Out and about in February 2003 By Sandra & Frank Gilbert

February 6th the Cleethorpes Country Music Club had it's weekly meeting at the Winter Gardens, with guest artist Jonny Williams and who better for Country music Jonny's three spots were made up of all country songs sung in his own style making the most of his great singing voice. A small selection which we picked out are "Streets of Bakersfield, Bobby McGee, 39 and holding, Guitars and Cadillac's, Don't all the girls get prettier at closing time" and Six day's on the Road, these plus many more made it a great night for Country Music.

Friday the 7th was the first meeting of 2003 for the Barnetby Country Music club now in it's fifth year and still in our opinion one of the best meetings in our area, they are held bimonthly in the village hall which is spacious clean and has a large dance floor, which attracts line dancers but this venue also has a large following of listeners who enjoy good country music and this night we had some of the best. Dale Green and Kenny Wood got the night started with Smokey Places and Land of Enchantment before singing a song Dale had wrote himself entitled "Devoted Women" which he dedicated to his wife Joyce. Their spot continues with approximately another dozen numbers including songs by Merle Haggard and Eddie Raven, Dale admits he likes songs by Eddie Raven an we were surprised when he didn't include "Island" he usually dose.
Next on after being introduced by compare Ken Muzzall was Tony Smith it's a long time since we had seen Tony, but if you are like us and enjoy true Country Music you would have enjoyed his two spot here this night, Tony sings a lot of the songs slower than they are often sung by other artists but this is Tony's style and he is really nice to listen to. A few we have selected to mention from his two spots are "The Cowboy rides away, Tempted, Neon Moon, Tomorrow Never Comes and Seven Spanish Angels"
The other guest artists who also did two really great spots which we are sure was enjoyed by everyone in the room was the Howard Hebron Band (it is great to see this band still together as so many we have seen disappear) it was the first time the band had been to Barnetby but we are sure they will be invited back, the dance floor was full right through their spots and the listeners were singing along to some good country numbers like "The Old Side of Town, The Cowboy song, Queen of Memphis, Down by the sea, The Fields of Athenrye and Louisiana Way" plus many more, before the night being brought to a close with a fifteen minute jam session with Dale, Ken, Tony, The Band and Ken all on stage the song which really went down well was "You are my best friend".
Audrey's Western Wear once again put on a splendid display at this event, we have been told dressing up in western dress for country music event is coming popular again, we do hope this proves to be right.

Thursday 13th the Cleethorpes Country Music club had the nearly local duo Spill the Beans we were surprised at the low number of people who turned out (the organizers must have made a serious loss this night) however Tony and Sue did three great spots with Tony proving what a great instrumentalist he is whilst playing the guitar, fiddle and mandolin. But unfortunately their act appears to have had little change over the past few years as the played numbers like "The Queen of Memphis, Waltz across Texas, Swamp Thing, Elvira, Smokey Places and Duelling Banjos" and in our opinion it could do with an injection of some new material especially at venues like this one which attracts line dancers.

One week later at the Cleethorpes Country Music Club saw the one of the best ever attended nights with nearly 200 people finding their way there to see a newly formed Darren Busby Band making its first public appearance, the band members are Darren Busby, Derek Firth, Doc Savage, Bob Steelman and Chris McBride. It was nice to see some other Country artists coming along to give there support like Nick & Anita (Country Contrast) Dale & Ken (Barnetby Country Music Club) and Dan Wesley also attending was John & Jan Abbott owners of this publication.
Around 8-30 Darren took to the stage and did a thirty minute solo spot which as always was first class. This was followed by Jan Abbott presenting him with the award for BEST BRITISH COUNTRY ALBUM, which she had received on his behalf at THE COUNTRY RADIO AWARDS CERMONY. After a few CD's to keep the line dancers happy it was time for Darren to bring the band on stage to produce a spot of nine numbers which were really great and a lot better than we expected. After a short break the band was back on to do their second and final spot of the night, this proved to be even better than the first. Our verdict absolutely brilliant. If you didn't make it to the Winter Gardens watch out for them in your area, we are sure Mr Busby has backed yet another winner and the band will soon have bookings all over the country.

Seeing the month out at the C.C.M.C. on the 27th was our very good friend STEVE CHASE and yes he was as usual fired up and made it an absolute brilliant night.( In our opinion this guy is very much under rated especially in this area) we enjoyed some really good numbers including "Working Man, California Blue, Living on Love, There Goes, The River and Love Me For Ever" The night run well overtime with Steve responding to shouts of more.

Many of you will know GWEN TAYLOR has had a heart attack and was in hospital on the 20th and missed the show that for weeks she had been looking forward to. However we can report as we write this Gwen has been allowed home to wait for test results and we are sure you will all Join with us and send Best Wishes for a full recovery.