I have to thank the great bluegrass bass player Eric Jackson for describing exactly why Saturday night was such a great night. Wrote Eric, "Tom, Lena and Tom are really nice, down to earth folks." He was referring to Stompin' Tom, Mrs Stompin' Tom and Tom Jr.
I've known this family so long I think I forgot just how genuine they are. Given Tom's success and fame, it's impressive that he and his family have not lost any of their true values. It was an old time country party and they don't get better than that.
It had everything. Lots of reminiscing with old friends. Lots of beer (only Moosehead served thank you very much). Fantastic music (I'll get to that later). Lots of dancing. The coolest bar in Ontario with just enough second hand smoke to make the night memorable. Most importantly, it had very welcoming hosts. 
As the night grew to an end, out came the sandwiches and coffee and thankfully, the most under appreciated food item on the planet, devilled eggs. Why don't more of us serve this delicacy? I ate 4. If they had been pickled eggs, I would have eaten 5 and probably been sleeping on the couch in the basement for a week.
I was joined on stage by an aged but exquisite group of Canadian bluegrass musicians with credentials coming out of their ears. On bass, as I mentioned, was Eric Jackson, one of the earlier members of the legendary Humber River Valley Boys circa the mid 1970's. The guitarist was Chris Coole, the youngest and most famous of the group. Chris is one of Canada's (maybe even the world's) finest clawhammer old time banjo player who also plays guitar and sings like there's no tomorrow. It was real thrill for me to finally play with Chris and the bonus was to play a two banjo rendition of Soldier's Joy. That D chord never sounded better.
My old Stompin' Tom touring buddy was the mandolin/fiddle player Conrad Kipping. Connie sang some great tunes, many of them Tom's creations (Ballad of Wilf Carter) and as always picked his instruments with abandon. It's a joy to be on stage with this man. 
Rounding out the house band (that I jokingly referred to as The Knobs and The Tubes), was arguably Canada's most excellent country/bluegrass fiddler (and part time member of Whiskey Jack), Randy Morrisson. As a tribute to the late Graham Townsend, who many of us toured with on the 1993 Stompin' Tom cross country marathon tour, Randy performed a rather lengthy medley of Graham tunes... Wow. He brought the house down. 
A special musical guest who happened to be in the audience was another Canadian bluegrass legend, dobro player/guitarist Al Widmeyer. Al sang a couple of genuine "piss and moan" country tunes that you'll never hear on Canadian radio.
I couldn't get this grin off my face as I viewed the audience from my perch on the official Stompin' Tom chair that I borrowed and saw the smiling faces of Tom's long time tour manager, Rockland Entertainment's Brian Edwards. Next to Brian was Deanne Cameron, the President and CEO of EMI Music Canada, Tom's official record executive. In fact it was Deanne who first signed Tom to his Capital/EMI contract when he made his big come back in 1990. Deanne laughed and smiled the night away obviously quite entertained by this great bunch of pickers. Then of course there was Brian's sister Ella who's seen her share of highway and the official STC body guards, Randy and Frank. Yes, it was a fabulous night. 
Thanks Tom, Lena and Tom Jr.
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