When asked in 2013 how he felt about being appointed by the prize of a Yukon commissioner, Hank Karr’s response was usually full, honest and humble.
“I’m still wondering why I’m receiving these awards,” he reflected. “But after receiving it, I am happy to have received it.”
Karr, the country singer, the legend of the music scene of the territory and author of a beloved catalog of songs that celebrated his adoptive home in the north, died during the weekend in Whitehorse. He was 86 years old.
“It’s an icon. It really is,” said Joe Mewett, president of the Yukon Legion, where Karr played many times over the years.
“You know, when I met him for the first time, I really didn’t know who he was. But over the years, you discover who the guy is and what he means to Yukón.”
Karr arrived for the first time to Yukón in the 1960s and soon a name was made in local bars, singing classic country songs in a rich baritone not very different from one of his own musical heroes, Jim Reeves. Other favorites from Karr included Ray Price, Marty Robbins and a Canadian namesake, Hank Snow.
Karr would remain faithful to those first influences throughout his career as a drain, singing and writing songs that had little flash about them, but connected with people in a simple and direct way.
“The times change, and I think we have to move with the times too. But at this time, country music I think is too extravagant to me, and for many people I speak with,” Karr reflected in 2013.
“The things I do and real country songs are like real -life experiences. So you can relate. You can interact with some of them, and above all you can understand the lyrics,” he reflected.
Karar’s muse and inspiration always seemed to be the territory itself: its spectacular mountain views, wild rivers and colorful history of gold fever. Your 1981 LP Paddlewheeler and other northland balladsProduced by the CBC Northern Service, it is a collection of Karar’s versions of the songs of the late Yukon composer to the Oster, which includes ’98 Path, Yukon Gold, Steel cubesand Yukon memories book.
Karar’s characteristic song, however, would always be After Yukon. The song, Written by Karar himself, he pays love tribute to each of the provinces and territories of Canada, but continues to return to the question of the head: “Where are you going to Yukon?” Karr’s response was simple, and there was no doubt that he said it seriously: “You are cheating if you think there is something else, because there is nothing left after Yukon.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weu5u_qojak
Mewett remembers that particular song as Pilar del Set Live of Karar.
“It’s one of those basic products that everyone seems to enjoy. And it’s alone, it’s Hank,” Mewett said.
Ray Park, another musician who moved the territory in the 1960s, was a friend of Karr and the two played dozens of shows together over the years. Park called his friend a “great artist.”
“When we were on stage, we had fun, you know, Kibbitzing and laughing. It was great,” Park recalled.
“I’m going to miss him. It was a good guy, you know, a good friend.”
Karr’s son, Hank Karr Jr., describes how his father came from a bad education in a small town in Saskatchewan and left his home at an early age.
“Then he knew what Lonely was,” said Hank Jr.
Hank Mr. would experience his own financial struggles over the years, including an unfortunate commercial company in New Brunswick, where Hank Jr. says that his parents effectively “lost their shirts.”
The Yukón offered his parents the opportunity to build a better life, says Hank Jr. worked hard, made many friends, focused on raising a family and never looked back.
“Once Mom and he connected to the Yukón, I think they found home and an opportunity,” said Hank Jr.
“Honestly, I think he felt in his heart, he always owed the Yukón for what he did for him.”
Hank Mr. became a regular in local bars, sometimes playing late at night before getting up early for daily work driving a Whitehorse City bus. He also trained baseball for children for many years. As a singer, he often acted free of charge, including his souvenir shows in Whitehorse Legion.
In his last years, he worked less frequently, but he could still attract an audience. Some of his favorite concerts were at the monthly dinners of the Yukon Golden Age Society, where he described “99 percent of the people I acted when I was really active in the bars.”
Hank Mr. would receive many honors through his life. Together with the Yukon commissioner award, he received the coronation medal of King Charles III earlier this year, and in 2019 he received a patrimonial award at the Western Canadian Music Awards. He and his wife Pam were also named “Mr. and Mrs. Yukon” for the Rendezvous Rendezvous Festival in 2019.
Being invited to act in Expo 67 in Montreal in 1967 was always the highlight of his father, Hank Jr. said but also said that the many achievements and praise never went to the singer’s head.
“One thing he didn’t do was put his trophies on the shelf,” said Hank Jr.
Carol Thomson, with the Golden Age Society of Yukon, is a friend and admirer of Hank Mr., she remembers how she used to “get out of the bar when she was not old enough.”
Thomson described Hank Mr. as the real business.
“He was Yukon. He knew everyone. He knew our stories,” he said. “He had humor, he had love, he was genuine and didn’t matter who you were, you were a friend of Hank.
“Whether that person was on stage, he was the same person when he came home and celebrated with you. It was the same type.”
Thomson also remembered how his late mother had lost his sight after a blow and managed to find comfort when he heard Karar’s songs.
“She listened to it day and night, because I had no idea if it was day or night. And Hank took her through those last years of her life,” Thomson said.
“I loved it a lot and I will miss it a lot, as the rest of the Yukón will do.”
