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J's MONTHLY ROUND UP
HARRISON COUNTY 7th SEPT `08
Guest Review by Sue
Harrison County are made up of the former members of The John Douglas Band and are enjoying success in their new “format”.
They went down well with the listeners and the dancers - with tracks like Toby Keith's “Where You Gonna Go” and Deana Carter's “Strawberry Wine”.
The 2nd set began with Alan Jackson's “Laid Back And Low Key” and the audience were then clapping along to “Good Hearted Woman”. Roger Miller's hit “King Of The Road” was well covered and the set ended with a dancers' favourite - “Just To See You Smile”.
In the final set they gave us Hal Ketchum's “Past The Point Of Rescue” and “Closer” - again popular with the dancers - and the night ended with the Johnny Cash classic “Ring Of Fire”.
It was a shame there were not a few more people in Fred's to enjoy the music.
C'EST LA VIE 14th SEPT `08
Guest Review by Sue
C'est La Vie are another band who appeal to both the listeners and the dancers and the first set included tracks like “I Just Want To Dance With You” and the ever-popular “One Step Forward”.
The second set continued the high standard with Keith Urban's “Somebody Like You” and the fabulous Josh Turner track “Your Man”. They also included a tribute to Gary Perkins' drummer with a great version of “The Breeze”.
The final set included hits like “One Night At A Time” and “Gentle On My Mind”; the three sets seemed to be shorter than usual but there were some popular songs for the audience to enjoy.
COLE JACKSON 21st SEPT `08
Guest Review By Sue
Unfortunately Kalibre were unable to make their expected visit so their place was taken by Cole Jackson, a first-timer at Fred's. He sang lots of country favourites; the first set included hits by Billy Ray Cyrus - “Where Am I Going To Live When I Get Home” and Jimmy Buffet - “Margaritaville”.
The second set began with the sing-a-long “Okie From Muskogee” and also “Singing The Blues”, and popular tracks like “Lousiana Saturday Night” and “Living On Love”.
The third set included the classic Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues”, Joe Nichols' “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” and the great Don Williams track “Tulsa Time”.
It was a good nights entertainment from the artiste arranged at short notice and the well-deserved encore included “Louisiana Way” ensuring the dancers were on the floor till the end.
VEGAS 28th SEPT `08
It was nice to welcome guests from the “Best Of Friends” Club in Bromley, Kent to Fred's and it's a shame there was not a bigger audience to see Vegas - Rob and Andy - they have a great rapport with the audience and are very entertaining. They had just travelled down from Scotland and have recently been to Nashville; they are a very dance-friendly band as proved in the first set with tracks like The Eagles' “How Long” and Darryl Worley's “Take A Breather”.
The second set continued in the same way with great banter between the two of them and interaction with the audience. Tracks like “Rolling With The Flow” and “Somebody Like You” ensured the dancers were also well catered for and there was a great version of Josh Turner's “Your Man” - a very popular track. Merle Haggard's “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down” was also well covered.
Tracks from the third set included great covers of Tracy Byrd's “Cowboy And A Dancer “ and Billy Ray Cyrus' “Trail Of Tears”, and another Merle Haggard classic “Silver Wings” and Hank Williams' “Set The World On Fire” ensured the true country music fans were catered for, and the encore “Seven Nights To Rock” ensured the evening ended on a lively note.
Rob is still very much part of Vegas along with Andy, but is also pursuing a career in comedy - (he was due to appear at Nottingham Playhouse on 30th Sept) - when he is unable to cover Vegas dates, Andy is joined by Joe Mitchell and they are known as Vegas 50 /50. Rob and Andy also play with Nadine Somers for selected dates - for full details of all the various gigs, see the link - www.vegascountry.co.uk
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AUGUST `08
WRANGLER BAND 3rd AUGUST
It was good to see Wrangler at Fred's again as they are a full band and very popular with the audience. They played some well-known tracks throughout the three sets from traditional country stars like Merle Haggard - a favourite of the band - and Willie Nelson. Toby Keith tracks were also covered with “Where You Gonna Go?”, a dancers' favourite, and “As Good As I Ever Was”.
There was some excellent guitar work on Willie Nelson's “Seven Spanish Guitars” and there was a 2-song encore - unusual for Fred's ! - with the evening ending with “Streets Of Baltimore”. It is always a good night with Wrangler who obviously enjoy what they do and the audience appreciate their choice of classic country songs.
RYDER AND JAMES 10th AUGUST
Guest Review by Iris
Ryder and James sang a combination of “listening” and “dancing” songs from popular singers like Willie Nelson - “Beer For My Horses” - and Don Williams - “Louisiana Saturday Night”.
