Tim Hus has some big stompin’ boots to fill.
Opening for Canadian country music legend Stompin’ Tom Connors on his summer tour – including the opening date at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium July 31 – Albertan Tim Hus has been said to be the one to fill Connors’ shoes – by Connors himself.
"I’ve been looking for 30 years for a young guy who’s proud to write songs about our country. I’d like to pass the torch to Tim Hus," said Connors in a press release.
To hear those words is a compliment for Hus, but it’s something he never would have dreamed of.
"I’m just happy that he likes my stuff," he said. "The people just adore him. They come out by the thousands every night and he’s done a great thing for this country."
Hus toured with Stompin’ Tom last summer when the duo tackled eastern Canada together. As a long time fan, Hus said it was a thrill and a dream come true when Connors called to ask him to join the tour.
"He called me up and told me he was drinking beer – that didn’t come as a surprise – he was drinking beer and sitting around with his manager and they were listening to my latest album and he appreciated all the songs I was writing about Canada and asked me to come on the road with him," he said.
"We’re friends now and we along good and turns out he’s a fan of mine and I’m a fan of his. It went so good last summer, we’re going to do Western Canada this summer."
With songs like Canadian Pacific, Red River Flood, Saskatchewan Son-Of-A-Gun and Hamilton Steel, it’s clear Canada is a big inspiration for Hus. He said it’s just because he likes his country.
"It’s definitely the best place to live," he said.
He also draws inspiration from many of the odd jobs he’s tackled; they include tree planting, beer truck driver and salmon farmer.
It was while travelling and taking on work where he could find it that he picked up the guitar and started writing his own songs.
He wrote his first song in a logging camp shortly after high school for the other workers in the camp.
"You could say it was a good audience because it was a remote camp and we’d work for 10 days in the bush and come out for four days so everybody was pretty entertainment-starved and they were all deaf from generators and chainsaws," Hus said. "It was a good audience to get started on."
Next he landed a job on a fishing boat on the East Coast and wrote a song about that and compiled enough songs to make an album. Now he’s on tour with Stompin’ Tom.
"I guess I could say I got so good at writing working songs, I don’t have to work anymore," he said.
Hus recently released his second album with Stony Plain Records. While he’s been happy with all his albums, Hockeytown consists of his strongest songs, Hus said.
"I’m really happy with the way it turned out," he said. "It was very easy to record. It took only three weeks and there were no problems at all. It was very smooth and easy to put together."
