This is where you can read about clubs from their members or club promoters to see what is happening on the Country music circuit. It is updated as and when we receive reports and get the time to include them.
Royal British Legion, Arborfield, Berkshire
Capricorn
by Nick Catford
25th September 2025
Capricorn duo was formed in 1979 when Robin Williams, a veteran of many Country music bands in Southern England advertised for someone to join him in a new duo; that someone was John Scott. In the mid-1980s the duo became a band but at a time when bands are finding it harder to get work as many clubs can only afford a soloist or a duo at best Capricorn has decided to retire at the end of this year after 46 years on the road. They have always been firm favourites at Arborfield so it was good to see them one final time on 25th September. The have a small number of dates still remaining in the diary before they bow out for the final time at the beginning of January.
Lead singer John Scott retired during covid and the last time I saw them lead vocals were shared by Mike Pretty and Ray Phillips. The present lineup is either Ray Philips or Mark Jacobs, a former member of the band on lead. Tonight we had Ray Phillips making a return visit to Arborfield after only two weeks when he was playing with Ridgeway Country. Tonight he was on lead guitar and lead vocals joining Mike Loft on bass, Mike Wrixton who joined the band on 2012 on pedal steel and the very experienced Mike Pretty who joined the band on 1991 on drums, so we had three Mikes and a Ray.
Capricorn are unashamedly a traditional Country band smartly turned out with two good singers, good harmonies and top notch instrumentation and not a backing track to be heard. They kicked the evening off with the first of a number of Merle Haggard songs, I Had a Beautiful Time, followed by George Strait’s I Just Want to Dance then Bobby Bare’s The Streets Of Baltimore and Neal McCoy’s The City That Put The Country Back In Me which meant early on in the evening it was time for a barn dance. An evening with Capricorn is almost like a Country music history lesson with songs from so many of the Country greats going back at least 90 years with a lot of songs that are rarely heard in clubs these days. After Gene Watson’s Dreams Of A Dreamer Gone Blind it was good to hear songs from the king of Western Swing, Bob Wills And His Texas Cowboys. Capricorn gave us two in a row going back to the 40s with Deep Water and Bubbles In My Beer.
A few more songs that stood out in the first set included Connie Smith’s Once A Day, Ricky Van Shelton’s Swimming Upstream, Tracy Byrd’s You Lied To Me, and George Jones’ She Thinks I Still Care and The Everly Brothers’ Carol Jane all classics in their day but I know some of them less often heard these days.
In the break club member John Giles read out a poem he has written to mark the occasion called Farewell Capricorn …
It was another song
A sad song
They knew the words so well
A dream too soon dying
As they bid a last farewell
The country music played out
To a hall no longer full
A few old cowboys listened
More ghosts shadowed on the wall
Their voices sang clear that night
Their fingers strong upon the strings
But this was the final call
For now they sing
A gentle air of parting
Friends who played for many years
Leaving now to cheering
No need for farewell tears.
Set 2 opened with George Ducas’ Tricky Moon, Johnny Paycheck’s Down to My Last Dime, Willie Nelson’s Seven Spanish Angels and Charley Pride’s Is Anybody Goin To San Antone. One thing I really liked about Capricorns performance tonight was that it took me back to the Country clubs I remember over 30 years ago. A band of course, more than one good singer and a whole heap of songs I remember from those days. It was really like going back in time for the evening and I enjoyed every minute of it and judging by the enthusiastic audience response I wasn’t the only one.
Mike Pretty told us when he was growing up one of his favourite songs at that time was Gene Autry’s South Of The Border which took us back to 1939. Mike is an enthusiastic drummer with a long pedigree in music; he has always been fanatical about Country music. He started out as a singer but soon discovered his drumming ability, and for the princely sum of £25 he acquired his first drum kit. This led to the formation of Ricky Marshall and the Deputies around 1960 it had a Country-sounding name but was heavily influenced by Cliff and the Shadows. After a break from playing an informal jam session in 1979 led to the formation of the Cottonwood Country Band and for the next 12 years Mike was their drummer, until a chance meeting with John Scott in 1991 resulted in Mike joining Capricorn.
