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June 4^th - Dave Whitmore.         It was nice to see Dave back at the club again.  He was introduced by young Paul as regular compare “oi “ was excused duties, so we could all celebrate his 60^th birthday with him this evening.  We had a full first set, with favorites like “Reckless (The quack, quack song), Tempted and Speak to the sky”. Dave finished his first set with a self- penned song “Who the hell you calling darling?”  Dedicated to his lovely wife, personal assistant and roadie Lorraine.  We had a mighty fine American supper and a piece of Birthday cake which had been made by Christine.  Dave’s second set contained some more up tempo songs for the dancers like “Billy be bad, Kill the spiders” and for the smoochers “While she lies sleeping”.  Dave closed the evening with a fantastic version of the American trilogy.  Just him, his guitar and not a backing tape in sight, which went down well with all present.

June 11^th - Double barrel.        These are two charming guys from Derbyshire, Who have worked together for six years Kevin Hall on guitar and Tony martin on vocals and percussion (tambourine!)  They got straight down to business with Alan Jackson’s “living on love” and Dwight Yoakum’s “Bakersfield” with “Silver wings, Just to see you smile and  Li`l Liza –Jane.” They finished off their first set with Jim Reeves “Darling, I won’t forget you.”  It was nice to see raffle King “Lucky Wayne” on form again! Kev and Tony gave us a brilliant second half with the Everly Brothers “Let it be me”, sung in perfect harmony for Phil and his lovely wife to be, Maureen.  All too soon the evening’s entertainment had come to a close and they finished with a beautiful version of “Sing me back home” with the club doing backing vocals. Thanks for a great night guys.

June 18^th - Chris James.          Chris was a last minute replacement for Shameless who, had van trouble and could not get to the club for this evening.  Being a local lad, Chris is well known at this club as both a visitor and performer and can always be relied on to put on a great show.   This artist has a wonderful singing voice and likes to include a few of his own well written songs in his sets.  This made for a full evening of modern and traditional songs from the brilliant guitar playing of “Ghost riders in the sky” and “Ride the river” to the more up tempo   “Not counting you and Rock yourself to sleep”.  Thanks for saving the night Chris we all look forward to your next visit.

June 25^th - The dog-house boys.       These have got to be the oldest boys I have ever seen, but great fun and fantastic performers.  Their lovely assistant Trish introduced them to me as Doug Hayride on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Hank Pussy on bass guitar and double bass, Rusty Tinn on lead guitar and Randy Phantom on drums and vocals.  The boys all hale from Wiltshire and claim to have been playing with each other for the last four years.  The boys gave us all the good ole dancing and listening tunes that we enjoy like “Hey! good looking, Gypsy woman and Waltz across Texas”.  For their second set, Hank swapped to his double bass for “Fulsom prison blues, Tiger by the tail” and an up tempo “Nashville”.   Once again a great evening’s entertainment seemed to end too soon and the band played their own version of “The American trilogy” with no backing tape.  They finished up with a rousing “Truck driving man”. Great night boys!  

July 2^nd – The Steve James Band.       This northern trio is made up of Steve James-lead singer and guitarist, his nephew Nick James-guitar; both are from Glasgow and Davey Adams-pedal steel guitar from Newcastle.  A black and red dress theme was requested from Coral for this evening, which got off to flying start with “You are the world” followed by “Beer for my horses” and “5oclock somewhere”.  With fast and slow favorites like “Some beach, I love this bar and Three wooden crosses” the dance floor was well filled all evening.  A fine buffet was laid on to celebrate Coral’s birthday.  The bands second set included some lovely ballads like “I told you so, Till the next teardrop falls” and Toby Keith’s “Where you gonna go?” The evening was brought to a close with the band’s special mix of “The Grundy county auction and Donald where’s your trousers?” which fitted well with the Grundy gallop although, the dancers were worn out as this was an extended version and kept getting faster.  Thanks for a great evening guys and hope to catch you at the Lazy R’s club.

July 9^th – Selwyn.      This lovely old gent sings and plays fiddle and guitar replaced the advertised Chuck Micallif Trio at short notice.  Although I was away at Ross-on-Wye festival, I am told that Selwyn provided an entertaining show, with all present enjoying his wonderful fiddle playing.  He gave a good mix of traditional and modern tunes which both dancers and listeners were happy with.  Well done Selwyn!

