Stompin' Tom Connors is a legend. There are very few Canadians who don?t know the foot-stompin' patriot in the cowboy hat who sang almost exclusively of the country he loved and called home. But there is much more to Tom Connors than “Bud the Spud” and “The Hockey Song.”

Tom's childhood was traumatic and he never fully recovered from being separated from his mother at a young age. As he made multiple trips across Canada, the country became his home and its people his family. Along the way he developed his musical style and wrote many hits which are still heard on the radio, in bar rooms and at arenas across the country.

Tom was a trailblazer, creating his own record label and serving as his own producer and promoter. At a time when it was unheard of, Tom showed that it was possible to stay in Canada, sing songs about this country and have a significantcareer. Tom rebelled against the Canadian music industry, fighting for it to support its own artists, inspiring a new generation of musicians to sing about Canada.

This biography offers an in-depth look at the man behind “Stompin' Tom.” It tells the story of an earnest, intelligent and complicated man who created a character that would be embraced by Canadians from coast to coast.

Charlie Rhindress is a co-founder and former artistic director of Live Bait Theatre in Sackville, New Brunswick. All eight of his full-length plays have premiered at Live Bait. The Maritime Way of Life has been produced in all four Atlantic Canadian provinces and was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award as best new play in 2000. It was also published in Marigraph: Gauging the Tides of Drama from New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island (Playwrights Canada Press), an anthology of Maritime plays. After premiering at Live Bait, Flying on Her Own was produced by Neptune Theatre, and Home and Away, a musical about hockey co-written with Dean Burry, played at Theatre Orangeville. In addition to his full-length plays, Charlie has written over thirty dinner theatres with Karen Valanne and two plays for teens, which have been produced throughout North America. Charlie has also worked as an actor in film and at theatres across the country. He has directed at a number of East Coast theatres and served as director and dramaturge on Cathy Jonesâ??s one-woman show, Me, Dad, and the Hundred Boyfriends. Charlie is the father of four incredible children.

Charlie Rhindress' profile page