Stompin' Tom Connors

Uh, h- I was, I'm, I'm curious a b- 'cause, I mean, it, this all sort of happened when, while it was happening, I was w- I never asked you, how did it all come about?

I, you know, I was, kept getting bug- Remember Douglas, uh, Doug Fremmen, uh, who was, uh, Stompin' Tom's band, right? Whiskey Jack?

Duncan.

We had him o- we had him on the show.

I mean, w- we talk about this, how, uh, The Tragically Hip, and Gord in particular as the primary lyricist for, you know, the last number of years, they embraced and celebrated the country of Canada, and, you know, uh, it, it's, uh, it's one thing, we all hear about Americana, that, that music, you know, the, the John Mellencamp, the John Prine, the, you know, Willie Nelson, and it, it...

But there, there's a Canadiana as well, and it's Stompin' Tom and Gordon Lightfoot and, and, uh, The Tragically Hip.

And, and we got to hear about the Hundredth Meridian.

We got to hear about the 50 Mission Cap.

My guest today in this segment is Duncan Fremlin, a veteran Canadian musician, banjo player, singer, and band leader, best known as the longtime frontman of the country folk group Whiskey Jack.

He spent years as road manager and band member for iconic singer Stompin' Tom Connors, later creating the popular touring show Stories and Songs of Stompin' Tom.

In addition to his music career, Fremlin is the author of Stories Not Fit for the Stage, a collection of candid, off-the-record tales from decades on the road.

Well, I went to see my doctor She said, son, I'm afraid to say You got a serious condition It ain't gonna go away I can't write you a prescription Because there ain't no remedy.

If you liked this episode, you might also like my episode on Capitol Records' Christmas Cocktails albums as part of their Ultra Lounge series.

I'll put a link to that episode in the show notes, along with links to this season's episodes so far on cover versions of Christmas, Baby Please Don't Go, which I'm very entertained by, and last week's episode on Stompin' Tom Connors' Merry Christmas Everybody, a record that I have loved for a long time.

My musical year has been heavily touched by K-pop, since all conversations with my daughter have something to do with the acts she loves.

I hope to do a K-pop Christmas music episode this season, but I'm going to burn right now one of the possibilities because it's a cover.

And to play the horseshoe, which I, you know, started realizing was this kind of iconic thing.

I guess even then because of Stompin' Tom Connors and... all this.

Then the

Gary's there's a whole history there.

And I think if you look back and again, this goes back to the conversation I just had with my dad, but the, The people they were able to draw to perform in little old Kingsville was quite impressive at times.

Stompin' Tom.

Stompin' Tom Connors and Ashley McIsaac when he was at his peak.

Natalie McMaster.

Yeah, Rita was there

I just found the single.

Stompin' Tom.

Oh, yeah.

Stompin' Tom, the most classic Canadian hockey song ever written.

We covered it for the Sudden Death album.

And we covered a version of The Enemy.

... as insufferable as Anne Murray, let me tell you.

[laughs] I always thought, I think he's deceased now, but Stompin' Tom Connors, maybe you can get him out there doing it, eh?

Oh, Stompin' Tom Connors.

That'd actually be pretty darn cool.

[laughs]