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Hunter excels with a little help from his friends

Sat, January 12, 2008

The country star has songs and stories for his hometown fans.

By JAMES REANEY, FREE PRESS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST

Tommy Hunter performs before 1,150 fans last night at Centennial Hall. (Ken Wightman, Sun Media)

Canada's Country Gentleman has always known how to surround himself with good names and good friends.

Last night at Centennial Hall was no different for Tommy Hunter. He was back in his hometown with about 1,150 fans happy to applaud. The star was happy to be home. "If you can get to become known in your hometown, your hometown will support you -- and you've done exactly that," Hunter said late in his two-set concert, which ran about two hours.

Through his long-running show on CBC-TV, Hunter came to know many of the biggest names in country and Canadian music. Johnny Cash. Gordon Lightfoot. Wilf Carter. And Roger Miller. Names and friends like that.

This reviewer was truly taken with Hunter's introduction to his fine version of Roger Miller's King of the Road. Apparently, Miller was adjusting the lyrics -- which have always sounded perfect to these ears -- just minutes before singing it on TV.

It's a spontaneous touch Hunter too seldom uses himself, keeping songs, memories and jokes carefully scripted from show to show.

Still, this critic was also truly delighted to learn that Hunter confirmed my pre-concert prediction by referring to the "L&PS" in London and Port Stanley Railway as standing for "late and poor service." That joke survives and thrives year after year.

Cash turned up with a story and a song -- I Walk the Line -- in the long medley Hunter used to introduce the first set last night.

His excellent band twanged along like the Tennessee Three. Hunter, who turns 71 in March, came off as the good-looking man in the blue three-piece suit with the neat grey tie paying tribute to the Man in Black.

Lightfoot turned up in a story Hunter uses on almost all his shows and almost used twice last night. It's about the talented dancer on the old CBC-TV show Country Hoedown. After about two years of sharing the stage with Hunter and the stars, the dancer said he was going to try writing songs himself. That was the start of the career of Lightfoot as Canadian icon.

The first time, it was also the cue for Hunter to launch into North Wind, a great and raw country ballad Hunter has been singing since 1956 when Lightfoot was still a dancer.

The later mention introduced Ribbon of Darkness, a Lightfoot classic.

Hunter left London in the mid-1950s to join fiddle star King Ganan -- another of last night's names -- and the two became fixtures on CBC-TV. Later, Hunter had a 27-year stint with his own show.

For all the gentle and good-natured pace of a Hunter concert, there is not much room for innovation. At times, it's like being tuned to the same Tommy Hunter telecast every time out. The formula has been working for decades.

Last night, there was the spontaneity of two of the singer's unpredictable grandchildren as guests.

Familiar routines brought out Hunter's fiddle for its showcase bit and put Travelin' Men guitarist Steve Piticco in the spotlight for a tiny mock feud with Hunter.

The band has a successful formula and an outstanding name of its own. Kingston-area steel guitarist Steve Smith has been with Hunter for 28 years -- and is a terrific player.

Hunter began to play the guitar at age nine after seeing country stars at the old London Arena. Early on, he learned the classic country tune Wildwood Flower. "I've been playing that piece since I was nine. Tonight's the first time I've played it right," he joked to the band.

That didn't have to be spontaneous to sound just right.