JUNE 22, 2010
BK LOUNGE
OH My! It was so hot as we prepared for tonight's show at the BK Lounge. What started out as a sparse crowd grew to be a fine group by showtime at 6:30 PM.

It was especially good to see Roger and Jean Hawkins come in. Roger has been having some health issues the last couple of weeks but reports he is doing OK now. While we are on the subject of health issues, let's all keep Sharon Miller in our thoughts and prayers. We understand she underwent a hip replacement on Tuesday and will be hospitalized for a few days.

The band will leave Thursday morning to go to the Wahoo Country Music show in Wahoo Nebraska. They will appear a total of 5 times Friday, Saturday and Sunday along with over 250 country music acts. That should be a fantastic festival. Wahoo is about 45 miles northwest of Lincoln if you are inclined to travel a few miles for some outstanding country music the band would be happy to see some regular fans follow them up there.

It was so good to see Roger & Jean Hawkins back and the article below is reprinted with their permission from MO-KAN Opry.com. Many thanks to them for their generosity!

Due to some health issues, we hadn't been able to make it to our usual Tuesday night haunt --- the B.K. Lounge for a couple of weeks and we really have missed the great music and all the friendly faces. Nevertheless, tonight found us at our usual spot, awaiting the start of tonight's festivities.

None other than Garry Bichelmeyer, one of this area's finest songwriters and a super entertainer in his own right, kicked the program off with "Kansas City" (he did such an excellent job, someone asked him to repeat it the second half), "Catch A Falling Star." Billy Currington's "People Are Crazy," Cash's "Ring Of Fire" and a great job of Chris LeDoux's "Night Rider's Lament." It's always a pleasure to see and watch David Purcell perform and tonight he sang George Strait's "This Is Where The Cowboy Rides Away," a beautiful Garry Bichelmeyer tune, "Northern Star" and returned a bit later with Willie's "Remember Me," "Help Me Make It Through The Night" and "You're A Once In A Lifetime Thing." Art Covey's mandolin playing and singing were top-notch as well tonight as Art chose an old Darrell McCall tune "There's Still A Lot Of Love In San Antone" to begin with and then it was Anne Murray's "Could I Have This Dance," "Deep Water" and the pretty "Kentucky Waltz." Gordon Riley and the band, including John Malone behind the drums, got the feet shuffling out on the dance floor as they played the ever popular "Honky Tonk" followed by "Sugar Foot Rag." Gordon returned later to play and sing "9 Lb. Hammer" Merle Travis style.

Our friend, "Mighty" Marvin Bredemeier, who we're sure most people are aware of, plays fiddle at Annie's Country Jubilee each and every Saturday night, decided tonight to welcome us back, playing our favorite fiddle tune, "Ragtime Annie," but with a little twist. Somewhere near the middle of this tune, Marv broke out an instrument we later learned was called a banjo-uke and played a few bars to the delight of the audience. Marvin recalled that his family owned one of these instruments which dates back to the 1930's and he was able to find one listed in excellent condition on e-bay. Marvin also chose another old fiddle tune, "Red Wing" before singing and playing a Merle Travis signature song "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" and the "Orange Blossom Special," to the delight of the linedancers. We love to listen to Larry Dean roll out one unforgettable standard after another - he has such a super voice - and tonight it was Delbert McClinton's "Back To Louisiana," "Stagger Lee," a tune recorded by many artists (we like Ricky Van Shelton's) "From A Jack To A King" and Don Williams' "Living On Tulsa Time." Mary Bichelmeyer, the group's bass player used her extraordinary soft, mellow voice tonight to sing Loretta Lynn's "Blue Kentucky Girl," Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight," Kathy Mattea's "Walk The Way The Wind Blows" and Pam Tillis' "Don't Tell Me What To Do." Lots of "cheek to cheek" material here!

It was also great seeing a walk-on participating tonight as well. Bill McFall from Independence, MO was in the audience and stepped front and center to do a bang-up job singing Jack Greene's "There Goes My Everything" and Carl Smith's "If Teardrops Were Pennies." Larry Dean closed tonight's entertainment with "Old Time Rock 'N Roll." (Below) top- Marvin Bredemeier with his banjo-uke bottom - Visitor Bill McFall from Independence, MO





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