For photos, click on the link below.

It was a well-scripted and well-choregraphed concert that Martina McBride brought with her to the Choctaw Event Center in Durant, Okla. Friday night (Sept. 26, 2014), and it seemed to have pleased the approximate 4,500 people who came to see this Nashville iconic songbird.

The band came out for the first song — four horns, keyboards, drums, bass, lead guitar — and three highly-talented back-up singers. Swathed in overhead lights, also choreographed with incredible precision, the band sang, danced, and played through that, started up the next, and that’s when McBride joined them on stage. She never stopped, never stopped singing and entertaining from that point on — endless talent. McBride presented her numerous hits and blended in some new songs not yet released.

Thanks to Choctaw Casinos for bringing this talent to the area. Upcoming events there include Larry the Cable Guy (Oct. 17); Lionel Richie (Nov. 7); a 4-pack in a weekend with Mel Tillis & Moe Bandy (Nov.14) and Don Williams & Gene Watson (Nov. 15); and Aaron Lewis on Dec. 6. There’s more, and the new Website (click here) is easy to navigate and see them all.

For more photos, click here  —  (Just a hint, but you might want to open each photo up for the full effect.)

Aaron Tippin brought his unique and always great show to Choctaw Casino’s Event Center in Grant, Okla. Sept. 13, 2014,  and played to a packed house full of appreciative fans. The self-declared Fred Sanford clone, he kept the crowd laughing with the stories he told and the expressions and swish used in the telling. And the musicians behind him were just as amazing, sharing antics with him and with each other as they banged out tunes on bass, keyboard, steel, fiddle, electric guitar, and drums. For the last song, his two-song encore, Tippin also played guitar.

Always a favorite with Tippin’s audience is when he assembles a child’s bicycle as he sings, and gets it completed during the one song. Then, the bike is presented to the U.S. Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots campaign. In this instance, two marines were brought to stage front and given the bicycle, but not before the crowd stood in applause for them and the military in general. “See,” Tippin smiled as the audience continued clapping for the marines, “This is what your country thinks of you!” Tippin added that, to the best of the band’s knowledge, they have given more than 2, 000 bicycles to Toys for Tots campaigns across the U.S.

Most, not all, of Tippin’s songs were inspired, he said, by his father, and listening to the words brought that to full awareness. Give a listen to “He Believed,” for example, the song which Tippin said is his ever-favorite.

For photos, click here

For many photos, click on the link at the end of this short story.

Let’s hope it’s not the end of an era, just the end of a summer season. The 6-week Texas Talk Live music series at Gilley’s/Durant (Choctaw Casino) ended Sunday on a high note, with Josh Grider and Brian Keane exchanging stories and songs with the record Sunday crowd, the giving away of an inflatable kayak, and dancers enjoying the freedom of a less-than-packed dance floor.

Josh and Brian, both songwriters whose hits have graced Texas charts for a couple of years, brought something else with them, too, besides their music — they brought their own good natures, which were contagious.

K95.5’s radio personality Barry Diamond interviewed the duo between songs, and the questions he posed came, in large part, from fans at the show and from others listening in on the radio.

They talked, in sequence, about the first, second, and third CDs each has produced, and fans learned that, for these two, it does seem to mature with experience and with top professional support teams. They talked about balancing home life with highway life. When asked who they haven’t co-written with, yet, and yet who they would like to co-write with, neither hesitated when he named the other. In spite of living near one another in the Austin area, the closest they have come to co-writing — or for that matter, performing together before Sunday — is to have Sunday lunches with their families.

The songs… mostly from their CDs, some from pre-recording days, some humorous (One Night Taco Stand and She Likes The Beatles… which also, in its ‘third act,’ turns into a love song), and others more sensitive.

A shout out to Choctaw’s Jim Barnes, who managed to deliver crystal clear, perfectly-balanced sound, which carried well beyond the Gilley’s walls into the casino’s slot-machine area.

Coors Light has sponsored this series, which started with Zane Williams, and then also included, over the next Sundays, Erica Perry, Phil Hamilton, Curtis Grimes, Rich O’Toole, Jamie Richards and Matt Hillyer. And Will Payne and Barry Diamond have been there every week with the interview honors.

And the kayak — Payne held the Coors Light-donated kayak drawing after the show went off the air, and the winner was actually a double winner, in that he was the only person to have attended all six Sunday concerts.

For photos, click here.

Curtis Grimes, Will Payne, and fans

For more photos, click on the links provided.