July 16^th – The new Smokey Mountain Boys.     Another trio of great musicians.  These guys have been together for two years and have a good rapport on stage and took the time to dress up and look smart which is always appreciated at this club.  They are Hank Taylor-lead singer and rhythm guitar, Mike Abbott-electric upright bass (looks like a plank of wood on a stick) both from Nottingham and Steve Harropp on Pedal steel guitar, mandolin, banjo, lead guitar, dobro and Hawaiian guitar (phew!) from Oxford, who was celebrating his 60^th birthday along with our Native American Paul, Joy, back from her first aid station at Ross festival and Pete (digger) Coombes.  All these birthdays and a club full of people in a party mood made for a fantastic evening.  The band played two full sets, with a wonderful selection of Blue grass, Cajun and traditional songs.  We were treated to lots of tunes that I have not heard in a while like “A pub with no beer, Back in the saddle” and “Mind your own business” with Hank Williams “Wedding bells” and Hank Snow’s “Losing sleep over you”.  We managed to work off some of the huge buffet with a fast and furious Virginia reel to start the second set.  The high point of the evening was a song that Hank Taylor had written called “A cowboys dream”, in which he names every singer in the country music hall of fame plus the songs that made them famous.

July 23^rd – Dean Austin.          It is always a great pleasure to welcome old friends like Dean Austin guitarist and singer to the club.  Dean is a good old fashioned entertainer, who keeps the chat to a minimum and introduces his songs before singing them.  This makes things a lot easier for me, as I can now tell you that his first set included  Charlie Landsborough’s “No time at all” and Crystal Gayle’s “Here I go (down that wrong road again)”.  “You only live once” is a beautiful song written for Dean by his good friend Frank Eifield and is included in his new album which, according to his lovely lady Carol is the last one he will be making.  He ended his first set with Don Williams “you’re my best friend”.  Our one and only Ruth was celebrating her 80^th birthday and it was nice to see four generations of her friend Eric’s family here to join her.  For his second set Dean got straight on with “If love was a river” and Merle Haggard’s “Working man blues and Ringling, Ringling Oklahoma” He bounced around the stage (like a man half of his age) for “Deep in the heart of Texas” and Garth Brookes “Calling Baton Rouge” before closing with “The American trilogy”.

July 30^th – Struck It  Rich.       An award winning family group from Kent.  This band consists of Sandie-lead vocals, keyboard and guitar, Bev-bass guitar, John-harmonies, mandolin and percussion and Ed-harmonies, pedal steel guitar, dobro and banjo.  This band has a good few years of country music experience behind them, and it shows.  They have kept up with the ever-changing tastes of fans, without losing their original unique sound and provided us with two sets of varied styles and tempos of country music.  From Keith Urban’s “To love somebody like you”, Nancy Hays” Come dance with me” and Carlene Carter’s “Nowhere train” to Sarah Evans “Suds in the bucket” and the popular “A man of constant sorrow” from the film “Oh brother, where art thou?” the band gave non-stop Cajun, Bluegrass, western swing, traditional and modern music.  We still happily receive visitors to the club from Exeter, Cornwall and Bristol, while “The Bandolero Munchers” and “The Crickhowell Mafia” have become regulars.  I think there are now as many dancers as there are listeners, which is a nice mix for the club as bands like this ensure that whatever you taste or style of music there will be plenty to enjoy from their great repertoire of country music. Keep it Country Angie   

August at the El Paso c.m.c Cwmbran

August 6^th- Dave Sheriff.       It was so nice to welcome back Dave Sheriff, who is one of the several artists we have had at this club who have sung at the Grand Ole Opry.  Dave always gives a packed and varied evening of entertainment.  Whether it be his very own “Red hot salsa”, which gets everyone on the dance floor, or his extremely moving duet with Porter Wagoner “I just couldn’t find the words to say good-bye”.  The evening flew by, as he kept the dance floor full with favorites like “Juke joint jumpin’, Voices of the Highlands and Walk right back (whenever you need me)”.   There were plenty of sing-a longs to keep our Tenors happy and although his skills run to many more instruments we were quite happy for him to play saxophone, keyboard and mouth organ.(come on! You can’t expect the poor man to carry his whole orchestra, or play every instrument he is able to; it would take at least a week!    Dave brought the evening to a close with “The American Trilogy”. Thanks Dave and I look forward to seeing you at Stourport-on-Severn.

