Indigineous Canadian Talent - Stompin' Tom, Rita and Men of the Deeps, for Starters

The passing of Stompin' Tom Connors recently just reminded me of the truly great indigenous talent of so many Canadians. 

When I came to Texas in 1996, I realized how prominent Canadians really were in entertainment. But I want to tell you about  some truly great Canadians you may not know.

Rita MacNeil lived on Cape Breton Island. After she divorced, she went to Toronto where she cleaned offices. All her life, Rita wrote songs about her beloved Island and its people. Here is her version of Working Man which she wrote about the coal miners  of Cape Breton. My brother-in-law, Sen White, is a member of Men of the Deeps, a chorus of retired coal miners. You can listen to them performing with Rita on this song she wrote:

Stompin' Tom Connors came by his name honestly when owners of clubs where he sang started having to put extra boards where he would be singing because his heavy foot stomping wrecked their floors. Stompin' Tom was not so different from Rita in that he wrote about places and activities he knew.

The video I have chosen was taken at the Horseshoe Tavern which is on Queen Street in downtown Toronto.

The song I chose is "Sudbury Saturday Night".  Sudbury is about 230 miles north of Toronto and there is a nickel mine there so it is a typical working class city. This was perfect for Stompin' Tom who loved to write about the working man. Oh, yes, you heard it right, "The girls are playing bingo and the men are getting stinko . . ."

While large in land area, Canada has a population of only 34,000,000 people. Ninety percent of the population lives within 100 miles of the border with United States. In places like the Maritimes (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick), Northern Ontario and many of the places you see when you look on a Canadian map that are a little more isolated than places near the U.S. border, people are very good at entertaining themselves and their friends. 

Enjoy what was originally to entertain their friends at home parties . . .