Today's extraordinary event was a great concept to begin with: Country Music Shows throughout Kansas & Missouri as well as many of the individual performers you have seen over the years were represented and the response was overwhelming to say the least. So many bands & preformers responded to this invitation, many traveling hundreds of miles, that the show ran a full 2 hours over! This extravanganza began as the big red curtains parted to reveal the Annie's Country Jubilee band featuring our pal "Mighty" Marvin Bredemeier playing our favorite fiddle tune "Ragtime Annie." One of this area's finest vocalists, Jim Winters was up next and was kind enough to fulfill our request of Ray Price's "Soft Rain." Jim returned a little later to bring the house down with his rendition of "Shenandoah." The first of tonight's guest artists, cute-as-a-button Haylie Bagwell came up all the way from Coffeyville, KS and did a wonderful job singing Johnny Bush's "What A Way To Live" and the spectactular Martina McBride number "With A Broken Wing." Leland Jones, who with wife Carole operate the Country Pickin' Opry near Richmond, Mo stepped to the mike next to do a bang-up job with a Ray Charles tune "Take These Chains (From My Heart)," Vince Gill's "Look At Us" and George Jones' "Window Up Above."
ACJ's own pretty Ronni Ward was up next and did a beautiful job with Highway 101's "The Bed You Made For Me" and Juice Newton's "Break It To Me Gently" followed closely by David George, Annie's musical director, awesome lead guitarist and tonight's emcee who showed what a great vocalist he is to boot with John Conlee's "Rose Colored Glasses" and Merle Haggard's "Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink." One of the performers we are always looking forward to hearing, Michelle Lea is just starting her first year of college but has the vocal talents and stage presence which belie her relatively young age. She was absolutely great tonight singing and yodeling the old Patsy Montana classic "Cowboy's Sweetheart" and Linda Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved." Wayne Hoover, a good friend of ours who operates the Countryside Jamboree in Cameron, MO every Friday night got a big hand as he sang Darrell McCall's "There's Still A Lot Of Love In San Antone" and Marty Robbins' "Beggin' To You." Next up was the boss lady herself, Annie Dunavin whose vocal talents are legendary to sing Johnny Horton's "Slewfoot," a song she's been singing since childhood and a simply beautiful rendition of "Faded Love" which also featured an awesome fiddle solo by Marvin. Kevin Olson, who used to live in this area, stepped front and center to use his great vocal abilities to sing Charley Pride's a"Mountain Of Love" and Gary Morris' "Velvet Chains." Fred Uzzell, Annie's great steel guitar & Dobro player and the rest of the band including drummer Steve Straub and bass guitarist Ted Ward, closed this portion of the program with the "Steel Guitar Rag."
After a short intermission, the curtains reopened to reveal another band had replaced the first: none other than Elijah Chastain and the Middle Creek Band from Bill & Brenda Harris' Middle Creek Theatre located at the Rutlader Outpost, just south of Louisburg, KS! Elijah started the ball rolling with a couple of great Ricky Skaggs tunes, "Ride That Hummingbird" and "Cajun Moon," then it was Angie Larson's "I Feel A Heartache Coming On" and just a super duet with Elijah of Rhonda Vincent/Gene Watson's blockbuster hit "Staying Together." It was great seeing Angie's husband Bill Larson as well as he played drums behind her. We always enjoy listening to the beautiful voice of Andy Lindberg and certainly tonight was no exception as Andy sang Ricky Van Shelton's "I Cried My Last Tear For You" and the great Vince Gill tune "Look At Us" with some great steel guitar runs by Bobby DeMoss, Kansas Steel Guitar Hall Of Famer. Multi-talented drummer Brad Meadows did a super job as well, singing Clint Black's "Leaving Here (A Better Man)." We got a huge surprise as we noticed that tonight, filling in with his big doghouse bass was none other than Missouri Country Music Hall Of Famer Dave Owens! Dave is presently appearing at Branson's God & Country Theatre, so this was quite a trip for him, which is greatly appreciated. Dave showed everyone he is well deserving of the HOF title as he sang "See The Big Man Cry Mama," "Angels Don't Lie" and the capper, "Rainy Night In Georgia." If you ever get a chance to see Dave perfom, don't miss it! Next up was our friend Mike Duley whose Ramblin' Country show is held every 2nd & 4th Fridays of the month in Gentry, MO. Mike was so kind to make the long trip today to sing a couple of songs, Ray Price's "A Way To Survive" and Garth Brooks' "Two Of A Kind." Great job, Mike! What an honor it was to have Byron Jones, voice of the Northtown Opry for over 20 years drop in. The Northtown Opry, of course has shows every Saturday night at their new location, 1419 Swift in North Kansas City. Tonight Byron in his own distinctive style sang Faron Young's "Alone With You," Carl Smith's "I Overlooked An Orchid" and Buck Owens' "Love's Gonna Live Here." Old friend (we attended the same high school) Larry Smith was next and he got a big ovation singing Johnny Rodriquez's "Pass Me By," George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and our favorite gospel number "It Is No Secret." Thanks Larry for you and Francis being here.
