TORONTO - Canadian country legend Tommy Hunter says he's preparing to walk away from a music career that has spanned more than 50 years because 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," the 73-year-old Hunter said on the line from his Guelph, Ont., home on Thursday.
"One of the things that I was always fearful about, and I always said to people around me, is that if I ever felt that I couldn't hit that mark, I would throw in the towel very, very quickly.
"Well, I haven't hit that point yet, but it's like anything else: you know that you're getting older and someday it's going to happen. And 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."
"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 farewell tour will play out in two parts, because, as he put it, "they didn't want to have me do from Newfoundland straight through to British Columbia — they thought that would kill the old guy."
The "Travellin' Man" singer will kick things off in Ottawa on March 23 and wind through cities in Ontario, B.C., Alberta and Manitoba before finishing in Edmonton on April 17.
Beginning in 2012, he will embark on the second leg of the tour, beginning in Newfoundland 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."
Of course, Hunter is best-known for hosting CBC-TV's "Tommy Hunter Show," which began life in black-and-white in 1965 and remained on the air until 1992.
The show was a weekend staple for millions of Canadians, a fact that Hunter doesn't regard lightly.
"I'll be honest with you: the only reason that I'm able to travel and to do personal appearances today, there's no other reason except the fact that I was on television for so many years," he said. "A total of 36 years — nine years on 'Country Hoedown' and 26 years on the 'Hunter' show.
"For all of those years, I was in people's living rooms. Back in the days when there was only one network — so they didn't have a lot of choice! It was either on or off."
One of Hunter's goals with his show was to consciously steer away from the "hayseed" image of country music propagated elsewhere (notably on "Hee Haw," which actually launched after Hunter's show).
He also wanted to provide a platform for country musicians both young and old.
"The Tommy Hunter Show" served as a showcase for an exhaustive list of country's brightest stars, including Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, the Judd family, Hank Snow, Clint Black, Martina McBride and even a young Shania Twain.
She sang on the show in 1980, with the name Eileen Twain.
"I never knew that she was going to achieve the stardom she did," Hunter said, noting however that she did stand out.
"I mean, she certainly had the voice, she had the talent, she had the looks, you know, (but) sometimes I worry, I've seen other people who (have) good voices and are beautiful, but I don't know whether they've got that drive, that stamina, that determination, and that's what you need."
Hunter too has had to persevere through trying times.
In 2004, he underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer. The personable singer now says he's feeling well.
"I am absolutely in the pink of health," he said. "I'm calling my doctor more often than I used to — that's because I want to check and see how HE is."
"I've got a clean bill of health. I go and see him every once in a while, if I get a cold or something. I'm always worried about going on the road. I wash my hands frequently, 'cause you're travelling a lot, you've gotta be aware.
"If I get sick, the show is over. So I can't get sick."
Yet the show will soon be over regardless.
While Hunter says he won't miss the grind of touring, he loves connecting with fans along the way. He relays the story of a Kitchener, Ont., woman who burst into tears upon meeting him backstage because she felt that his CBC show was a consistent source of comfort for her family at a time when comfort was hard to find.
Hunter concedes that he's feeling similarly sentimental heading into his final rounds of shows.
"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) it's very tough for my audience to 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.
"So you say, 'Well, what do you do?' And all I do is go out and keep doing memories. 'Here's a song that we introduced a number of years ago on television, it was written by so and so and I'm sure you'll remember this night that we sat and we introduced it.' And you start it, and they applaud, and they say, 'Oh, yeah.'
"Now, the next part is, I look down and they're all singing every line with me. Word for word. It's so familiar, that they know all the songs. They know the songs sometimes better than I do."
By Nick Patch, The Canadian Press
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