Having heard one of Mike’s favourite country songs it was time for one of mine The Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands Face On The Cutting Room Floor. You can’t get enough Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in my view.
Mike and Ray had little trouble creating a good rapport with their audience they are both good storytellers. For me good instrumentation is as important as good singing which is one reason I really enjoy seeing bands. When Ridgeway were at the club two weeks early Ray was swopping between pedal steel and lead guitar. As Capricorn has a top class steel player in Mike Wrixton Ray just played lead guitar which meant there were some complex instrumental breaks.
A few more songs from the second set included another from Merle Haggard, Making Believe, followed by Ray Price’s Jealous Heart, Rodney Crowell’s Give My Heart A Rest and Billy Mata’s Private Party which I have never heard in a club before. For some reason we don’t seem to get many waltzes these days but there was one included tonight George Jones’ Burning Bridges after which Capricorn closed the second set with Willie Nelson’s Sitting in Limbo.
Set three opened with yet another Merle Haggard song Big City. It’s probably true to say you can’t have enough of Merle Haggard and Big City was a good opportunity for the two lead players Ray Philips and Mike Wrixton to demonstrate their competing but complimentary lead breaks.
A few more songs that stood out in the final set included Bobby Helms’ Fraulein took which took us back to 1956, Brooks & Dunn’s My Next Broken Heart, Emmylou Harris’ C’est La Vie
Don Williams’ When Will I Ever Learn and Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry’s But I Do. I have seen Capricorn many times in recent years and they have never failed to entertain, tonight was certainly no exception. Capricorn will certainly be missed on the circuit after 46 years and it’s yet another band coming off the road which is sad. They closed their final visit to Arborfield with Leroy Van Dyke’s Walk On By which brought warm and prolonged applause. For encore we heard Hugo Duncan’s My Veronica. Farewell Capricorn thanks for the entertainment.
See my phone video of Capricorn below.
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Colchester, Essex
Warren Dewitt
by Wendy Haylock
28th September 2025
We had the return of Warren Dewitt at Hickory Lake ob 28th September, it was good to see him again after 18 months, Warren always looks good on stage with his western attire, he gave us all a great performance with his deep Country voice made for Country Music. He kept the dance floor busy all evening with line-dancers and freestylers alike, and we thank you Warren for a great evening of entertainment and we look forward to the next time.
We had two Birthdays which were Marie and Viv, and we all sang Happy Birthday to them both and wished them well, thank you for the chocolates that were bought round to celebrate. Roger and Sylve looked after the raffle this week and we thank you both for taking part you did a grand job, also we thank all who added prizes to the raffle table it’s much appreciated.
Our most grateful thanks as always to all our brilliant team of Hickory Lake helpers from the start of the evening until the end, you all do such a great job in all that you each do, it’s very much appreciated. We also thank all our supporters, we appreciate and value the support you give to your club and it’s always good to see you all.
Take care and much Love to you all Wendy.xx
Royal British Legion, Arborfield, Berkshire
Ridgeway Country with Les & Chris Whiting, the club organisers.
by Nick Catford
11th September 2025
The lure of live 4-piece band without a hint of backing tracks took me to the Royal British Legion in Arborfield on 11th September to see Ridgeway Country. The band was formed in 2000 and although lead singer Tony Hetherington is the only surviving member from the original line up, Ridgeway Country has always comprised top class musicians which is no more than I would expect from one of the best and most popular bands on the Country circuit
Tony Hetherington prefers a more traditional style of Country music so we heard a lot of familiar classics that kept the dancers on the floor and the listeners entertained all evening. Tony opened with a couple from The Derailers, The Right Place and More Of Your Love, they are definitely a band we hear far too little of. These were followed by Midland’s Lonely for You Only one of their songs that’s rarely heard, and then Alan Jackson’s Chattahoochee and John Hogan’s I’ll Buy Her Roses.
