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“It’s going to be the last, not second annual,” Tommy Hunter said in a recent interview. “These artists that say that they are going to retire and then the next minute they … decide to do it one more time. I really want to go out on my terms.”
Hunter, who entertained TV audiences for 36 years, is now 74.
“I know that the time machine is running and I would just as soon go out when (I) can still perform,” he said, “and then say goodbye on a high note.”
The London, Ont. native established himself during a nine-year run on the TV show Country Hoedown before hosting the Tommy Hunter Show for 27 years.
He has been coming to the Maritimes for years and has a “million memories.” Hunter, who was known as Canada's Country Gentleman, said as the bus rolls into a different town memories coming rolling back.
Hunter said he is going to miss the camaraderie of being on the road with his band, which has been together for 26 years and with the same bus driver for 34 years.
But he is also going to miss seeing the familiar faces, who come to watch him perform.
“We all grew up together,” he said.
“They brought you into their living room. The kids ran over and curled up with grandma and grandpa or mom and dad and sat and watched the show.
“Today, when we go down the road travelling, it’s the daughter who is either bringing her mom or dad…
“That’s exactly what our show is all about, it’s a trip down memory lane.”
In retirement, Hunter said he wants to concentrate on his passion for photography and concentrate more on the Bible, which he reads daily.
“I’d like to try to make a more serious study in the Bible,” Hunter said. “I just think there’s an awful lot for people to learn, including me.”
