Wilf Carter 1904-1996
The Singing Legend
Yodelling Cowboy Hits The Trail at 91

Published in the Calgary Herald, Sat., Dec. 7, 1996
written by Alison Mayes, Calgary Herald & Canadian Press

Wilf Carter, the yodelling cowboy who was Canada's first cowboy star, has headed for the last roundup. The legendary performer, whose career spanned six decades, died Thursday night at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 91.

He was diagnosed with a stomach tumor two months ago.

"There are a lot of people who will shed many, many tears at the passing of Wilf, because he was a wonderful man," Tommy Hunter, a country music institution and Carter's friend, said Friday.

Carter, the lanky son of a Baptist minister, was born in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, on Dec. 18, 1904. He came west in the 1920's, toiled on Alberta farms and first sang on the air at Calgary's CFCN radio.

After working as a trail ride entertainer in the Rockies in the '30s, Carter went to New York to become a national radio star under the name Montana Slim. He recorded hundreds of his own songs including There's A Love-Knot in My Lariat, and brought fame to other writer's tunes such as You Are My Sunshine.

"He was a big star, mostly with common people," said Nathan Tinkham, a Turner Valley musician and Carter friend. "He was a true working-class person, and remained that all through his career. People just knew, when they heard him, that he was one of them."

Until recently, he said, Carter spent part of every year in his beloved Calgary area.

"One of the biggest things in his life was being the marshal for the Stampede Parade - that was one of his proudest moments."

"Calgary is my home, and the fans here are the best I've ever met," the "blue-nose cowboy" told the Herald in 1978.

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