Tonight we made our way to Broughton Wings near Chester, home to Lorraine and Brian’s Lasso Reelers. For on stage was a solo singer, that I’d never seen before but heard quite a lot of good reports about him. He is extremely popular with Line Dancers throughout the UK and it wouldn’t surprise me, beyond our shores. It was of cause Billy Bubba King. His stage presence was not particularly out standing, he had two instruments on stage but I only saw him play one that being the guitar. His backing tracks were superb together with his pleasant voice that at times reached way down to the very base notes. King’s songs were a really good mix of bang up to date numbers with a generous sprinkle of old favourites. In his first set I counted fifteen songs plus a medley, he was there to sing and he did just that with a smidgen of chat in between. King kicked off with ‘This and That’ which immediately filled the floor and it remained so throughout his performance. Continuing with Josh Turner’s ‘Would You Go With Me‘, and ‘Why Don’t We Just Dance’, Toby Keith’s ‘A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action’, ‘Life’s a Dance’, ‘Smokey Places’, Bellamy Brother’s ‘Vertical Expression’ and Ann Taylor’s ‘Home To Louisiana’ were only a few of what he delivered. It was good to see a full venue and to be entertained by a soloist of such good calibre. Paul Taylor is Lorraine and Brian’s next guest at Broughton Wings on Friday 9^th April. For details of that and Lorraine’s classes call 01244522356 or 01244534323.

It is my pleasure to announce that my wife Meryl has joined the committee of Tombstone CMC. She has joined Geoff and Karen Marley and Barbara Baker and myself in the running of our successful Country Music Club on the Wirral, Cheshire. Meryl, already a member of the Festival Committee, she shares Terry‘s 24x7 passion for the Club and it’s aims and is very enthusiastic about her new roll. TJA

We had to drive another mile down the ‘old coast road’ to the Albion Hotel, Connah’s Quay Flintshire to visit Alf & Josie Roberts ‘Deeside CMC‘. The new venue had to be sort when improvement work started at the Civic Hall. The Hotel sadly had a significantly smaller car park than the civic and parking was a problem. The ball room again too was a lot smaller than what we where used to and the dance floor area wasn’t adequate for the number of line and partner dancers you normally see at the Civic. Never the less, I think Alf and Josie had done really well to find an alternative venue and endeavour to keep their supporters happy. Alf did assure everyone that to his knowledge he would be back at the civic come August time. Billing the Saturday night was Bobby D Sawyer and Double Barrel. But first on stage was Double Barrel, now these guys sing my kind of music. Tony Martyn (lead singer) has a rich country sound to his voice and he sings well within his vocal reach. Kev Hall (rythem guitar and harmony vocals) complemented this duo that produced a first class country sound. Starting their first set with ‘Bakersfield’ a hit by Dwight Yoakum then followed ‘Livin on love’ ‘Today I started loving you again‘, ‘Good Hearted Woman’ and Don Williams ‘You’re My Friend’ the songs came one after another with the minimum of chat between something I appreciated. The dancers although some not appreciative of good country music did keep the floor busy. After a short spell from resident DJ Tony Stanton it was time for Bobby D Sawyer to take the stage. This popular solo artist drew the dancers on the floor with ‘Cabo San lucas‘, ‘My Veronica’, ‘Angel of no Mercy’ and pleasantly introduced some new material ‘I Told You So’ and ‘I loved You First’ that I hadn’t heard him sing before. Following the raffle, Ken and May who were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary were called onto the floor were they where presented with a bottle of Champaign by Alf with complements of the Albion management. During Double Barrel’s second set of the night the dancers got the chance to dance to ‘April Fool‘, ‘God Bless Texas‘, ‘Walk The Line‘, ‘Just to See You Smile’ and ‘Who’s Cheating Who’ and ’Blue Blue Day’ Sadly it was time for us to depart, A great night for me, good music and good company. TJA

Tonight was to be the second appearance of Donna Wylde at our club but unfortunately I was informed at the last minute that Donna had been struck down with a nasty throat infection and that she had decided to cancel. We hope that she will recover very soon and will be on the road again entertaining her many fans. Standing in at the last minute was the fabulous duo Fools Gold. Kicking off with ‘Galway Girl’ and ‘How Long’ the floor remained busy for the whole of their first set which included ‘Billy be Bad’, ‘Favourite Boyfriend of The Year’, ‘Home to Louisiana’, ‘I Can Dream’ latterly recorded by Alan Gregory, and their own ‘Johnny & Marie’ from their CD ‘Some Old Some New‘. This track goes to the dance J&M Mambo choreographed by Gaye Teather which is already a hit with dancers. After the break for the raffle and announcements which is entertainment in it'sself, Paul and Debbie returned to the stage with ‘Seven Nights to Rock’, ‘Mexico’, ‘White Rose’, ‘Rolling with the Flow’ and the oldie ‘Copperhead Road’ and more favourites. Once the word was out that Fools Gold was appearing, the night was still a huge success drawing fans of the duo and our regular attenders. TJA

Friday 8^th January not only saw in the beginning of a new exciting year for our club but the long awaited appearance of Alan Gregory. Sadly though the very untimely intervention of bad weather it caused people to play it safe and to say at home, never the less some fans did make the effort from as far as Widnes and Liverpool to come and see their favourite artist. This was only the third time I had seen Alan and although he is known mostly for his ‘Frank Spencer’ interpretation I thought him as a darn good singer and extremely nice guy to talk to. Alan came all the way from Southampton to be with us as and although numbers where drastically down he still was able to create a great atmosphere. Alan did two sets that covered a wide range of old and new songs. ’Baby’s Gone Home’, ’Cabo San Lucas’, Don’t Tell Me Your Not In Love’, Let Your Mama Go’ and ‘Mexicali’ were some he delivered in his first set and for his second set he gave us ’No More Cloudy Days’, ’Would You Go With Me’, ‘What Do You See’, ’Home To Louisiana’ along with more favourites then finally he closed with two encores ’High Class Lady’ and ’Rolling With The Flow’. This was a great night regardless of the weather; we had a great artist and a small but well supportive audience. TJA

The cold evening did not deter the full house that turned up for our last social of the year, regulars and new visitors to our club braved the weather not only to see award winner Katie Rhodes but to “meet and greet” friends and to swap Christmas cards and seasonal greetings which was really nice to see. By eight thirty at the start of Katie’s first set, people where still arriving but soon settled down as she started with some of her numbers from her first album ‘Love Can Build A bridge‘, then followed ‘Down at The Twist and Shout’, ‘Who Do You Know in California’ and ‘Except on Monday’ by Lorrie Morgan and the popular Working Man by David Alexander, During the first half of the evening guest’s where treated to mince pies and cake before the free raffle in appreciation of their support through 2009.While Katie performed her second set a surprise visit on stage by Farther Christmas failed to interrupt her version of Wrong Night by Reba McEntire even sitting on Santa’s knee she remained very professional and kept on singing. Katie complemented her second set with numbers such as Unlove Me by Julie Roberts, ‘Guitars and Cadillacs’ by Dwight Yoakum and ‘He Gets That from Me’ by Danni Leigh . After two encores’ her final set came to an end. Next time we shall see Katie under the Tombstone flag will be at our 5^th Country Music Festival July 30^th to the 1^st August 2010. TJA