This especially entertaining evening began in the usual manner, with hostess and first lady of country music in Tonganoxie, KS, Annie Dunavin greeting the enthusastic crowd with the old Porter Wagoner shuffle, "Come On In (Sit Right Down & Make Yourself At Home)." Beginning tonight's festivities, lovely Ronni Ward put her incredible vocal talents to work as she sang a Carlene Carter number, "I Fell In Love" and an old Jimmy Rodgers tune, "Hobo's Meditation. Ronni was to return the second half with Bill Anderson's "Walk Out Backwards" and a super job of Linda Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou." Before introducing the band, Annie's emcee and one of the finest male vocalists around, Jim Winters treated the audience to an old Red Foley number "Chattanooga Shoeshine Boy," then it was a Bill Mack tune "Drinking Champagne" before returning the second half with Waylon's "Luckenbach, Texas" and Conway Twitty's "Baby's Gone." Fred Uzzell, who Jim calls "the chairman of the board," got a huge hand as he put his Remington triple-necked steel guitar to work on a crowd favorite, the "Steel Guitar Rag" and drummer Steve Straub gave us a peek at his vocal talents as he sang Merle Haggard's "That's The Way Love Goes." Steve would return later for the Gospel portion. Another Hag fan, lead guitarist A. J. Cronk, who was filling in for David George who is in the Mideast tonight entertaining our service men and women, proved he knows his stuff as well, singing and picking "Working Man Blues" and "Think I'll Just Stay Here & Drink." Annie herself returned to treat the folks to a Faron Young hit "Leavin' And Saying Goodbye," Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams" and "Ruby's Stool." She was to return the second half with Patsy's 1962 hit, "Heartaches," a very clever rewording of Alabama's "If You're Gonna Play In Texas" which became "If You're Gonna Play In Kansas" and a Connie Smith mega-hit, "Once A Day." Bass guitarist Ted Ward treated everyone to some fine singin' himself with "Honky Tonk Man" while "Mighty" Marvin Bredemeier put bow to fiddle to close the first half with a bluegrass tune, "Silver Bells" and opened the second half with "Tennessee Wagner," Fred Uzzell contributing some fine Dobro work.
One of today's most exciting young performers around the opry circuit is tonight's first guest artist, Michelle Lea. Now in her very first year of college, we are always amazed at her terrific range, voice control and stage presence. Her delivery is smooth and very pleasant to listen to and this combination is sometimes a rarity in artists of her age bracket. Tonight she chose Reba McIntyre's "Take It Back," a number originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler and most recently rereleased by Trick Pony, "It's A Heartache" and the Judds' "Rockin' With The Rhythm Of The Rain." Michelle returned the second half with the upbeat Hank Williams Sr. classic "Jambalaya, then it was Marie Osmond's "Paper Roses" and a beautiful job with Linda Ronstadt's "When Will I Be Loved." Tonight's other guest artist, Jeff Elslo is certainly no stranger to us as we have seen and visited with Jeff on numerous occasions at bluegrass clubs and festivals throughout the area. Jeff is very proficient on the mandolin, guitar, steel guitar, Dobro and practically anything with strings, yet his weapon of choice is the five-string banjo. Jeff got things going with a bang here tonight with Flatt & Scruggs' "Polka On A Banjo," also doing the vocals, then it was a "grassy" version of the old Duke Ellington big band number "Caravan" followed by Leon McAuliffe's "Panhandle Rag." Jeff returned later with "Salty Dog" with vocals by himself and Jim Winters, an old bluegrass standard "Sally Gooden" and probably the most famous banjo tune of all time, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." Jeff was definately an audience favorite and we look to see him back in the future.
The Gospel portion of tonight's program featured Michelle Lea singing the old Stanley Bros. standard, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and Annie's own Steve Straub singing the beautiful hymn "In The Garden." Just a note here to express our admiration and respect for the sacrifice David George is making to help entertain our men and women who are serving in our military services in the Middle East. Hats off to David and the other brave entertainers who have embraced this undertaking and our prayers go out for their safe return. It'll be great to see you back David! (Below) Michelle Lea and Jeff Elslo pose for a pic