Vocally, Ridgeway Country is top notch; Tony is a good singer with a strong voice. Ray Phillips on lead and pedal steel guitar, Tim Albins on bass, Matt Jacobs on drums are all singers ensuring good harmonies. Matt is former Ridgeway lead guitarist Mark Jacobs’ nephew. Ray Phillips is one of the best steelies in the business, so we were treated to some lively instrumentals breaks either on pedal steel or lead guitar. Ray plays in a number of other Country bands and I know he will be back at Arborfield as a member of Capricorn in a couple of weeks. John Prine’s Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, Rodney Crowell’s I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried and Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues with Tim on lead vocals brought and end to the first set.
The second set opened with The Mavericks’ Here Comes My Baby, Marty Stuart’s Don’t Be Cruel (yes I know Elvis did it too!) and Guy Mitchell’s Singing the blues. Strong vocals from Tony with good harmonies from Tim, Ray and Matt helped give Ridgeway a very full band sound much as we used to get from many bands in the old days but not seen so often now. Tony was visually very entertaining and always on the move around the stage; it was almost if he had ‘ants in his pants’ As I told Tony in the first break “Your band has oomph in abundance”. Tony is a good front man and had little problem in quickly creating a great rapport with the audience. with plenty of lively banter.
After Dwight Yoakam’s Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose and The Eagles’ Take It Easy it was time for a nice waltz to Conway Twitty’s The Image Of Me, we don’t seem to get that many waltzes these days. I particularly liked Nobody’s Fool a track from the band’s latest CD album 110% Ridgeway released in 2023. Next came another from The Eagles, The Girl from Yesterday then Dwight Yoakam’s The Heart That You Own and George Jones’ You Better Move On, another on which Tim took lead vocals.
Set 3 opened with The Mavericks’ Back In Your Arms Again and Midland’s Mr. Lonely. Tony also fronts a 4-piece rock ‘n’ roll band called the Tony H Band working mainly in the Swindon area and he slipped a few rock ‘n’ roll songs into the final set which kept the dancers on the floor. These were Buddy Holly’s It Doesn’t Matter Anymore and Ricky Nelson’s Hello Mary-Lou. Next we heard a medley of old Country songs, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, Send Me The Pillow You Dream On, I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You), Take These Chains From My Heart which ensured the dance floor remained full.
My pick of the evening was Mel Street’s Borrowed Angel, a song that is rarely heard these days, this was Mel Street’s first single in 1969. After another from The Mavericks’ Dance the Night Away, as the evening drew to a close it was time for a good a good bum clutcher that was always very popular back in the day. Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight isn’t of course a country song but it’s always been a floor filler and still is. Tony brought the evening to a close with Sawer Brown’s arrangement of Six Days On The Road. Sawer Brown are a country band from the 80s who are rarely heard these days.
The applause was well deserved and it was clear why Ridgeway are considered one of the best bands on the Country circuit these days. They have been together for 25 years and have all the oomph you could ask of for of a Country band.
See my phone video of Ridgeway Country below.
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Colchester, Essex
JD Bullit
by Wendy Haylock
21st September 2025
We had a brilliant evening at Hickory Lake on 21st September with J.D.Bullit, it’s always a pleasure to see him, and he always gives us a great performance with his friendly personality and interaction with his audience, he did several requests and kept the dance floor busy all evening with a good all round mix of songs. It was nice to see Sandra, John’s wife come along again, a really lovely lady. Thank you John for a great evening of entertainment, and look forward to seeing you both again soon.
We had two Birthdays which were Tricia’s and Claire, we all wished them well and John sang Happy Birthday to them both, thank you for the chocolates that were bought round to celebrate. We also had one anniversary which was Sue & Dave and John sang them a song, congratulations to you both. It was nice to see Wanda pay us a visit, (Pru & Paul’s daughter) it was really lovely to see you again Wanda, and hope you come back to see us again soon.
