Open Mic, January 27, 2018

Country Music Night at the Arts Center

Host Robert Foster started the show with "Three Wooden Crosses," by Randy Travis. Next he played James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend." He finished with Paul Thorne's song about a mood ring entitled, "If It Turns."

Travis Leimer, who is studying to become an open mic host, performed "Broken Halos", by Chris Stapleton, "Woman, Amen", Dierks Bentley, and "Savior's Shadow," by Blake Shelton.

Thunderbyrd Newman celebrated his first anniversary of performing at our show by performing three of his original tunes that included, "One Heart," "China Doll," and "Partner in Crime."

Elliott from Petersburg borrowed Foster's guitar to perform "He's a Cowboy," by husband and wife duo Joey and Rory Feek. Joey passed away in 2016 from cancer. He followed that with a Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher folk song about the open range entitled, "Don't Fence Me In." The audience helped him sing the chorus. He finished his set with "I'm gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," a 1935 popular song by Fred E. Ahlert and Joe Young.

Guitarist Drew Tucker and singer Troy Durm, a newcomer to our stage, came up to perform "Do You Believe Me Now," a song written by Tim Johnson, Joe West and Dave Pahanish, and recorded by American country music singer Jimmy Wayne. Next they performed "You Don't Know About Lonely," by Verne "The Voice" Godsin. They finished with "Mom," by Garth Brooks.

Arts Center president and co-host Ron Hackett finished the regular round by playing several instrumental jazz standards on guitar. His selections included "How High the Moon," by Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis, "Autumn Leaves," by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma, and "All of Me," by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks.

There was time left for an encore round. "Our tradition is that newcomers get the first encore," said Hackett as he invited Tucker and Durm back to the stage. They performed "He Stopped Loving Her Today," written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman. George Jones reluctantly recorded the song and told his manager that, "no one would buy the morbid son of a bitch." They finished with "The Grand Tour" another tune that Jones made famous. This tune was written by Norro Wilson, Carmol Taylor, and George Richey.

Leimer's encore included "Real Men Love Jesus," a country music song written by Lance Miller, Adam Sanders, Brad Warren, and Brett Warren and made famous by Michael Ray. He followed that with a Zac Brown hit entitled, "Colder Weather." He finished his encore with "Hallelujah," a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen.

As the host, Foster closed the show with two more of his favorite cover songs. He started with "Whiskey and You," by Christ Stapleton and ended with "In Color," by Jamie Johnson.

This bi-monthly performing arts show, which is normally held on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month, is free and open to the public. This show was held on the fourth Saturday because of scheduling conflicts among the hosts.

Each act is allowed 15 minutes for their performance. Soloists who would like musical accompaniment for their performance, or anyone that would like to participate in an open jam session, please contact Ron and Taylor before the show. Questions about the show are also welcome. Their email address is openmic@flc-artscenter.com.

The Art Center is located at 303 Main Ave. South in Fayetteville. Doors open and sign-ups begin at 6:30PM on Saturday, and the show begins at 7:00. A limited number of advance sign-ups are available on our website. For more information, please visit the Art Center website:

http://www.flc-artscenter.com/openmic

Photo courtesy of Ron Hackett