Hal Ketchum's “Past The Point Of Rescue” was also well covered as was “Grundy County Auction” and the ever-popular “Fields Of Athenry”. The final set had popular songs like “Bad Moon Rising”, “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and an audience sing-a-long was guaranteed with “Ghost Riders In The Sky” and the evening ended with the excellent George Strait track “The Cowboy Rides Away”.
A good night's entertainment from Ryder and James for an appreciative audience.
SPUR 17th AUGUST
There was a full house for “Spur” - a young duo from the south-west who have proved very popular at Fred's - with good reason. They did a great version of the popular Josh Turner track “Your Man” - a personal favourite, and some tracks by Alan Jackson, a favourite of the duo, including “Laid Back And Low Key”. They dedicated “Hey Food Looking” to Val - a regular member of the audience at Fred's - and this was typical of their excellent rapport with the audience. The last set included great tracks like “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down” and another Josh Turner hit, “Long Black Train”, with “The Bug” as the well-deserved encore.
Spur are a very talented young duo who will always be welcome at Fred's with their great sound and choice of excellent country tracks.
CLEAR CUT 24th AUGUST
Clear Cut are a father and son duo, Don and Darren, who we have seen at Fred's before and it is always a pleasure to have them here. They are line-dance friendly as proved by the first song covered - “Billy Be Bad”; later in the set they did a fine version of George Strait's “The Cowboy Rides Away” which included excellent accordion playing by Darren. They covered all areas of country music including tracks by Merle Haggard, Don Williams and newer bands like The Mavericks.
This duo complement each other perfectly and Darren is a very talented musician, having been a professional musician since the age of 16, playing keyboard and accordion with equal skill. No doubt we will be seeing them again at Fred's before too long.
BLUE HORIZON 31st AUGUST
It was good to see Blue Horizon back at Fred's and they did not disappoint with another brilliant night's entertainment. They had a guest guitarist tonight from American Routes and with Christine's great country voice on tracks like Skeeter Davis' “She Keeps Walking Back To You” and Reba McEntire's “Don't Touch Me There”, they were superb. They are also popular with the dancers with tracks like “Past The Point Of Rescue” and “Love Me A Little Bit Longer”.
Well-known tracks like “Today I Started Loving You Again” and Kitty Wells' “Honky Tonk Angels” were really well received. Their popularity was proved by that rare occurrence at Fred's - a second encore and the final track, Julie Rogers' “Unlove Me” was just brilliant.
The band have a great rapport with each other and with the audience, and are definitely a class act who we hope to see at Fred's many more times.
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JULY `08
CROSSFIRE 6th JULY
Unfortunately there was not such a big audience at Fred's for “Crossfire” - probably due in part to the exciting men's singles final at Wimbledon being on TV and also the holiday and festival season getting under way.
Again we had a line-dance friendly band and after beginning with The Eagles' “Peaceful Easy Feeling” the first set included tracks like “Closer”, “Sweet Sweet Smile” and “Come Dance With Me”.
The second set began with another great Eagles track - “How Long” and included favourites like “Roses Garden”, “Cowboy And A Dancer” and “Islands In The Stream”.
The final set continued with tracks good for both listening and dancing including “Holding Back The Ocean”, The Dixie Chicks' “Tonight The Heartache's On Me” and Mary Chapin Carpenter's “Twist And Shout”.
The encore ensured the dancers were on the floor to the end with “Suds In The Bucket” - all in all a good night's entertainment for both listeners and dancers.
NATALIE DIAMOND & TONY DALLAS 13th JULY
Again the audience seemed a little depleted tonight - most likely due to the local Americana festival, although the room did seem to fill up later.
The first set included a track from one of Natalie's favourite singers Tanya Tucker - “Hanging In, Hanging Out, Hanging On” and an excellent version of “29 Nights”.
The second set included “Why Have You Left The One You Left Me For”, some excellent guitar work from Tony on “Living On Tulsa Time”, and the popular “Your Cheating Heart”.
The final set continued the high standard with dancers' favourites like “You Need A Man Around Here”. It was good to hear The Judds' “Why Not Me”, a track not often heard at Fred's and the encore, Merle Haggard's “Truck Driving” ended the evening on a high note.
Natalie and Tony always put on a fabulous show - Tony must surely be one of the best guitarists on the scene, and he and Natalie are excellent together and have a great rapport with the audience; we are looking forward to their next visit !
