A big crowd filled the auditorium of the Northcross United Methodist Church tonight at the monthly meeting of the Heart Of America Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Club or HABOT. Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month and normally last from 6:00 - 10:45 PM. President Mary Caton Eddings welcomed everyone and introduced the "house" band which would accompany the individual acts which preceeded the bands on tonight's program. Larry Willis had the honors on banjo, with Mary Bliefnick on bass, Cotton Sanders played his fiddle with Walt Weigman on guitar. Jim Downs handled the duties on mandolin and Irvin Martin also played guitar.
Tonight's first guest artist Molly Reed, however didn't require any accompaniment as she sang both of her numbers "Pick Me Up Before I Hit The Ground" and "I Won't Be Lonesome Up There," a cappella. Mark Burnett and daughter-in-law Chelsea Burnett were up next and they did a great job blending their voices on "Too Late Now" and "Do What You Do Do Well." Sherry Schoolfield from Excelsior Springs, MO used her vocal talents to sing "I'll Wait For You" and "I Just Drove By" before Mary Eddings sang the bluegrass standard "Wildflowers" for the appreciative crowd. The last act tonight was Richard Reeves who did an excellent job both accompanying himself on the guitar and singing "High On The Mountain" and Blue Highway's "Lonesome Pine."
The Great White Possum String Band, consisting of Mike Weaver, mandolin, Gary Gray, banjo & dobro, Mark Purcell, guitar, Don Huff, lead vocals, guitar and Bill Norton, bass was the first of three bands featured here tonight. We first saw this group perform many years ago at the Sally Mountain Festival near Queen City, MO and they are always a lot of fun to listen to. Tonight it was "Sea Of Heartbreak," "I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home," "On And On," an instrumental of "Fireball Mail,' "Greenville Trestle," "Blue Virginia Blues," "If I Lose," "Bye Bye Blues" and "Close The Door." Webb Pierce's "Walking The Dog," "Close The Door," "Matterhorn" and "Love Over Lonesome" closed the set. The second group tonight was Gary Russell's Sugar Creek with Gary on vocals & guitar, Bud Carey on guitar & vocals as well and Gary's sons David (mandolin, vocals) & Keith Russell (banjo). This group has been around the bluegrass scene for a number of years and are really fun to listen to. Gary and the gang are featured every Thursday night at their own show (see Thursday Night Opry on our home page) and maintain their own website @ www.sugarridgegrass.com. Their set tonight began with an instrumental, "Clinch Mountain Backstep," then it was Gary with "Farm In Louisiana," "Old Train," "Carolina Star," "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water" and others. "Blackberry Blossom" featured Keith on banjo, Bud Carey got a big hand as he picked and sang "I Saw A Man" and David did the honors as he sang his most requested song, "Walkin' The Dog." Other selections included "Liberty" & "I Like To Hear Them Preach It."
Misty Mountain Revival, the last of tonight's great bluegrass bands had Larry Cook sitting in tonight at doghouse bass, the versatile Gary Gray (mandolin, banjo, guitar), Ken Slyter on banjo and guitar, Kathy (vocals) and Jim (guitar, mandolin) Belk. They performed a variety of old-timey and bluegrass selections here tonight including "Way Downtown," "Last Thing On My Mind," Hold Whatcha Got," "White Frieghtliner Blues" and "99 Years & One Dark Day." "Panhandle Rag" was followed by "You're In My Heart," I'll See You On The Other Side Of Jordan," "Nellie Kane," "Think Of What You've Done" and "Winter's Come & Gone." This super group closed the evening's festivities with "Lonesome Pine" and "Remington's Ride." (Below) top - Gary Russell of Sugar Ridge in his jaunty hat sings "Carolina Star" bottom - Jim & Kathy Belk harmonize on another great bluegrass standard
