That Brant County Sound! : Don Oatman

Don's Official Thunderbird Glossy Photo 1976

Donald Ross Oatman was born in Tillsonburg in 1940 and was the third and youngest son of Wilf and Mae Oatman. The family lived in Springford, ON.

By the age six he was accompanying his cousin Wilf Hicks flying up in a crop duster, and by eight he was singing to the accompaniment of his mother on the organ in the United Church a stone’s throw from his parent’s house. Up until he was thirteen Don sang at nine different churches on various Sundays.

He took the controls of a crop duster on his own by the age of eleven. Another cousin, Oliver Oatman, bought the Tillsonburg airport by 1951, which gave Don a special ‘in’ to flying. He became interested in music at the age of fourteen, and his first instrument was the trumpet. He was good enough to play in the school orchestra as the 2^nd and 3^rd Trumpet. He also played in the Annandale High School Brass Band, as well as the Tillsonburg Brass Band under the direction of Thomas Leader. He loved to sing, and that was his main thing. He was also the lead singer of a high school rock band called the ‘Rhythm Rockers.’ At the age of 18 he got his pilot’s license at the Tillsonburg Airport.

Don was always an enterprising young man, and right out of High School found employment at the Royal Bank of Canada where his brother Doug had worked for the previous four years. The bank transferred him to Lambeth but he quit in 1962 because of the long drive from Springford. From 1962 to 1965 he worked for LaVerne Haley Appliances repairing and installing TV antennas.

In 1964 he bought a corner lot in Springford and built a restaurant and gas bar two doors down from the family home. His parents helped out in the kitchen and he hired staff when he added mini-golf, and then a pool-room later on.

When Don took over Dick Seldon’s Lowry Organ franchise the pool-room doubled as a showroom. The showroom got even tighter when Don began to sell Arctic Cat Snowmobiles. In 1974 he moved the music out of the show-room and to the former Canadian Tire building in Tillsonburg.

In 1971 Don joined the ‘Rhythmaires’ as the lead vocalist, and began to live his dream of making it in the music business. The band was well established and were booked solid with weekend dates at clubs, weddings and receptions. They played both the Summer Gardens in Port Dover and the Stork Club in Port Stanley. When each of these places burned to the ground, Don joked that the band was just that darn hot. Interestingly enough, Jim Allison’s band was called ‘Canadian Rhythmaires,’ unbeknownst to Don.

In January of 1976 Don’s band name was changed to ‘Impact,’ and they found themselves continually employed playing weddings; usually booked a year in advance. Roger Quick and the Rainbows were the same way. Impact consisted of Brian Craig, drums, Kris Jackucinskas, guitar, Tony Bee, organ, and Larry Schofield, electric piano, the synthesizer, and electronic keyboard.

In February of 1976, just after Charlie Louvin had left the studio in Toronto, Don called Jim Allison and asked him about recording ‘The Love I Give to you.’ The two had met briefly in 1974 when Don had first written the song, and now he became the 19th act signed to the label.

Jim then convinced the singer to record a full album, and since Don was short on original material, they thought Wayne Hiembecker could help out. He contributed three songs, while Don's keyboardist, Londoner Larry Schofield, wrote one. The other seven songs for the album were chosen as they were standard requests when Impact played live. Larry passed away on Aug 4th 2019 in London, ON.

On April 29^th 1976 Don joined BMI Canada as his music royalty’s collection agency, to ensure he received proper credit for logged in performances of his compositions on the radio.

During the weekend of May 7^th 1976 they all convened at Thunder Sound Studios with Dusty Roads, Wayne Heimbecker, Larry Schofield and Paul Hoffert to cut Don’s album. Don’s wife Elsie and their two daughters, Brenda and Christine, also attended. Jim suggested they use seasoned studio musicians, instead of ‘Impact,’ since they were so fresh. Don’s most exciting aspect of the recording session was hearing his own song performed by a real studio band. Brian, Les and John were billed as 'Dusty Roads' because Don only wanted to pay for the drumming by Brian. So all three shared a single Union Scale fee for their work that day. Jim thought that it was important for all three musicians to have studio experience.

It was actually engineer Bill Cuddihy’s idea to have the artist sign their name on the master plate. Don had to be very careful or he could have ruined it. Don still has his raw master tape, but not the mix-down tape. It was Wayne’s second time at Thunder Sound; he'd played guitar on Parker Dean's single the previous January.

