IN THE SPOTLIGHT – TONY BOOTH Tony Booth initially planned to be a school teacher. He was majoring in education at the University of New Mexico when a friend invited him to join a band. Realizing music was his calling, he dropped out of school. “I started playing when I was 18 or 19 years […]
Today we remember Faron Young and Marty Robbins on the anniversaries of their deaths. Marty died December 8, 1982, at age 57. Faron died December 10, 1996, at age 64. Both gone too soon. Both never forgotten. IN THE SPOTLIGHT – NORMA JEAN About the time I started watching The Porter Wagoner Show in the […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JUSTIN TREVINO Justin Trevino doesn’t remember his first public performance. He was three years old, sitting in a grocery cart while his mother did her shopping, when he belted out, “First time I shot her, I shot her in the side, hard to watch her suffer, but with the second shot […]
CONCERT REVIEW – MO PITNEY Coteau Entertainment commemorated Veterans Day and the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I with a Mo Pitney concert at the Sisseton Performing Arts Center. The event began with a color guard and Wade Johnson singing the Pledge of Allegiance. The 45-minute opening set by Just Between Friends […]
NEWS Freddie Hart (1926-2018) Freddie Hart, 91, died October 27 in Burbank, California. Frederick Segrest, born in 1926 in Alabama, learned to play the guitar at age five. He quit school when he was 12 and lied his way into the Marine Corps at 15, where he served during World War II. After the war, […]
CONCERT REVIEW – LORRIE MORGAN All seats in the Sisseton Performing Arts Center were filled this past Sunday evening for the Lorrie Morgan concert. A row of folding chairs handled the overflow. The nine-member Just Between Friends band opened the show with its usual great performance.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JANET ROBBINS Janet Robbins (Robinson) is the daughter of Marty Robbins. When I contacted her to get an update for my newsletter, I was surprised to learn she’s living in England. She and her Alaskan Malamute-Husky, Max, arrived there on the Queen Mary on August 4, 2017. “If you’re going to […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – MARGIE SINGLETON I couldn’t find Margie Singleton when I was writing Faron Young’s biography, but I’ve found her now–thanks to discovering Margie Singleton Walton on Facebook. During our recent phone chat, she brought me up to date on her life and her new music. Back in the 1960s, 12 of her […]
IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JIMMY FORTUNE “I’m at a really good place right now,” Jimmy Fortune said when he called me for our scheduled interview. “I feel like God’s not finished with me yet. I’m singing as good as I ever did, and I’m writing quite a bit.” He has had to build a new […]
By Sam Kleiner Three years before the United States entered World War II, American pilots were already flying in a covert operation to defend China against Japan. Retired U.S. Army pilot Claire Chennault organized and led the group officially designated the American Volunteer Group (AVG)—better known as the Flying Tigers. The Flying Tigers: The Untold […]