With a country-style delivery and folk-style lyrics, Stompin' Tom Connors, Porcupine Award Hall of Famer, is one of the most beloved of Canadian performers. Born in St. John, New Brunswick, Connors wrote his first song at age 11 and began playing guitar at age 15. Influenced by Wilf Carter and Hank Snow, Connors began playing professionally in 1964 at the Maple Leaf Hotel in Timmins, Ontario. He earned his nickname from his style of stomping the floor with his foot to establish the rhythm of his songs above the noise of the crowd. Connors, a fierce Canadian nationalist, dropped out of music altogether for a decade in protest over the lack of airplay of Canadian performers. Thankfully this black period of Canadian broadcasting is history and Connors has returned to his music.

Connors' songwriting ranges from clever, humourous ditties about Canadian life to Canadian tragedies. His deep affection for his country expresses itself in the scope of his music, which includes songs about every region of Canada. Many of his tunes have become Canadian classics: "Bud the Spud," "Sudbury Saturday Night," "Big Joe Mufferaw," "Roll on Saskatchewan," and "The Moon-Man Newfie," to name but a few. Connors has won many Juno awards and, in 1993, he was awarded an honourary doctorate, which prompted him to release a new album entitled Dr. Stompin' Tom, Eh?.

The problem, for the collector, is that Connors is such a prolific writer and recording artist that it's hard to know where to start. By 1979 he had released 29 LPs on Boot Records. Getting a sense of the sequence of the reissued albums is aggravated by Capitol's myopic decision not to put recording dates on the early CDs. Many of his albums are also quite short and frequently sold at full price in the record shops. For the casual fan, the best buy is A Proud Canadian, a collection of many of his best songs on one long-playing CD. From there you can branch out into Stompin' Tom's other recordings.

Bud the Spud
1969 Capitol (C2 92974)

Bud the Spud; The Ketchup Song; Ben, in the Pen; Rubberhead; Luke's Guitar (Twang, Twang); My Brother Paul; The Old Atlantic Shore; My Little Eskimo; Reversing Falls Darling; She Don't Speak English; The Canadian Lumber Jack; Sudbury Saturday Night; T.T.C. Skidaddler; I'll Be Gone with the Wind 33:23

Stompin' Tom Connors Meets Joe Mufferaw
1970 Capitol (C2 93047)

Big Joe Mufferaw; Sable Island; Don't Overlove Your Baby; Log Train; Roll Saskatchewan; Jenny Donnelly; The Coal Boat Song; Algoma Central #69; The Night I Cremated Sam McGee; Poor, Poor Farmer; My Last Farewell; Rocky Mountain Love; Around the Bay and Back Again 31:55

My Stompin' Grounds
1971 Capitol (C2 92976)

My Stompin' Grounds; The Bridge Came Tumblin' Down; Snowmobile Song; Wop May; Cross Canada; Tillsonburg; Tribute to Wilf Carter; Song of the Irish Moss; Song of the Peddler; Bonnie Belinda; Name the Capital; Song of the Cohoe 34:03

``Live'' at the Horseshoe
1971 Capitol (C2 93048)

Happy Rovin' Cowboy; Big Joe Mufferaw; Come Where We're At; The Green, Green Grass of Home No. 2; Spin, Spin; Muleskinner Blues; Horseshoe Hotel Song; I've Been Everywhere; Sudbury Saturday Night; Bus Tour to Nashville; Luke's Guitar; Bud the Spud 38:31

The North Atlantic Squadron
[no date] Capitol (C2 92977)

The North Atlantic Squadron; Red River Jane; High, Dry, and Blue; Blue Nose; Back Yardin'; Jack of Many Trades; Unity; Fleur de Lis; I'll Love You All Over Again; (Too Late to Hurry) When Snow Flurries Fall; Take Me Down the River; Gypsy Chant 33:27

Stompin' Tom at the Gumboot Cloggeroo
[no date] Capitol (C2 92978)

Legend of Marty and Joe; Jacqueline; The I Don't Know How to Fix the Damned Thing Blues (Handy Man Blues); Man from the Land; Farewell to Nova Scotia; Ripped Off Winkle; Gum-Boot Cloggeroo (Gumboot Cloggin); The Happy Hooker; We Doubt Each Others Love; Little Old Forgetful Me; The Singer (The Voice of the People); Isle of Newfoundland; Roses in the Snow; Home on the Island 40:11

On Tragedy Trail
[no date] Capitol (C2 93045)

Tragedy Trail; How the Mountain Came Down; Shanty Town Sharon; Fire in the Mine; Somewhere, There's Sorrow; Don Valley Jail; Benny the Bum; Black Donnelly's Massacre; Battle of Despair; Reesor Crossing Tragedy; The Little Boy's Prayer; Around the Bay and Back Again 33:52

Stompin' Tom and the Hockey Song
[no date] Capitol (C2 93049)

The Consumer; The Last Fatal Duel; The Curse of the Marc Guylaine; Blue Spell; Singin' Away My Blues; The Hockey Song; The Maritime Waltz; Gaspe Belle Faye; Where Would I Be?; True, True Love; The Piggy Back Race; Your Loving Smile; Mr. Engineer 33:08