August 13^th – Double Whiskey.          Bob Schwarz is the lead singer and plays guitar and Ron Pitt plays keyboard and electric guitar.  These two nice friendly guys from East Anglia have been playing as a duo for 15 years.  They gave us plenty for the dancers, such as “Mercury blues, Birmingham turnaround, A thousand miles from nowhere and Fulsom prison blues” with some Cajun tunes like “Chatta Hochie and Think of me (when you’re lonely)”.   Their superior renditions of some lovely ballads “The last waltz” by Rodney Krowel, George Jones’s “Walk through this world” and “When you say nothing at all” kept the listeners and romantics among us happy.  All-in-all a well rounded evening of good country music with a raffle in the middle and a Trilogy at the end, what more could you ask? Tidy!

August 20^th – Michigan duo.              This is a husband and wife team of Andy, who sings and plays acoustic guitar and Di, who sings and plays bass guitar.  A new band to us, but greatly enjoyed by all present.  Both were well turned out and dressed in traditional western gear, which they changed for the second set.  This, as the fist set was full of some brilliant songs like “Oke from Muskogee, Friends in low places, and Member of the country club and Seminole Wind”.  We had some lovely partner dances and Di suggested line dances to go with their traditional songs.  They have a lovely harmony to their voices, which was at its best in ballads like “The dance” and their rendition of “The thunder rolls” was so good that people just sat and listened.  Alan and Sandra from Phoenix C.W.C were here collecting for “Help the heroes”.  Well done to both, who are nearing the end of their mammoth fund raising effort and they have managed to raise a substantial amount!  Our very own dance tutor Linda is celebrating her birthday next week and congratulations to Michigan duo, who will be celebrating their 23^rd wedding anniversary this week-end.

August 27^th – The Lee Blackstone duo.         This duo came all the way from Scotland to be with us this evening.  They are, Lee Blackstone – lead vocals and guitar and John Anderson - vocal harmonies and electric guitar.  Although we have seen Lee before, it is the first time we have seen this present duo.  I thought that Lee and John’s voices really complimented each other and their overall sound was excellent, they went though lots of well known favorites such as “Good hearted woman, A thousand miles from nowhere, Seminole wind and Billy be bad”.  Sadly numbers were down this evening as some had gone to the Four Aces camp-out.  But, there were quite a few line and partner dancers in attendance.  The guys provided us with some stunning harmonies on the ballads “The gypsy in me” by Ray Scott, “Some day are diamonds” and “The ¾ time waltz”.  Dance tutor (Luscious) Linda celebrated her birthday with an American supper and lucky Wayne (The raffle king) was, once again on top form.  We were introduced to Lee’s new bride of four weeks, Marie, lovely Scottish lass, who joined in with some of the dances and (while Lee sang “The American trilogy”) stood with us in salute.  Thanks, also to Dan (The judge) Daly for making the life sized cowboy silhouette that now leans against the bar like a true westerner.

SEPTEMBER AT EL-PASO C.M.C CWMBRAN.

September 4^th-Grandpa T Smith.        Tony Smith sings and plays guitar.  He is a lovely, sweet guy from Yorkshire with a charming smile.  He is always well turned out and seems to really enjoy being on stage, where he gives a high standard of entertainment.  Numbers were down a bit for his show, although some might have opted to see him at the Phoenix club where he is performing tomorrow evening.  Tony started off the evening with “I ride a horse, you are no angel, All because of you” Waylon Jennings “Good hearted woman” and a new one to me “Living on re-fried beans” all of which got the dancers on the floor.  He included some good sing a longs like “The chair, Crazy, Singing the blues” and Jim Reeves “Just walk on by”.  After a quick raffle and sponsoring young carrot cruncher Ian to run a marathon, we settled down for Tony’s second set.  The dance floor was once again full for Merle Haggard’s “Tonight the bottle let me down”, Alan Jackson’s “living on love” and Garth Brooks “Much too young(to feel this damn old)”.  Tony brought the evening to a close with “Neon moon and an up tempo “Lonesome me”.  He sang “The American trilogy” for the salute – Many thanks for that Tony, we always appreciate it.

