President Byron Jones held a short meeting for the KCABMC members present and announced that this would be the final meeting/show of this season and the next meeting will be held in October. After some minor items of club business were dealt with, Byron adjourned the meeting and introduced the first of three groups who performed here tonight, The Bradford Trio. Mandell Bradford, Danette Bradford-Dean and Jennifer Bradford, two sisters and a cousin, all live in the Kansas City area but have performed in many parts of the country, most recently in nearby Branson, MO. The trio sings strictly acapella, songs of a spiritual nature and the way their voices melt and blend was indeed lifting for all. Beginning with "The Lord Is My Rock," "If That Don't Make You Wanna Go To Heaven," "Farther Along" and "Jesus Is All I Need," we watched the audience's collective smiles as the girls sang "Whispering Hope." Next up it was "Elijah Rock," "Go To The Rock," "Wayfaring Stranger," "The Lord's Prayer" and "It's Shoutin' Time." These young ladies, ages 19 to 22, got a big hand as they closed their set with "Hallelujah!"
We always enjoy hearing Willow Creek play that old-time bluegrass and tonight Rick & Gail Dakon with Larry & Ron Willis played a lot of our favorites. With Rick's terrific mandolin playing and one-liners ("Folks, we're just like an old milk cow on a cold winter morning, we appreciate a warm hand too!"), Ron's guitar & vocals ("Mountain Dew," "Please Be My Love" and "Sadie"). brother Larry's banjo & vocals ("Katy Daly," "Dig A Hole," "I'll Be On That Good Road," "Fifteen Years") and Gail's bass & vocals ("Hundred Years From Now," "Lonesome Feeling" and "Going Home"), this is a very entertaining group to listen to and the audience certainly showed their appreciation. The Willis brothers closed the set with a duet of "Hot Corn, Cold Corn" and "Cuckoo" featuring Larry.
This evening's last group hails from the Excelsior Springs, MO area where Glen Jenkins & The Country Music Makers perform at many area nursing homes and other venues throughout the area. With Glenn Jenkins on mandolin, Kenny Coates on banjo, Bob Thompson on guitar, Roscoe Sexton on Dobro and Norman Martin also on guitar, they were joined this evening by Dorothy Essig & Mary Eddings-Caton both doing vocals. Kenny kicked the set off with the rousing "Down Yonder" and returned later with the nostalgic "Home Sweet Home" while Dorothy sang "I'll Come Runnin'," and Patsy Montana's "Cowboy's Sweetheart." Roscoe played the beautiful "Jennifer's Waltz" and "Steel Guitar Rag" on his Dobro and Bob chose our favorite Jimmy Martin tune, "Sunny Side Of The Mountain" and "Girl In The Blue Velvet Band" to the audience's delight. Norman stepped front and center to sing "Rock The Cradle" and "Too Old To Die Young" and little Mary sang a couple of old favorites, "Wabash Cannonball" and "Wildflowers." Glen Jenkins had that mandolin cookin' as he gave the folks a treat with "Black Mountain Rag" and "Footprints In The Snow."
In closing we want to thank all the folks who help every month to make this show such a success. All the people who work on the sound system, setting up chairs, manning the tables and so on -- thanks to all of you for everything you do to make this club a success. The good Lord willing, we'll see you all in October. (Below) top - The Bradford Trio middle - Willow Creek bottom - Glen Jenkins & The Music Makers
