Saturday 16th March 2002 saw Derek and I parking our caravan trailer outside the Heart Of England Bluegrass Venue in Kenilworth for the Annual General Meeting and Concert for the BBMA 2002. The Concerts look like becoming a tradition, these being the 4th ones.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the 2003 AGM, scehduled for March 22nd, 2003. There is another excellent line-up and entry is FREE for members and only £5 for others.

Related articles: | Concert 1999 | Concert 2001 |

Ron Stevens,  resplendent in a silver waistcoat and gold bow tie (photo, right), introduced Foghorn Leghorn to kick off the evening, which they did in fine style with Rocky Top in high gear!

Foghorn Leghorn

I remember seeing this band some years ago at North Wales Bluegrass Festival with everything plugged in, even the banjo! This year the three original members Tim Kent (banjo/vocals), Eamonn Flynn (mando/vocals) and Del Brooks (guitar) and two new comers, Kevin O'Neill (guitar/Dobro/vocals) and Chris Clarke (double bass) gave us an acoustic treat with a good solid set. This included a good mix of material, some self penned numbers, some traditional ones and some pop items, all in great bluegrass style.

Copyright © Warner Bros & Disney; see footnote

Foghorn Leghorn's strength seems to be in the fast driving songs like Viva Las Vegas (Yes, Elvis did do the original!) and the Mo-Town hit Do You Like Good Music which they delivered with verve and enthusiasm with banjo player(!) Tim Kent, often singing lead. They included several of their own well-crafted songs, Home Comforts and Runner up being just two fine offerings.

Their musical ability and enthusiasm couldn't be faulted but I think they need to find a new style consultant... they were let down on this occasion!

That said, they were certainly entertaining, finishing a cracking set with Top Of The World for an encore.

Tom Travis and The Bluegrass Incident

Second on were Tom Travis and The Bluegrass Incident. To most of us Tom needed no introduction, being incumbent Chairman of the BBMA and one of the major contributors to Bluegrass music in the UK. Tonight, together with old and experienced musical friends Brian Booth (bass), Bill Forster (banjo) and John Savage on fiddle he presented some of his own songs, together with some old favourites that have been part of his repertoire through the years. I will confess to being a real fan of Tom's since his Tom and Smiley days.

It was good to see him back with a full band again and in great vocal form. He sang several of his own songs, such as I Love The Girl, his 'Bad Man' ballad Billy Ralphs and David's Song, which is a moving tribute written on the death of his brother and homage to three great Country singers, Hank, Lefty and George (Williams, Frisell and Jones)

We had some great fiddle and banjo breaks from John Savage and Bill Forster, and Bill gave us a great version of Redwing! Other offerings included The Rebel Soldier.

Tom entertained us with amusing stories of how some of his songs came to be. For example, Cattle Feed Blues was written about a job in which he had to lift sacks of cattle feed weighing as much as he did! And Hello, written while lounging on his sun bed in Lanzarotte. He forgot the words in the first verse but, like the old stager he is, he turned it around beautifully!

He finished with another of his own songs appropriately titled See You Sometime with a fast and furious How Mountain Girls Can Love as an encore. Great stuff!

The Radio Cowboys
(Previous appearance, 2000)

The headliners this year were The Radio Cowboys, appearing this time as a 7-piece band! They were Pete Sayers (lead guitar/Dobro/vocals), Big John Holder (guitar/lead vocals), Kenny Baker (banjo/lead vocals) Greg Smith (fiddle), Mike Montgomery (fiddle), Mike Nelson (mandolin) and Noel Johnson (bass/vocals)

A class act in their blue jeans, black jackets, white shirts and silver bolo ties uniform, they were great to look at as well as to listen to! Radio Cowboys normally uses one Mic but, since there were seven of them, this year they had two! Their material is mostly traditional bluegrass and we were treated to lots of Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs and Bill & Charlie Monroe favourites. These included Come Back To Me, That's My Request, Sweetheart Of Mine (my request) and I'm Coming Back But I Don't Know When, Wheel Hoss, and Uncle Penn. Pete did a great guitar break Tennesee Blues.

For the first time at BBMA they had the twin fiddles of Greg Smith and Mike Montgomery, which were used to great effect on the haunting Midnight Moonlight Waltz. The fiddles gave us some great breaks as each played off against the other!

Their vocal work was excellent and we had some fine 'High Lonesome' singing on Another Night from Big John Holder, plus an excellent rendition of Black Birds and Crows (an eerie atmospheric murder ballad that I first heard done by the Nashville Bluegrass Band).

They gave us their all, leading to a comment from Ray Whiteway-Roberts behind me: "They look good, play good and by golly they are good." On top of that they look like they really enjoy themselves with the music, as displayed by their version of Gold Rush. It was a great rendition with the whole band 'having a blast', as the Americans say! They even poked gentle fun at Ron Stevens with A White Sports Coat and a Gold Bow Tie done entirely off the cuff!

They finished the evening by The Cowboys calling all the artists up to join them for Will The Circle Be Unbroken as an encore. Outstanding!

A superb feast of veritable Bluegrass music, with thanks expressed once more to Mike Benson for his superb sound and not forgetting Kevin Garratt for the organisation.

Jean Brandon, Chester UK, with contributions from Derek.

Note of interest for overseas readers: The HOEBV is at the geographical centre of England!

I didn't get my camera working until the 2nd band so had no pix of my own for Foghorn Leghorn. The only pic of Foghorn Leghorn is on their website and it is awful, so the cartoon is the best I could do. Photo copyright © Warner Bros & Disney; used without permission (but it's a free advert...) My flash unit would not work so all the photos are taken in the club lighting, which explains the colouring. Getting the colours decent took a lot of work!

Derek Brandon

3 Jan 2002