.
"I've played Prince George many times and have many fond memories of the people I've met. I'm anxious to see them all and I know it will be an emotional time for me when I do that last song," the 75-year-old country artist said in an recent interview.
Still in good health, he said this last tour will be a celebration and his last opportunity to share his music and memories, so expect a number of old favourites like I'll Fly Away, King of the Road and Amazing Grace along with his theme song, Travelin' Man.
One thing Hunter is proud of during 36 years in the music business is that he never had stoop to cursing or telling off-colour jokes during his performances.
"My parents gave me good values and I figure if I can get people to laugh by telling a silly, corny joke, why tell a dirty one?" he said.
Although Hunter has met the best of the country music world, his biggest inspiration was Roy Acuff.
"He was our hope for country music to survive and thrive. He was the glue that held country music together, despite having poor eyesight and having to walked out to his spot on the stage," said Hunter.
During the many years of his weekly Tommy Hunter Show, there was always a stage for up and coming artists like Alan Jackson, the Judds and Shania Twain.
"Shania was a young girl - 15 years old, but all the talent was there, just like Garth Brooks," he said.
The native of Ontario was nine when he pestered his father, a railway worker, for a guitar.
His dad compromised, promising him $1 a week for lessons and a rented guitar.
He was awed by seeing Roy Acuff and his Smokey Mountain Boys on stage, and a month later he was learning to play his first guitar chords.
A stage-frightened youngster with a mission developed his skills for a buck or two or for free at strawberry socials, garden parties or with church audiences and war veterans until he entertained at local movie theatres between features, and got paid for it.
But even than he was learning to size up a crowd and fine-tune his performance for each audience, and then play with all the gusto he had.
"Even though it was only me and my guitar, in my mind I heard a great band behind me."
It was the mere beginnings of one of the longest playing stars on Canadian television, not to mention a wide-spread impact in the U.S.
In 1956 he became a regular on the show Country Hoedown with King Ganom, the Hames sisters Marjorie, Norma and Jean, and of course, Gordie Tapp, also known as Cousin Clem.
Following the show's nine-year span, Hunter, at age 28, debuted his own Tommy Hunter Show in 1965 which reigned for 27 years as a major force in Canadian television before leaving the air in 1992. It was the longest running weekly show of its kind around the world.
His many awards and tributes include an induction into Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame Walkway of Stars in 1990 and a major black tie Tribute to Tommy Hunter in the world-famous Imperial Room of the Royal York Hotel in Toronto in 1997.
Hunter will play Vanier Hall at 7 p.m. April 10. Tickets are $49.75 plus service charges.