Two weeks worth of photos here, from the past two Sundays (Aug. 3 and Aug. 10) at Choctaw Casino/Gilley’s. This summer series is being sponsored by K95.5 radio station and Coors Light beer.

These three artists, Curtis Grimes, Matt Hillyer, and Jamie Richards, joined those before them in saying they enjoy this solo-type of show, with interviews, because it gives them a chance to try out new songs and get a little more relaxed with their crowds. K95.5 morning personalities Barry Diamond and Will Payne have been taking turns as M.C. for the series, bringing their own humor and

Matt Hillyer and Jamie Richards

questions to those asked by listeners. Those at the shows, who submit questions, get a free event T-shirt.

This next week, Aug. 17, will have Josh Grider and Brian Keane on the Gilley’s stage in Durant. 3-5 p.m., no cover charge, and streamed over 95.5 radio station. (Payne Radio Group)

For Curtis Grimes photos, click here

For Matt Hillyer and Jamie Richards pix, click here

Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer — for many photos, click on link at bottom of this short feature.

There’s just something universal about classic country music that brings people together; that makes toes tap; and somehow puts smiles on faces and howdys in hearts. And thanks to Choctaw Casino in Grant, Okla., a bunch of good folk left the Event Center in just such condition.

It was Mel Tillis that graced the stage Friday, Aug. 1, one week before his 82^nd birthday. And about the past 55 years of that, he’s been a music mainstay, both with his own performances and recordings, but also because of the songs he’s written for others as well.

Tillis’ first hit was “I’m Tired,” which Webb Pierce took to the top of the music charts in 1957. That was just the start. Since then, Ray Price, Brenda Lee, Kenny Rogers (Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town), Charlie Pride, Waylon Jennings, and boocoos more.

But his own recordings also are classics — “Lying Time Again,” “I Got The Hoss,” “Ain’t No California,” — egads, just dozens more.

And all that time, country music continued to change. Some changed the original “classic” country moniker to “true” country, and now, for lack of better term, “mainstream” country. And it’s the “classic” country version that continues to be the bar that sets the standards for musicians to keep returning to.

Mel Tillis never left it.

Mel “Sonny Boy” Jr.

Well, enough of that WikiPedia-type info, that stuff is all over the Internet. What is important is just how great a show Mel Tillis still delivers. In spite of having quadruple by-pass surgery some short weeks before. Only once did the band tease him about his years, and he went along with that as one of the fiddlers helped him get off his knees. He teased himself about the stuttering. And his son, Mel Jr., aka “Sonny Boy,” teased about his dad’s stuttering. All in good fun.

Tillis has worn the same style western blazer on stage for years, witness older pictures on those WikiPedia-Web sites. And he smiled when he said he hoped it was all right with everyone that his band, The Statesiders, dressed up a little bit, too. They looked professional, all in black. Two keybard players, two drums, bass, guitars, two fiddlers… hhmmm, someone is missing here.

One of the first songs he sang and the band played was his song made famous by Billy Grammer, then, Bobby Bare, then Tom Jones — “Detroit City” or “I Wanna Go Home,” which Tillis wrote with Danny Dill.

Several fiddle breaks, and Tillis, which seems to have no “I’m-the-star” ego, gladly turned it over to the fiddlers for “Orange Blossom Special,” the song written a century ago and still a mainstay. Now, that’s classic country. Hoot Hester was just sitting in for one the two regular fiddlers in the band, but to the listening ear, the duo was 100 percent perfect, not missing a beat, a lead, or a backup.

Another highlight was when Mr. Mel Tillis brought out his son, Mr. Mel Tillis Jr., aka “Sonny Boy,” as Mel explained. Sonny Boy is also a songwriter, and opened his few-song set with one he wrote for the late Chris LeDoux, “The Ride.” Later in the show, Sonny Boy came back out and sang a duo with Dad Mel, an inspirational song called “The Father’s Son,” which fiddler Hester had written.

And as Tillis sang, he also gave away numerous CDs, guitar picks, and other merchandise. When it was over, fans lined all the way around the back of the room, waiting patiently for a chance to grab some merchandise/souvenirs, and for a few moments with the man himself.

Mel took time to hug, pose for photos, listen to stories, and just enjoy each and every fan. Even the young, about 2-year-old boy who was in one of those family/Tillis pictures, seemed to enjoy his moment with the man — after all, he’d been dancing along to the music not 30 minutes earlier.

For many photos, click here.