Don spent a lot of time and money promoting his album, including large ads in RPM magazine; he really wanted to be a star. He designed the album cover, which was shot at the Corinth Airport, owned by Bob Barley. His log cabin can be seen in the album cover. Years later Bob sold the airport and moved up to Gravenhurst where he later died. Since Don’s band played a lot of weddings, he included a couple getting married on the sleeve; the groom, Jim Palmer and the bride, Jane the secretary from Xavier Photography Studios in Aylmer. The plane in the album cover was Don’s Piper Apache Twin Engine Prop.

An alternative album cover shot (1976)

Don did well on small radio station charts, going #1 in some markets, and #16 (Just for You) in others. “The Love I Give to You” hit #23 at CFCL in Timmins, right behind “Country Gigolo” by Stew Fargo in Sept 1976. By purchasing a large amount of advertising at CFPL, Bill Brady was more than happy to lend his name to the album liner notes. Bill had just taken over at CFPL and had changed the format, ending Joe Caswell’s Country Corner in the process.

East coast musician Fred McKenna booked Don on the George Hamilton IV Television Show for early December of 1977, where he planned to play his third single, ‘Just for You.’ Fred died suddenly in Toronto on November 18^th at the age of 43, and a week later Don’s booking was abruptly cancelled.

During the spring of 1978 Jim faced the fact that he couldn’t pay RCA his bill, and therefore they kept all the master tapes they had in their possession, including Don’s. To try and make-up for this, Jim gave Don over ten boxes of vinyl that he could sell. However, there was so many that Don had tossed out multiple copies over the years. Jim also gave Don his copy of the failed Charlie Louvin album jacket. Thirty-nine years later Don gave this jacket to the author of this book; a very highly prized possession.

When the dust settled, Don hadn’t moved an inch ahead with the album and three singles. He thanked Jim for his efforts and hit the pavement with his live band, ‘Impact.’ He and Jim left off amicably over the summer of 1978.

On July 9^th 1978 Don held a live concert on two boats just off Pottahawk Point in Long Point Bay. Boaters learned of the concert by word of mouth and advertisements at the area marinas. The idea for the concert came about when friends and fans at the marina where he docked his cabin cruiser said he should bring his band to play there one summer. Since the band was always booked on weekends, they decided to play on a Sunday. As they set up their gear, the boats of the friends and fans began to show up and accumulate. The group played something for everyone, including selections from Don Ho, Englebert Humperdinck, Santana, and songs from his own record. This version of Impact (now 9 years old) featured Don, vocals, Randy Hicks, lead guitar, Jim Story, drums, Larry Schofield, keys & rhythm, Tony Bee, organ & piano, and Chris Jakucinskas, guitar. This concert evolved into the Pottahawk Point Boat Party, which continues to this day; this year will be the 43rd Anniversary. The last time Don played the Fiesta was on July 8^th 1984.

In mid December of 1978 Don did a taping for ‘Betty and Friends’ for CKCO TV in Kitchener. Betty Thompson had been with the station since 1956, and twenty years later took over the current events show. Don was interviewed and sang two numbers. His father Wilf watched the taping, but passed away on December 24^th 1978 before the show was aired on TV.

Don joined the Harvard Association, and in 1988 got involved in creating a museum in Dunnville. This was the year that he finally quit music after thirty-three years, letting his nine piece weekend band go their separate ways.

In the mid-1990s, a group of interested individuals, including flying enthusiast Don Oatman, began discussing the possibility of a museum on the site of the former No. 6 SFTS. After many hours of volunteer effort, the possibility turned into reality with the Grand Opening of the No. 6 RCAF Dunnville Museum on July 5, 2003. Don has now been the president of the museum for twelve years, which boasts a membership of 170 folks. The museum is located at the Dunnville Airport, Hangar 1, 536 Port Maitland Rd., Dunnville.

In 1992 he began working at Johnson controls in Tillsonburg, and retired from there thirteen years later. In 1998 Don released his 2^nd album, this one on CD, comprised of twelve cover songs. He came to Port Dover at the end of 2001 and bought an eleven year old house on Nelson Street West.

In 2008 Don released his third album, (on CD), ‘Christmas with Don Oatman’, a collection of eight well known Christmas songs plus a humorous original.

Don was an Auxiliary Sergeant with the O.P.P. for sixteen years, as well as being involved with the Lion’s Club in Tillsonburg, also for sixteen years. He and his wife Christa currently live in Port Dover.