To It and at It
1972 Capitol (C2 93050)

Prince Edward Island, Happy Birthday; To It and at It; Keepin' Nora Waitin'; Marten Hartwell Story; New Brunswick and Mary; Moonlight Lady; Muk Luk Shoo; Manitoba; Don Messer Story; Alcan Run; Pizza Pie Love; Golden Gone Bye; Cornflakes 34:43

Stompin' Tom Meets 'Muk Tuk' Annie
1974 Capitol (C2 93051)

Streaker's Dream; My Home by the Fraser; Bibles and Rifles; Paddlewheeler; Unfaithful Heart; Ballad of Muk Tuk Annie; We're Trading Hearts; Oh Chihuahua; Zakuska Polka; I Saw the Teardrop; Wishful Hummin'; Renfrew Valley; My Old Canadian Home 37:03

The Unpopular Stompin' Tom
1976 Capitol (C2 93052)

Good Morning Mr. Sunshine; Where the Chinooks Blow; Zephyrs in the Maple; My Door's Always Open to You; Blue Misery; The Pole and the Hole (Money Pole); A Damn Good Song for a Miner (Muckin' Slushers); Cowboy, Johnny Ware; Ghost of Bras d'Or; Don Valley Jail; Big and Friendly Waiter John; The Olympic Song 36:01

Fiddle & Song
1988 Capitol (C2-92921)

Lady, K.D. Lang; Fiddler's Folly; It's All Over Now, Anyhow; The French Song; I Never Want to See the World Again; Hillside Hayride; Morning and Evening and Always; Return of the Sea Queen; Canada Day, up Canada Way; Jolly Joe MacFarland; Skinner's Pond Teapot; Teardrop Waltz; Entry Island Home; I Am the Wind; Wreck of the Tammy Ann 41:24

Stompin' Tom and the Moon Man Newfie
[no date] Capitol (C2 92975)

Oh, Laura; The Isles of Magdalen; Fire in the Mine; I Can Still Face the Moon; The Bug Song; The Moon-Man Newfie; Roving All Over the Land; Movin' in (From Montreal by Train); Benny the Bum; Twice As Blue; Little Wawa; Rubberhead 31:28

A Proud Canadian *
1990 Capitol (7777-80010-2)

Bud the Spud; Snowmobile Song; Roll on Saskatchewan; Manitoba; Sudbury Saturday Night; Tillsonburg; Roving All Over the Land; New Brunswick and Mary; Big Joe Mufferaw; Gumboot Cloggeroo; The Old Atlantic Shore; Blue Nose; Fleur de Lis; The Moon-Man Newfie; The Ketchup Song; Lady, K.D. Lang; The Bridge Came Tumblin' Down; Marten Hartwell Story; I Am the Wind; The Singer (The Voice of the People) 55:18

More of the Stompin' Tom Phenomenon
1991 Capitol (C2-95897)

Margo's Cargo; Flyin' C.P.R.; Rita MacNeil (A Tribute); Brown Eyes for the Blues; J.R.'s Bar; Loser's Island; St. Anne's Song and Reel; Made in the Shade; Love's Not the Only Thing; Land of the Maple Tree; A Real Canadian Girl; Okanagan Okee; No Canadian Dream; Gone with the Wind (I'll Be) 41:59

Once Upon a Stompin' Tom
1991 Capitol (C2 97103)

Canada Day, up Canada Way; The Ketchup Song; Zephyrs in the Maple; The Piggy-Back Race; The Hockey Song; Cornflakes; Song of the Cohoe; C-a-n-a-d-a (Cross Canada); Name the Capitals; Little Wawa; Moon-Man Newfie; The Olympic Song; Wop May; Unity 38:06

Believe in Your Country
1992 Capitol (C2 99599)

Johnny Maple; My Home Cradled Out in the Waves; Prairie Moon; She Called from Montreal; Lover's Lake; Lena Kathleen; Believe in Your Country; Alberta Rose; Sunshine and Teardrops; My Sleeping Carmello; Lookin' for Someone to Hold; Paper Smile; Smile Away Your Memory; The Ballinafad Ball 39:38

Dr. Stompin' Tom...Eh?
1993 EMI (72438-27225-26)

Football Song; Horse Called Farmer; Road to Thunder Bay; Your Someone Lonesome; Just a Blue Moon Away; Old Flat-Top Guitar; Honeymoon Is Over, Poochie Pie; Canada Day, up Canada Way; Blue Berets; Let's Smile Again; Suzanne de Lafayette (aka Girl from Lafayette); Gumboot Cloggeroo; Shakin' the Blues 41:28

Long Gone to the Yukon
1995 EMI (0-7243-835298-2-7)

Long Gone to the Yukon; Al Sass & Dee John; Case Closed; How Do You Like It Now?; Country Jack (aka Wino of Skid Row); Kitchen Show; Maple Leaf Waltz; Polka Playin' Henry; Broken Wings; I'll Dream You Back; My Home's in Newfoundland; Song Bird Valley; All Night Cafe Blues; No, No, No; Hey, Hey, Loretta; I'll Do It for You; Mrs. Blue Guitar 50:36