Stompin' Tom Connors is a Canadian legend. There are very few Canadians who don't know the foot-stompin' patriot in the cowboy hat who sang almost exclusively about the country he loved and called home. But there is much more to Tom Connors than "Bud the Spud" and "The Hockey Song." This biography paints the picture of an intelligent, stubborn, creative, cantankerous and thoughtful man who created a character that would be embraced by Canadians from coast to coast. This is the story of the man behind Stompin' Tom.

As Stompin’ Tom Connors sings, “It’s the good old hockey game, the best game you can name.” And in this charmingly illustrated book for all ages, the classic song played at hockey games around the world is imagined as a shinny game on an outdoor rink in the middle of the city that starts with two players and soon grows to include the whole community. “The puck is in! The hometown wins! The good ol’ hockey game.”

The famous and irresistible song about potatoes is now on the printed page in lively storybook form.

Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, e, p, i.

The Guess Who. Gordon Lightfoot. Joni Mitchell. Neil Young. Stompin' Tom Connors. Robert Charlebois. Anne Murray. Crowbar. Chilliwack. Carole Pope. Loverboy. Bryan Adams. The Barenaked Ladies. The Tragically Hip. Céline Dion. Arcade Fire. K-oS. Feist. These musicians are national heroes to generations of Canadians. But what does it mean to be a Canadian musician? And why does nationality even matter? Canuck Rock addresses these questions by delving into the myriad relationships between the people who make music, the industries that produce and sell it, the radio stations and government legislation that determine availability, and the fans who consume it and make it their own. An invaluable resource and an absorbing read, Canuck Rock spans from the emergence of rock and roll in the 1950s through to today's international recording industry. Combining archival material, published accounts, and new interviews, Ryan Edwardson explores how music in Canada became Canadian music.