A Road Trip With Gate Lepine - #17

Two crazy old geezers come to town to party!

It was a night to remember.

For readers of this page, you know that the life and songs of Gate Lepine looms large. Yesterday was his 87th birthday. He told me it was a doozy. Just so you know, Gate was Stompin’ Tom’s best friend and songwriting partner for all of his career.

Many months ago I booked my Stompin’ Tom show into theatres in Kingston, Tweed and London, Thursday to Saturday. Gate and his cousin Roly live in Ottawa, not too far from Tweed. On the day of our Tweed show, Roly drove across town, picked up Gate, booked a room at the only motel in town and these two crazy old geezers from Timmins began a memorable road trip that thankfully, included my show.

My band, Douglas, Billy and James had been hearing Gate Lepine stories and singing his songs since our tour began 10 year ago. We all finally met and what a night it was.

Besides the shenanigans in the motel room when everyone returned to the motel after the show, fueled by beer and gin, the hours we spent together were all about the songs.

It began with Snarly’s Hill. During the dark days of Covid, Gate sent me some songs that he and Tom began to write but never finished. His arthritis prevented him from completing them so he asked me if I wanted them. He was “giving them to me”.

Douglas and I did just that. We play Snarly’s Hill every night.

There was another “incomplete” song that stood tall at our Tweed show. I’ll share that song, story and video next time.

It’s a song about Gate’s late wife Jean that he began to write in 1973. It was recorded by Tom on his “Long Gone to the Yukon” album but there’s much more to this story than that.

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