He worked with some of the top names in the music industry, including Ronnie Hawkins, Ian and Sylvia, Jerry Reed, Amos Garrett, and Todd Rundgren.

At age 16 Kalmusky left The Revols to join Ronnie Hawkins's band, The Hawks, to tour and travel North America, leaving behind his bandmates for the brief time being as they had decided to complete school.

One story when they hooked back up in the USA is chronicled on page 65 of Barney Hoskyns's novel Across The Great Divide: The Band and America: Kalmusky, Richard, John, and the Hawks had taken Ronnie's Cadillac for a joy ride in Memphis, TN, and were pulled over by police.

Kalmusky stated in an interview with Stratford's The Beacon Herald, "They thought we were The Beatles, girls were diving at the car, piling on, as we were driving out of the stadium."

By 1966, Kalmusky paralleled the same move Manuel had made after their trip to Arkansas, by leaving The Revols, The Fab Four, and Stratford behind, to become a full-time "Hawk" in Hawkins' band.

After nearly a decade of touring with Ronnie, Ian Tyson called Hawkins and told him he needed a bass player in New York City within the next day or two.

As a freelance bassist, Kalmusky returned to Hawkins's band several times throughout the 70s and 80s, and also worked with David Clayton Thomas (of Blood Sweat and Tears), Jack De Keyzer, King Biscuit Boy, Buffy Saint Marie, Jake Leiske (of Canadian Juno-awarded Farmer's Daughter), and as a regular session bassist, for son, producer David Kalmusky.

Kalmusky's contributions to the music industry have been noted in Barney Hoskyns' novel, Across The Great Divide, Nicholas Jennings' novel, Before The Gold Rush, Levon Helm's novel This Wheel's on Fire.

A ceremony erecting a plaque that bears the band's name of its Stratford residents, Ken Kalmusky, Richard Manuel, John Till, Doug Rhodes, Jimmy Winkler, Garth Picot, & David "Dave Mickie" Marsden was unveiled at 12:30pm on 4 August 2008 during the celebration.