Description
In his first bestselling volume of memoirs, Before the Fame, Stompin’ Tom Connors told the story of his harsh childhood: begging on the streets at the age of four, surviving orphanages and a foster home, and running away at thirteen with his guitar, his songs, and a dream.
Tom talks about his music, and the hundreds of songs that resonate with Canadians from coast to coast, including favourites like “Sudbury Saturday Night,” “Bud the Spud,” and “The Hockey Song.” But despite his popularity, Tom has had to battle producers, agents, and radio networks to get his message across. A passionate Canadian, Tom tells of how he questioned the integrity of the Canadian music industry and, in 1979, held a press conference and returned all his Juno Awards as he felt there was a lack of support for Canadian artists. In 1986, he formed his own record label, A-C-T Records, to raise the profile of Canadian musicians.
Along with plenty of tales of his hijinks on the road, and of the colourful people he has met in his travels, from prime ministers to lumberjacks, he also shares the intimate story of his love life: his initial attraction to Lena, his wife of twenty-six years, their nationally-televised marriage, and their son Tom Jr. Lively, opinionated, alternately funny and deeply compassionate, this is a chronicle of an extraordinary life as only Stompin’ Tom can tell it.
