Jukebox memories
Carroll Baker brings hits tour to Summerside.
The first time I saw Carroll Baker was on a poster. My father was a Maritime jukebox operator and every month free music posters would arrive in the mail, along with his order of 45s from various record companies. So, one month in the mid-’70s I claimed the poster and put it on my wall. I also remembering listening to Baker’s 1974 hit, “I’d Go Through it All Again.” I was impressed with her voice and her inner confidence. And, even though I’ve seen her perform several times since, the poster memory still sticks in my memory. This week when I told this story to the Canadian country music legend she was tickled. “You have no idea how wonderful that makes me feel,” says the 69-year-old award-winning singer-songwriter who is coming to Harbourfront Theatre in Summerside on Thursday, Sept. 20. Baker also had a few things to tell me, like how excited she is to bring her brand-new show – Carroll Baker’s Gospel and Hits Tour to P.E.I. It’s part of a 10day tour she’s doing across the country. “I have always wanted to really feature my gospel music in a more prominent way and (now) I am getting the chance to do it,” says Baker, who was moved to promote her gospel songs after experiencing some major health issues in 2016. She broke her ankle and then caught pneumonia on her last Maritime tour. She also started having pains in her abdomen. “I became sicker and sicker, but I didn’t want the audience to know, although they could certainly hear it in my voice.” When she got home she called her family doctor and explained what was happening. The physician told her to go to emergency immediately. “I was there for hours and hours that Thursday afternoon, going through every test conceivable with every kind of doctor. On Saturday I was on an operating table having emergency surgery with half of my bowel being cut away.” It was one of the “scariest moments” in her life. “I remember the lead surgeon looking me in the eye and saying, ‘Carroll, you know how sick you are, don’t you?’ I said, ‘yes, I know’. He said, ‘We’re going to do everything we can. Then he asked me if I was afraid. ‘I said, ‘no I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to leave my family’.” Then a miracle happened. “I got better. There’s only half of me left inside, but I’m OK,” says Baker, with a gentle laugh. That experience changed her life. “I started praying differently. I started thanking God for things instead of asking him for things. And I sang a lot of my gospel songs while I was recuperating in bed.” One day while she was resting, she said, “Oh Lord would I ever like the opportunity to sing my gospel songs”. Within a couple of weeks her manager got a call to ask whether Baker was interested in a gospel and a hits tour. “That validated it for me. I’m doing something that I wanted in my heart. And it’s happening. I can’t believe it!” she says. On the Summerside leg of the tour, Baker will share the stage with some P.E.I. singers. Jolee Patkai, Kim Tuplin and Roy MacCaull, among others will join her. This is the third time that Patkai will perform with her. “Carroll has a great band and it’s always fun. Her voice is as good as it’s always been. Then there’s always that beautiful harmony,” says the P.E.I. singersongwriter who will accompany her on “Amazing Grace and “Let’s Go Down to the River”. Baker is also excited about the Thursday night concert. “We’re starting off with my hits and then we’ll move into the gospel songs.”