Canada’s “First Lady of Country Music” Carroll Baker is bringing her One Final Tour to Lethbridge Apr. 7.
Baker has entertained fans from coast-to-coast and internationally from the Grand Ole Opry to Wembley Stadium and she’s had more than 20 number one records. With 14 albums, four compilation albums and 55 singles, Baker continues to entertain fans worldwide.
“It’s a big tour. I’ve not done a big tour like this for many years,” says Baker. “It gives me a chance to say goodbye to all the good people who’ve been behind me for so many years and always supported me. I think I’ve got the best fans in the world because they’ve always come to my concerts, no matter what.”
Baker believes she hasn’t been to Lethbridge for close to 45 years. “That’s a long time.”
It’s going to be hard to say farewell to her fans, Baker adds. “There’s no doubt I’ll be sad. I won’t be actively touring or doing anything like that, but I’ve got other things I plan on doing. I’m going to write a book and that’s going to take a lot of my time. It’s going to be taking me back to times in my life I thought I’ve forgotten, so you’ve got to reach back. Some will be sad and some will be good.”
The other thing Baker has started doing is producing singers. “I’ve just produced a girl from Prince Edward Island. I’ve been producing her and choosing the songs for her.”
“I have a lot of things I can still do that will keep me actively involved like my songwriting. So, I won’t be gone,” she jokes. “I’ll still be around.”
On tour, Baker’s band will join her, and it will be a full show for fans. “It’s not going to be the same show people have seen me do in the past.”
“This one is going to be changed up a lot,” notes Baker. “It’s a goodbye tour. I’m going to reach way back into my roots of music. How I got involved in music and why.”
Instead of doing medleys of hits, Baker says, she’s going to perform the songs that were the most popular, “the whole way through.”
“They’re going to hear songs I have not been doing for a long time,” she adds.
Baker says radio has always been good to her and her music over the years, as well.
“DJs have been so good to me all my life. I consider them the biggest part of my band. To me, they’re like the biggest instrument in the band because they were instrumental, all the DJs that played my music, and giving me a career and bringing it to the fans.”
Check out Carroll Baker live at the Yates Theatre. Show starts at 7 p.m. For more information or for tickets visit online at visitlethbridgearena.evenue.net.
