Countryfied crooner Dick Damron was a likeable bad boy of Canadian music

Whether Dick Damron played the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, Tequila Charlie’s in Mexico, Wembley Arena in London, or the Monkey Top Saloon in his hometown of Bentley, Alta, he introduced himself on stage in the same manner.“I’m Dick Damron,” he would say, “your local neighborhood long-haired hippie, country and western singer.” Sometimes he would also quip that he was the illegitimate son of Willie Nelson. If that were true – it certainly was not – it would have been the only illegitimate thing about him.