What an absolutely lovely evening it was to enjoy oneself at an outdoor venue such as Knuckleheads, the cool temperatures a pleasant change from the summer's brutal heat just past. This entertainment complex, which is located at 2715 Rochester in Kansas City's east bottoms actually has both outdoor and indoor stages to accomodate concert goers in inclimate and unseasonable weather. A nice-sized crowd gathered here to enjoy tonight's entertainment, culinary treats from the great snack bar and their favorite adult beverage.
The opening act here tonight called themselves "Loaded Rodeo," but all were very familiar faces and top-notch musicians from this area. Angie Larson, who organized this group, plays keyboard, sings and is a great songwriter to boot and husband Bill Larson, who handled the drums here tonight joined one of this area's most astonishing lead guitarists and vocalists, Elijah Chastain, bassist (Rev.) Carl Butler (whose Gospel Lounge meets here at Knuckleheads every Wednesday night) on bass and the current Kansas Steel Guitar champion Bobby DeMoss, who all play in the band at the Middle Creek Theatre near Louisburg, KS every Saturday night. Add two of this area's most incredible vocalists, Mike Bowman and Jamie Gumm Ogle and this will give you an idea of the top-caliber band which opened tonight's festivities. Angie kicked off tonight's performance with Miranda Lambert's "White Lies" and returned later with Barbara Mandrell's "I Wish That I Could Fall In Love Today" and a great duet with Elijah of Gene Watson/Rhonda Vincent's "Staying Together." Jamie was absolutely wonderful tonight as well, singing Trick Pony's "It's A Heartache," Ronnie Milsap's "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends," Connie Smith's "Just One Time" and Carrie Underwood's "I Told You So." If you love the old traditional sounds of country music as we do, then Mike Bowman is your man. His ability to get the upmost out of a country ballad and make it seem as if he is singing directly to you personally, is legendary in these parts and tonight he began with a Darrell McCall tune, "Dreams Of A Dreamer," then it was an old Webb Pierce number, "There Stands The Glass," Conway Twitty's "Fifteen Years Ago," Josh Turner's "Just To Be Your Man," Joe Diffie's "Home" and Johnny Paycheck's "Slide Off Of Your Satin Sheets." Great stuff!! Carl Butler lent his talents to singing a fast-paced tongue twister entitled "Ode To The Road" before Elijah just played some incredible licks on his electric guitar as did Carl and Bobby as the entire band joined in singing "Walking In Jerusalem (Just Like John)" to close the set.
If you have never heard Collin Raye sing on television or seen him perform live, you owe it to yourself to do so. His beautiful, perfectly-executed pearl-like tones are mesmerizing and addictive to say the least and there were many Collin Raye fans in the audience tonight who traveled quite a distance to see this performance. We thought it such a wise decision for him to use only accoustical backups instead of his full band, as we got the full value of his miraculous voice with Curtis Fontaine on flattop guitar who hit some serious licks here tonight and Jamie Treachner on keyboards who is one of Nashville's most prolific songwriters as well. Collin began his set with the 1998 Radney Foster penned "Anyone Else," then it was his huge hit "Little Red Rodeo" (which drove the audience wild!), "Little Rock," 1999's "I Can Still Feel You," "I Get What I Need" and "One Boy One Girl." For a change of pace, Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" was next with "I Think About You," 1992's "That's My Story" and "Every Second." Collin got a big ovation as he launched into Merle Haggard's "Ramblin Man" and followed that with "City Of New Orleans," "On The Verge" and the song that started it all for Collin back in 1991 and still his most requested "Love, Me." The audience wouldn't let him quit there, demanding an encore and Collin returned to sing "My Kinda Girl" to riotious applause.
There was an incredibly long line at the CD and meet & greet lines after the show, but we hung around until after all the hubbub and took a few minutes with this Grand Ole Opry star to recall his appearance at a show in 2005 (we believe) when we saw him at the Opry in Nashville. He remembered the show very well as he had family and friends urging him on from the balcony. He is very a gracious and super-nice person and we look forward to seeing him perform whenever we can. (Below) Country superstar Collin Raye with Pete Saiger, Knuckleheads' sound technician.
