LITTLE CURRENT—Whiskey Jack, one of the most celebrated roots/country/bluegrass bands in Canadian music history, is coming to Manitoulin and they are bringing the legacy of the Canadian music icon, the late Stompin’ Tom Connors, along for the ride.
The band will be performing at the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre beginning at 3 pm on Saturday, April 16 as part of a 100.7 The Island fundraiser for Community Living Manitoulin.
“The band played with Stompin’ Tom for years,” said fundraiser organizer Kelly Timmermans. “They don’t want to call it a ‘tribute’ because then people will come expecting to hear something exactly like Stompin’ Tom,” she explained.
But with four critically acclaimed recordings, including nationally charted radio hits and numerous Country Music Awards nominations, the band has plenty of musical chops to bring to the table.
According to their website, the band toured Canada extensively between 1979 and 1987, appearing at festivals and concerts from coast to coast, as well as being regular guests of Morningside and Variety Tonight on CBC Radio. Many may recall the band form their five-year stint as stars of the legendary The Tommy Hunter Show for five years in the 1980s, and their numerous appearances on such shows as The Alan Thicke Show, Fire on the Mountain, Ralph Emory and The Nashville Network. In fact, they earned the title of the most televised bluegrass/ acoustic country band in Canada.
They also recorded with the likes of Nashville legend Mac Wiseman, Al Cherny of Country Hoedown fame and the world-famous fiddle player Graham Townsend.
Whiskey Jack is particularly well-positioned to bring stories and songs of Stompin’ Tom to the stage, as in 1993, Stompin’ Tom Connors teamed up with the band to record one of his come-back albums, ‘Dr. Stompin’ Tom Connors eh?,’ featuring the celebrated ‘Gumboot Clogaroo’ and followed that up with a triumphant national tour. In 2004 they were on the road again with the tour culminating in a sold-out show at Massey Hall and an unprecedented performance on the Conan O’Brien Show.
Tickets for the show are $20 and are available at the radio station’s offices in Little Current (just follow the country music on the front street), or at the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre. The show is presented under licence from Stompin’ Tom Ltd.
