Aspiring Young Artists

Pam and I enjoyed and supported a couple of aspiring young artists by attending their performances in their early careers not knowing they would later become superstars in the country music feild. Here’s the story.

Aspiring Young Artists

 

In 1974, Pam and I were newly weds. There was a new and aspiring young artist on a low budget tour promoting his first album. He was going to be playing at the Red Barn in Borger, Texas on Saturday night. The Red Barn was a beat up old Honky Tonk just north of the traffic circle that had a small stage, and a large dance floor that would seat about 50 people. It was known as being a kind of a rough night spot that had a lot of fights on the weekends. I ask Pam if she would like to go see him and she said yes. We bought tickets at the door on Saturday Night and went in and met Moe Bandy face to face and talked to him for a bit. We got a table close to the dance floor and got some drinks. They started playing and this guy was playing pure raw honky tonk music that I just loved. I wondered why I’d never heard of him before. We danced virtually every dance and really had a good time that night. We bought a copy of his new album before we left that night and he signed it for us. Within a year or so, about six of the songs on that album reached the top 40 on the country charts.

 

Moe Bandy over the years has been my favorite artist for what I call pure raw honky tonk music.

 

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At that same Honky Honky Tonk in Borger, there was a local band that played every Friday night. We saw them four or five times and they always played a song called Elvira which was actually done very well. I once heard the lead singer of the Oak Ridge Boys say they had heard their smash hit version of “Elvira” at a small Honky Tonk in Texas, and I always wondered if they had heard it at the Red Barn.

 

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In 1980 when we lived in Oklahoma City, Pam and I went out to celebrate New Year’s Eve at a large honky tonk in Oklahoma City. There was a prominent local area band playing with an aspiring young lead singer called Garth Brooks. We stayed on the dance floor nearly all night with this band also. We had a great time and brought the new year in in style. Of, course in a few years this aspiring young artist was on top of the country music charts with just about every thing he released.

 

As far as I am concerned, Garth Brooks has been one on the best country music stars of all times

Thanks for reading Aspiring Young Artists,
Bill