A good-sized crowd showed up tonight to attend Leland & Carole Jones' final show of the season at their Country Pickin' Opry, located just west of Richmond, MO off of Highway 10 on Route C. These folks put on a terrific show every time we have the opportunity to visit and tonight was certainly a prime example of that. Leland's band or the "Country Pickers" as they are called are comprised of Leland Jones, emcee, rhythm guitar & vocals, Richard Jewell, electric banjo, Ron Lana, lead guitar, Harvey Hayseed, bass & comedy, Bob Smith, drums, Chuck Robinson, steel guitar, Jack Wicker, keyboards & vocals with Fonda Bennett, lead singer. Fonda, by the way looked terrific tonight, having lost 163 lbs. this season and wearing a nifty pair of blue jeans and sporting a new haircut.
After singing "I Don't Believe I'll Fall In Love Today," Leland welcomed everyone to the final show of 2009 (the show closes on the 3rd Saturday of November and reopens the 3rd Saturday of March), then treated everyone to a Webb Pierce song, "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down," "Rose Of San Antone," a great bluegrass tune "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight" and a little later, Gene Watson's "Farewell Party." Fonda Bennett is blessed with one of the best female voices around and tonight she did a spectactular job singing Patsy Montana's "Cowboy's Sweetheart," Ray Price's "You Don't Have Very Far To Go," "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," "1-900 Bubba" (with Richard Jewell playing the straight man) and "You Belong To Me." Harvey Hayseed, resident bass player and funnyman related an unfortunate incident he had recently when he went to eat at a local diner. As he sat down at the counter he noticed a man sitting next to him who was just staring at a bowl of chili. After several minutes went by, Harvey asked the man if he was going to eat that chili or what? No answer was forthcoming. Soon, he asked the man "If you're not going to eat that chili do you mind if I do?" The man nodded yes, so Harvey took the chili and began eating it. He got to almost the bottom of the bowl and there was a dead mouse in the bottom of the bowl. Well, of course this made him deathly sick and he upchucked all of the chili right back into the bowl. The guy turned to Harv and said, "Yep. That's about as far as I got!" Yuch!
The first of tonight's guest artists, Rex Barnett is a retired Missouri State trooper and hails from Trenton, MO. Decked out in a bright red western shirt and ten gallon hat, Rex sang some of our favorite classic country numbers including Billy Walker's "Charlie's Shoes," Willie's "Blue Eyes Cryin In The Rain," Marty Robbins' "Don't Worry 'Bout Me," "Today I Started Loving You Again," Dwight Yoakum's "I Sang Dixie" and "Pass Me By If You're Only Passing Through." Richard Jewell did a couple of numbers for his mother who was in the audience tonight, picking his 'lectric bannger (as Leland calls it) or electric banjo on "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and picking and singing the old bluegrass tune "Where The Roses Bloom." A short while later, lead guitar Ron Lana let 'er fly with "Guitar Boogie."
It's been sometime since we've seen Clarence Hayden perform, but his smooth, silky delivery is one you will certainly remember. Clarence is a busy man these days dividing his time with appearances on RFD TV and other obligations. He plans on spending his winter doing shows at various venues in Texas' Rio Grande valley. His set tonight began with "There She Goes," then it was "Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" and Waylon's "Amanda." Clarence returned later to sing Stonewall Jackson's "Don't Be Angry" and Mark Chesnutt's "As The Honky Tonk Turns." We always enjoy hearing Jack Wicker's keyboard and vocals and tonight he turned the clock back with the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace," "It's Only Make Believe" and "Who Am I." Returning later, it was a 50's medley: "White Sport Coat/Blueberry Hill/Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On and Jack closed the evening's festivities with "How Great Thou Art." (Below) top - Clarence Hayden/Leland Jones/Rex Barnett bottom - Fonda Bennett entertains Richard Jewell with "1-900 Bubba"
