Tonight we took advantage of a cool, crisp evening with no rain or other atmospheric disturbances to spoil it, and rode up with some friends to Byron Jones' Northtown Opry which is now located just a bit north of Edgerton, MO as many of you know. The old Union Mill Opry building, now known as the Byron Jones Theatre has plenty of parking with helpful attendants, a full service snack bar run by Byron's wife Donna and comfortable seating throughout. The Northtown Opry through the years has been the measuring stick that other shows are always compared to and tonight's show certainly fell into that catagory.
After the band, with Teresa Ann Cook on bass, Vance Monday on steel & dobro, Ted Cline on lead guitar & fiddle and Jim Lower, Jr. on drums, opened the show with "Wildwood Flower" Byron welcomed everyone with the Porter Wagoner classic "Company's Comin Up The Road" and "Castle In The Sky." Next up was Teresa Ann, doing a beautiful job with Barbara Fairchild's "Teddy Bear Song" and "You Really Had Me Goin'." She returned later to sing "Could I Have This Dance," "Sentimental Old You" and a duet with Byron of "Rollin In My Sweet Baby's Arms." Vance Monday's steel guitar playing is legendary and he got a huge hand tonight as he soloed on "Cold Cold War With You" and picking up his Dobro, teamed up with Ted Cline playing the fiddle and the rest of the band on "Ragtime Annie" and "Black Mountain Rag," a couple of bluegrass favorites. Keeping the same format, Byron stepped up to sing "Wabash Cannonball" and a Rhonda Vincent tune "I Wonder Why Each Season Changes You.
We always enjoy hearing Byron's granddaughter Krista Jones perform and tonight she did a splendid job singing the Connie Francis hit "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," "Bed Of Roses" and Kitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" before duets of Emmylou Harris' "As Long As I Live" and "As Far As I'm Concerned" with Byron and singing harmony with mom Teresa Ann on the Martins' "Count Your Blessings. Of course, the evening wouldn't have been complete without a couple of Ted Cline vocals and tonight he treated everyone to George Jones' classics, "White Lightin'" and "Walk Through This World With Me" as well as "Pass Me By If You're Only Passing Through" and "I'll Be Over You When The Grass Grows Over Me."
The first of tonight's guest artists was our friend Garry Bichelmeyer, who we are fortunate enough to see every Tuesday night at the BK Lounge and also appears at the Grinter House every 1st & 3rd Thursdays. Tonight, Garry did just an outstanding job singing not only his own original songs but others as well, which made this a well-rounded and versatile performance. Beginning with Don Williams' "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend" and Johnny Russell's "Catfish John" it was soon time for his whimsical "I'm So Lonesome In The Saddle Since My Horse Died." Later Garry shared a song he wrote about his hometown "Tonganoxie," a song written by Terry Smith, "The Farside Banks Of Jordan" and a song Garry wrote about this very part of the country entitled "Nodaway River."
It was great seeing John Quigley again and he certainly got his share of applause as he sang George Strait's "It's A Love Without End - Amen," Moe Bandy's "Bandy, The Rodeo Clown," Alan Jackson's "Don't Rock The Juke Box," Stonewall Jackson's "Don't Be Angry," Marty Robbins' "Singing The Blues" and Joe Diffie's "Almost Home."
Rachel Wicker, who has received a lot of notoriety in many parts of the country since her American Idol performances, put her beautiful voice to good use here tonight to sing Loretta's "You Ain't Woman Enough," Connie Smith's "Once A Day," "Silver Threads & Golden Needles," "Always On My Mind," Patsy's "Crazy," "When Will I Be Loved," "He Touched Me" and "Walkin After Midnight," much to this enthusiastic crowd's delight. The band, along with guest performers closed the evening with "Stay A Little Longer." (Below) Northtown Opry 5-2-08 front-Teresa Ann Cook, Krysta Jones back-John Quigley, Rachel Wicker, Garry Bichelmeyer, Byron Jones, Ted Cline
