Tommy Hunter plans farewell tour
Canadian singing legend Tommy Hunter says the cross-country tour he’ll start next March will be his musical farewell.
The man known as “Canada’s Country Gentleman” said he simply doesn’t want to reach the point where he disappoints his audience.
“I’ve always set a high mark. When we were doing the television show, I tried to achieve high marks on all aspects of the show, and it’s the same thing with our personal appearances. I don’t take it for granted,” he said Thursday on the line from his Guelph, Ont., home.
“I’m in good health, I can still sing, so I want to go out when I can still do the things and not disappoint an audience,” said Hunter, 73.
“It’s time for me. I feel that it’s time to pack it in and say goodbye and thank you to our audiences.”
Hunter’s tour will play out in two parts in 2011 and 2012, starting in Cornwall, Ont., on March 22, with stops in Ontario, B.C. and Manitoba before finishing in Edmonton on April 17 this year.
“I’m looking forward to it, and yet, it’s going to be very emotional for me and I know it’s emotional for my fans,” he said.
“I don’t say this to brag, [but people can] come and see a show where they can bring grandkids or grandma and grandpa or mom and dad, and set them down, and they don’t hear any swear words.
“They don’t hear any dirty jokes, no cursing. We don’t blast their eardrums out, there’s no smoke bombs, there’s no special effects.”
Visits Atlantic region in 2012
In 2012, he will embark on the second leg of the tour, beginning in Newfoundland and Labrador and finishing in Ontario.
And then? Well, that’s it.
“I’m not going to go back and do my second annual farewell tour or my third,” said a chuckling Hunter. “I can tell you that right now. That’s not my style.”
Hunter hosted CBC-TV’s The Tommy Hunter Show, which began life in black-and-white in 1965 and remained on the air until 1992.
The show was a staple of Canadian TV and a showcase for country artists, including Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Hank Snow, Martina McBride and Shania Twain.
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