September 10^th –The Thrillbillies.       You can rely on Ed Cox-lead vocals and guitar and Dave Anderson-vocals, guitar and pedal steel guitar to make sure an evening of country and western music progresses into a full-on cabaret show.  The very popular pair started their first set with some great dance songs like “I just want to dance with you; I want to love somebody like you” and “A cowboy and a dancer”.  There were lots of beautiful, well sung ballads from Ed (who has a wonderful, soulful singing voice although, he wanders around so much you never know where he going to pop up next) like Kenny Rogers “She believes in me”, Keith Urban’s “Tonight I just want to cry” “Find my way home” and “Old soldiers(die hard)” .  Not to be outdone, Dave made sure his alter ego “Elvis” made an appearance and got a good laugh from the audience.  We celebrated (El burro) Brian’s birthday with a fine buffet and had an extra raffle for DEMELZA (a children’s hospice) and GET KIDS GOING (getting disabled kids into sport).  Thanks to the kind generosity of all present, £70 was raised.  The second set got underway with more favorites like “Lil’ Liza” and “Take these chains from my heart”.  The atmosphere in the club, which was full, was brilliant all evening and all were in party mood, thanks to the antics of both guys.  By popular request Ed closed the evening with his amazing “Delilah” with sound effects by Dave, it was hilarious and drew enormous applause.

On a sad note.  We marked the passing of Roy Booth, a popular gentleman, a good friend and long standing member of the club with a heartfelt minute of silence and a tribute to absent friends.  Our thoughts are with Christine, Paul and their family at this sad time.  Roy will be greatly missed by us all.

September 17^th-Carolann B.    Carolann is from Rotherham in south Lancashire and can remember loving country music from the age of 3.  She is a very accomplished artist who has at least 17 years experience in the business.  She sings and plays guitar, banjo and mandolin.  A high point in her career was 2007 when she opened for George Hamilton 4^th.  Having seen Carolann before, I knew we were in for a fabulous evening in her company.  There was a full house again this evening with quite a few visitors from other clubs and localities, all of which are very welcome.  Carolann quickly got the partner and line dancers on the floor with “Seminole wind, Some beach, Carbo saint Lucas and Waltz across Texas”.  She told us of a friend who, on realizing the song was about The Alamo, wrote a third verse of “Seven Spanish angels” which she then sang to a quiet and reflective audience.  There was a Mexican dress theme this evening and (Geordie) Joe, Maureen, Sean and (Mrs. Judge) Maureen were celebrating their birthdays with a huge buffet.  Carolann produced her six stringed banjo for her second set and played a medley of popular blue grass songs.  We joined her in a sing along to Jim Reeves “He’ll have to go” and Jimmy Buffitt’s “Margarita Ville”.  Carolann’s husband ensured that her sound was perfect all evening and she ended with “The American trilogy”, which she sang and signed- absolutely amazing and very much appreciated.

September 24^th- Dave Paisley.            Dave Paisley plays the electric guitar and sings and although his last appearance at this club was almost two years ago, we have fond memories of him.  Dave is an Essex boy and proud of it!  But it makes a nice change to leave the concrete jungle behind and visit our green and pleasant land, once in a while.  With a minimum of chat, except to announce the tunes Dave gave us some good songs, such as “Oh, Carmen, Blue Rose is and Beer for my horses”, which got the dancers off to a good start.  Dave has a nice mellow country voice that really comes across when he sings ballads like the moving “Dear John” and Ricky Scaggs “Today I burned your old love letters”.  His second set included a rousing “Voices of the highlands” with Brad Paisley’s (no relation) “Wrapped around your finger, T.R.O.U.B.L.E, C’est la ve and a new one to me Well I never”.  Dave brought the evening to a close with his own rendition of “the American trilogy” with an extra shot being fired in honor of our recently departed friend Roy.    

