MARCH 2, 2010
B K LOUNGE

Good weather and the promise of great country music brought out a capacity crowd at the BK Lounge again tonight. No one was disappointed as the evening progressed the music was outstanding all evening.

Before I go any further, I want to ask everyone to keep one of our regulars in their thoughts and prayers. Jay Holmgren will undergo surgery Monday morning at KU. Hopefully he will return home Monday evening or Tuesday Morning. We are all thinking of you Jay.

When we talked with Wayne Hoover at the Plattsburg Opry last Sunday, he mentioned the possibility that he might make it down tonight to the BK. We were sure glad to see him, wife Shirley and friends make the trip down and we always enjoy hearing Wayne sing those honky tonk standards as well. Word might have leaked out about what a great load of talent was on hand tonight or maybe it was the change in the weather that prompted the turnout, but at any rate it was difficult to find an empty seat in the house as the band struck up "Gordon's Boogie #1" to get tonight's festivities started.

Larry Dean welcomed the capacity crowd with a Willie Nelson tune "Stay All Night," Brooks & Dunn's "Boot Scootin' Boogie" and returned later with Travis Tritt's "Living On Borrowed Time" and George Strait's "Write This Down." Gordon Riley let the crowd know that he does a fine job on vocals as well as being one of the best lead guitar players around, singing Elvis' "Big Boss Man" before he and the rest of the band including John Malone on drums got the dancers out on the floor with "Wheels." "Marvelous" Marvin Bredemeier, who plays fiddle every Saturday night at Annie's Country Jubilee, tonight chose an old fiddle tune, "Soldier's Joy" and "Rubber Dolly." Great stuff!! The lady who keeps the beat up for this great band each and every week, bass guitarist Mary Bichelmeyer took her turn behind the mike to do a great job singing Kathy Mattea's "Walk The Way The Wind Blows" and Hank Sr.'s "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You." Husband Garry Bichelmeyer, who in addition to being a great vocalist, writes some terrific songs as well stepped front and center to sing John Prine's "Souvenirs," a new original song "I Don't Think I Can Take Loving You," then joined Larry Dean singing the Soggy Bottom Boys' version of "In The Jailhouse Now." A little later in the evening Garry & Mary got a huge ovation as they sang duets of Johnny Cash/June Carter's "Ring Of Fire" and Lacy J. Dalton's "Black Coffee." Crowd favorite Dave Purcell did his best Willie sound-alike singing "Help Me Make It Through The Night" then it was a Garry Bichelmeyer tune, "Northern Star." Dave returned a bit later to sing "A Once In A Lifetime Thing" as well. Art Covey played some fine mandolin playing the "Kentucky Waltz" and did a great job singing Don Williams' "You're My Best Friend."

Wayne Hoover looked right at home as he joined the band to sing the Marty Robbins classic "Beggin' To You" and Merle Haggard's "From Now On All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers." He returned a bit later with another Hag tune, "Swinging Doors" and a great Johnny Paycheck number, "For A Minute There." Wayne's Countryside Jamboree is held every Friday night and features a big dance floor and a great band. Check out www.wayne-hoover.com . Also on hand tonight was a 14 year old young man who happens to be a neighbor of Gordon Riley. Luke Morales with some mentoring from Gordon has become quite a picker and tonight did just an awesome job taking the lead on "Folsom Prison Blues" with vocals by Larry Dean. It was super seeing Ron Fine drop in tonight as well. He has such a great voice and proved it as he sang "Frauline" (we remember Bobby Helms singing this when it first came out) and joined Art Covey for a duet of "Rebel Soldier." They also closed tonight's session singing the gospel number "Will The Circle Be Unbroken." (Below) top - Wayne Hoover sings a Johnny Paycheck favorite bottom - Oldsters & youngsters alike enjoy themselves every Tuesday at the BK





A sincere thanks to Jean and Roger Hawkins for letting us reprint their article and photos on our blog. Thanks to you!!

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