It was certainly a pleasure to see Debbie Martin (or for you KFKF listeners, Debbie Erikson) here tonight. Debbie, of course appears every Saturday night at Dennis Dittemore's Big Creek Opry in Pleasant Hill, MO. Debbie sent Dennis' regrets that he couldn't be here himself, but he and wife Cindy are battling some serious illness of their own. Debbie has an absolutely beautiful voice and tonight sang Sara Evans' "Suds In The Bucket," Lorrie Morgan's "I Guess You Had To Be There" and a great gospel number, "Because He Lives." Wee Willie Shagnasty or as we who know and love this guy, Bill Lear who traveled all the way from Macon, MO, made an appearance to share a little about his family with us ("My son's going to be an astronaut - teacher says he's taking up space!" "Over 10,000 people met me at the airport - if you don't believe me, ask Garth Brooks. He was there too!" "I was going to tell you about my wife, but it's not 'politically correct' anymore to use the word "fat," so let's just say she's 'refrigerator friendly.") Bill, of course had the audience in stitches as he does every second and fourth Saturdays at his Black Diamond Jubilee in Macon. Thanks for coming all this way, Bill! Elijah and this great Middle Creek band then performed one of the best gospel renditions you'll ever hear of a number recorded by Diamond Rio, "Walking In Jerusalem Just Like John." To say we're familiar with this next artist would be quite an understatement. Our son Wayne Hawkins, who is an accomplished piano and keyboard virtuoso flew in from an engagement in LaCrosse, WI and rushed to be here this afternoon. Although primarily a jazz musician, Wayne seemed right at home as he and the band took off on "Route 66" with Jim Winters furnishing the vocals. Next up was a great piano solo of "Wichita Lineman" dedicated to yours truly and then, again with the band it was "Night Life," a Ray Price number with Jim once again furnishing the vocals. Wayne has a new CD to be released soon and you can also catch him at Benton's, a restaurant atop Crown Center near downtown KCMO on weekends. If you'd like to know more about Wayne, visit his website www.waynehawkins.com. It was great visiting with Bill & Brenda and thanks to this great band for appearing here tonight.
After another short intermission, it was time again to change bands, this time featuring Stranger Creek, a band we are very familiar with as they play every Tuesday night at the BK Lounge (actually a Burger King located at 95th & Quivera in Lenexa, KS) where live music is featured from 6:30-9:00 PM and the Grinter House every month. Larry Dean kicked off this portion of the evening with a Ricky Skaggs number "Hiway 40 Blues" and lead guitarist Gordon Riley and the rest of the band including drummer John Malone did a super job with the group's unofficial theme song, "Gordon's Boogie #1. Lawrence, KS's own Arnie Johnson was on hand tonight to lend his smooth, silky delivery to Mark Chesnutt's "Old Flames (Can't Hold A Candle To You)," and a song recorded by Alison Krauss and others, "Another Day Another Dollar." Garry Bichelmeyer and Larry Dean were just outstanding as they teamed up to sing "in The Jailhouse Now," Soggy Bottom Boys style and Jerome Oberle got the fingers snapping and the feet stomping as he played the "Beer Barrell Polka" with Marvin Bredemeier on vocals and "Harbor Lights" with Fred Uzzell doing some fine work on the steel guitar. Sweet-voiced Mary Bichelmeyer sang Charly McClain's "Sentimental Old You," a song that always gets me a little emotional and Art Covey was outstanding as usual, playing mandolin and singing "Falling Leaves" and Pat Boone's "Love Letters In The Sand." We always relish the opportunity to hear this next man's great vocals, Ron Fine pleased the crowd tonight with Hank Snow's "Now And Then There's A Fool Such As I" and a Hank Williams Sr. classic "House Of Gold." Garry Bichelmeyer and this great little band closed their portion with "Old Joe Clark," David George providing a great guitar solo. After the ACJ band had settled back in, our good friend Kathy Lynn stepped front and center. We first saw Kathy perform many years ago at Dirks Bar & Grille north of the river, where we used to go and see the late Mike O'Roark's Wednesday night get-togethers. Tonight she did a super job singing Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough" and Bobby Gentry's "Ode To Billy Joe." Perhaps it was a case of saving the best for last, but we were certainly astonished to see our friend Bill Jordan had made the trip all the way in from Oak Grove, MO. Bill is of course, blind and we can only imagine the difficulty he must have encountered getting here. Bill was just magnificent tonight, running chills up and down your spine with those low, low notes singing Jim Reeves' "Little Old Dime," "Heart Talk" (our personal favorite) and Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere." Thanks for coming, Bill! The ACJ Quartet (Jim Winters, David George, Ted Ward and featuring Steve Straub) closed this gala evening with a great gospel number "Beulahland." Thanks to the many who gave of their time, talent and resources to make this evening such a success!!
Post Script: Roger and I cannot begin to tell you how much we appreciated the great benefit show held in our behalf at Annie's Country Jubilee today. We want to thank all single performers, the opry shows and our fans from the BK Lounge and all the other oprys. We appreciate all the music, love and well wishes from each of you.
As Roger & I have said, it is easier to give than to be on the receiving end. We must say that the monies donated here today are going to be a big step toward helping with our medical expenses.
We especially want to thank Annie, Terry, Bill & Louise Clark, Jerry & Linda Kendrick, the band members and the staff of helpers at Annie's for making this a beautiful day for all of us to enjoy and what better way to do it than with all our friends.
Thanks to all who contributed items for the silent auction and to those who bid & received them. The items were very nice and who would ever have thought there would be so many! Again, thanks to all who helped in putting this together, it worked out great.
All we can say is thanks so much to each and everyone who gave in their own special way. Roger is having the medical procedures performed on a more frequent basis and we want to thank each of you for your prayers and help in dealing with this as well. You have made things more bearable for us.
We love you all and want to say "God Bless" each and every one of you. As mentioned in the words of this beautiful song, "It Is No Secret What God Can Do."
Jean Hawkins
(Below) top - The Annie's Country Jubilee Band middle - Elijah Chastain & the Middle Creek Band bottom - Stranger Creek