November 5^{th –} Kay D (solo singer and guitarist).          How pleasantly surprised I was to see such a talented young lady on the stage.  We have been eagerly awaiting Kay’s visit as she has been getting such good write ups in many of the magazines.  Luscious Linda and some of our dancers were away at Jaegers festival so our efforts were a bit limited, although we managed well as Kay did a good few recognizable line dance songs such as “Mr. Man in the moon, Two more bottles of wine and The Dixie chicks Let it rip”.   Kay gave a dynamic performance, with skilled guitar playing and a good powerful voice, she was spot on with her sound quality.  Chris James (a very popular and talented local artist) and his lovely lady Dawn popped in to hear Kay perform and to celebrate Dawns birthday with us.  Kay closed by singing a couple of Patsy Cline hits “Walking after midnight and Then you’ll know”.  Our gun slingers would like to apologize to Kay for causing an asthma attack after the end of evening salute and hope she has recovered from the gun smoke as we would very much like to see her again in the future.  All at El Paso wish Kay and her fiancé the very best for their marriage next year.

November 12^th – No Regrets.              No regrets are Vic Oakley on rhythm guitar and harmonies and Bob Sherman on lead guitar and vocals.  Two friendly guys from Scotland although, Bob now lives in surrey, who manage to provide some different and new material each time we see them.  This varied evening was greatly enjoyed by both westerners and line dancers, with the band playing great covers from Brooks and Dunn’s I’m building bridges and Whisky under the bridge, Vince Gill’s One last chance and Steve Earl’s Galway girl to The nitty gritty dirt band’s Fishing in the dark and Blue ridge mountain girl, Toby Keith’s Where you gonna go and the traveling Willburys End of the line. There really was something for everyone, including their own rendition of the American trilogy.

November 19^th – Gary Leonard.                       Gary, who sings and plays guitar has been away for a while, so it is good to see him back and on such good form.  A lady called June from the Blue rose’s line-dance club came all the way from Exeter to see him, and he sure was worth it!   The dance floor was full for favorites like Zack Brown’s Toes and Chasing that neon rainbow and Two of a kind by Garth Brooks.  Gary’s friends and fellow artists Sapphire came to see his show tonight. As they are appearing in the area tomorrow evening.  Gary started the second set off with a lovely ballad “Every light in the house” with Brooks and Dunn’s Put a girl in it and George Strait’s Honk if you honky-tonk.  A big thank-you goes out to club fund raisers Eric (who has a birthday next week) and Ruth for the proceeds of their raffle and to Christine who donated the proceeds of her tasty rolls sales over the last year to club funds.  Well done, on a great job!

November 26^th – Little Rock.                           This popular band of Steve Place on lead guitar  and vocals, Derek Fuller  on lead vocals and bass guitar and Joe Buick on drums and vocals all come from places “up-north” so it took them a mammoth 7 hour journey to get here this evening.  With our friends from Exeter, Bristol and Crickhowell becoming regulars, Luscious Linda’s formation dance team and Tim and Alison from Lazy”R”s, tables that were empty due to seasonal illnesses were soon filled.  After some dance tuition from Linda we settled down for a packed first set including “Dangerous curves, Roy Orbison’s California blue and The Eagles How long and Take it easy  we were treated to some spectacular guitar playing from Steve on numbers like “Tougher than the rest, Seminole wind and the lovely ballad from Rodney Krowel Please remember me.  The dress code this evening for Eric’s birthday was green and black so his friend Ruth could wear her new dress and we all enjoyed his cake and buffet.  The band were asked to turn their sound down for their second set as a few complained that they were too loud – Ironic really, that these are mostly the same people who talk all through the performance so the band has to match their volume.  The band played a lovely Waltz “Honey I wronged you again” by Toby Keith and “Seven Spanish angels” with a beautiful extra verse written by a friend of Carolann B from Sheffield then brought the evening to a close with “The American trilogy” where, a new flag was paraded for all our heroes fighting in Afghanistan.  Can I take this opportunity to thank Bernard who, week after week manages to book some great bands for our entertainment we really appreciate the hard work that you do Bernie- TIDY!!!

“Keep it country”

Angie