BLUE ORCHIDS 20th JULY
“Blue Orchids” were “first-timers” at Fred's - a country duo of two ladies who gave us some good country tracks for both listeners and dancers like “Love Me A Little Bit Longer” and “Blue Roses”.
The second set included a medley including “Be Nobody's Darling”, “Send Me The Pillow You Dream On” and “Silver Threads” by The “Honky Tonk Angels” - Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, and the set ended with Trish Yearwood's “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart”.
The final set included Tanya Tucker's “Little Too Late” and the dancers' favourite “Suds In The Bucket” and the encore was a fine version of Dolly's “I Will Always LoveYou”.
A member of the audience commented that these ladies reminded them of The Judds which is certainly a compliment, and hopefully we will see them at Fred's again.
GOOD AND COUNTRY 27th JULY
Another first-time duo for Fred's, “Good And Country” - Dave and Brian - gave us 3 sets of well-known country classics like Waylon Jennings' “Good Hearted Woman” Johnny Cash's “Folsom Prison Blues” and dancers' favourites “Tempted” and “Trashy Women”.
They also covered tracks from “newer” country stars like Alan Jackson - “Here In The Real World” and George Strait - “All My Exes Live in Texas” and a fine version of John Denver's “Some Days are Diamonds” for the encore.
“Good and Country” have a fairly quiet stage presence and the evening was perhaps a little subdued in spite of the great tracks they played.
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THE BAND 8th June `08
There was a good-sized audience at Fred's for this 4-piece band - 2 members of which are actually from the USA, and the first set included good covers of The Eagles' “Lyin' Eyes” and “Taking It Easy” along with Joe Nichols' “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off”.
The second set included songs from Toby Keith - “As Good As I Ever Was”and Alan Jackson's “Margaritaville” and “Rock The Jukebox” and there was some fine harmonica playing on George Strait's “Amarillo By Morning”.
The final set began with Willie Nelson's “Big Hearted Woman” and the lead singer's very powerful voice was to the fore in “Midnight in Montgomery” . The popular “Folsom Prison Blues” was covered at high speed and there was another Eagles' favourite - “Peaceful Easy Feeling”.
It was good to see a full band at Fred's and hopefully we will see them at the club again.
COLLIER DIXON LINE 15th June `08
Guest review by Sue
The first set included some favourites like “Silver Wings” and Don Williams' “Love Me Tonight”, together with the 60s hit “Love You More Than I Can Say”.
The second set had great covers of Garth Brooks' “Riding The Rodeo” and Johnny Cash's “I Still Miss Someone” and also Billy Fury's “Halfway To Paradise” and Merle Haggard's “White Line Fever” - which proves the versatility of the band.
The final set started with “Dirty Little Town” and more 60s hits like “I Won't Stay In A World Without Love” and “All Shook Up” and the evening ended with the popular “Singing The Blues”.
SALOON DRIFTERS 22nd JUNE `08
Guest review by Sue
The first set included hits like “King Of The Road” , “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and the lesser-known “Seven Spanish Eyes”.
The second set continued with popular tracks like “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Don't Close Your Eyes” and the third set had well-known songs like “Honky Tonk Angels” , a fine trumpet instrumental and “Trashy Women” - popular with the dancers.
The evening ended on a high note with Julie Roberts' “Today I Started Loving You Again”.
MUDDY BOOTS 29th JUNE `08
There was quite a good sized audience for Muddy Boots who “looked the part” for their country audience and got off to a good start for the dancers with Rodney Atkins' “Going Through Hell”. This was followed by Hal Ketchum's “Tonight I Might Just Fall In Love Again” and more dancers' favourites - Lonestar's “Two Bottles Of Beer” and Tim McGraw's “My Old Friend” and the lovely country love song “Dreaming My Dreams Of You”.
Tracy Byrd's “Cowboy And A Dancer” was very well done and again a hit with the dancers who make up a large part of the audience at Fred's and more popular dance tracks followed in the second set with Sara Evans' “Suds In The Bucket”, Toby Keith's “Where You Gonna Go?” and The Desert Rose Band's “Ashes Of Love” was also well done. The set ended with Keith Urban's “Live To Love Another Day” and another of his hits “Somebody Like You” was covered in the final set along with popular tracks like Rodney Crowell's “Loving All Night” and George Strait's “Louisana Way”. The band also covered 2 great Eagles tracks from their latest CD - “How Long” and “Busy Being Fabulous” - a personal favourite.
The band had a good rapport with the audience and played a birthday request and the encore - Hal Ketchum's “Past The Point Of Rescue” included some excellent guitar work. Hopepfully we will see them again at Fred's as the audience really enjoy the live music.
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