 |
Once a weekly feature on CBC-TV, Hunter prefers a live audience to a television studio. But on his Still Making Memories tour, which plays Centrepointe Theatre on Sunday, the godfather of Canadian country performs as if he was still playing the small screen.
The easy going country music star dubbed "Canada's Country Gentleman," Hunter has only one No. 1 single (Man of '87) in a performing career that started in the 1950s. But with a record 38 continuous years hosting his own broadcast, he's better known for his appearance on television than for his musicmaking.
"I started in television and drifted into records, not a big recording artist who drifted into television," he says.
"When we did the show, I didn't want a barn and bales of hay. I didn't want just a country audience.
"I could sing hillbilly and turn you off or I could sing it more gently and make a good show."
Pleasant memories
The concert will be an evening to relive some pleasant memories.
"It'll be a nostalgic trip down memory lane," he said from his home in Aberfoye. "We play our theme music, a few songs, then we do some readings and hymns, a couple of corny jokes and whole group of familiar songs."
About the only thing missing from Hunter's Centrepointe appearance will be the Kraft commercials.
Hunter, 62, first broke into television in 1952, playing guitar on CBC. He was later recruited for the country variety program Country Hoedown in 1956 for nine years before hosting The Tommy Hunter Show, the longest-running show in North America from 1965-1992.
Hunter broke many major talents including Anne Murray, Reba MacIntyre, k.d. lang, Shania Twain -- "when she was called Ellie" -- Vince Gill and Garth Brooks among many others.
"If there's one claim to fame for Tommy Hunter, it's that I know how to put a good show together," he says proudly.
Actually, Hunter has a few claims to fame including three Junos for male country singer, a Gemini in 1991 for best television variety, an Order of Canada and induction in the Country Music Hall of fame.