Dave and Sylve looked after the raffle this week, thank you Sylve for taking part you did a grand job, (think you deserve a medal) ha-ha, you’re a good sport. Thank you to all who added prizes to the raffle table it’s much appreciated. To all our fabulous team of Hickory Lake helpers, we thank and appreciate all your help you give us and your club, we couldn’t manage without you all, from the start of the evening until the end. To all our supporters we value and appreciate the support you give to your club each week, it’s always good to see you.
Take care and much Love to you all Wendy. xx
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Colchester, Essex
The Thornhills
by Nick Catford
14th September 2025
I have been a fan of the Thornhill family ever since I discovered that Country music existed in Britain in 1990. I saw West Virginia many times in the old days and since coming out of the Country wilderness in 1997 after 20 years away from the music, I have seen The Thornhills duo a number of times and they really are still sounding just as good as they ever did in West Virginia.
It was good to see a full house at Hickory Lake on 14th September and I knew we were in for an evening of classic Country which suits the members at this popular Essex club. The Thornhills opened proceedings with Jerry Kilgore’s Love Trip followed by the first of several Buck Owens songs the less often heard Cinderella. Keith is a good communicator and had little trouble creating an excellent rapport with the audience with his witty Scouse banter which always stood West Virginia apart from many of the other good bands on the circuit back in the 90s and into the 2000s and has been their trademark throughout their career. Keith joked “these days we only play the clubs we like”. Although Keith took most of the lead vocals they are both good singers with close harmonies and Arthur took the lead on a number of songs including George Strait’s Gotta Get To You.
A few more songs from the first set included Tracy Byrd’s You Lied To Me, Mark Wills’ Places I’ve Never Been, William Michael Morgan’s Missing and Charley Pride’s The Same Eyes That Always Drove Me Crazy. Ballads always filled the dance floor and during the first set these included Kris Kristofferson’s Help Me Make It Through The Night and Merle Haggard’s Today I Started Loving You Again before they took it up a gear with Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins’ Poor Boy Blues.
Buck Owens’s Made In Japan is a song that Keith has been singing since his days in West Virginia. When he joined his first Country band, Toledo Country in 1971 he only knew a couple of Buck Owens songs. He first saw Buck at the Liverpool Empire in 1966 when he was in his late teens and he now considers Buck Owens to be one of his greatest Country influences. The boys brought the first set to a close with a request, Hal Ketchum’s Old Soldiers one of my favourite Hal Ketchum songs.
The second set opened with Tim McGraw’s Just To See You and Dion’s I’ve Got To Get To You. These days everybody seems to be singing Elvis’ Don’t Be Cruel but it must also be remembered that Merle Haggard recorded an excellent version and The Judds took the song to No 10 in the Billboard Hot Country Singles Chart in 1987. After Ronnie Milsap’s Daydreams About Night Things it was time for one I requested, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Face On The Cutting Room Floor a song Keith used to sing with his son Dan and they still sing with the Family Band. You can’t get enough Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in my view. Keith’s son Dan and Arthur’s son Wayne have started doing a few gigs with Keith and Arthur as the Thornhill Family Band. Initially they only did about five family gigs a year but they are happy to travel to clubs and festivals if they are all free at the same time and they would like to do more.
Next we heard Rodney Crowell’s Lovin’ All Night and Toby Keith’s You Can’t Read My Mind before one from Charlie Landsborough. I have always championed British songwriters so I was glad to hear No Time At All. Charlie has always been one of my favourite British songwriters who I first became aware of him in 1983 when I was working in local radio. A record plugger came in with a box of his 2nd single I Will Love You All My Life. I made sure it got plenty of airplay.
Although Hickory Lake is, what I would call, a Western Club, all styles of dancing are very welcome and I was pleased to see line dancers were on the floor from start to finish, nothing fazed them. I am not a dancer of any sort but it’s always good to see people having a good time on the dance floor. I have always been of the view that a good line dancer can find a dance to fit anything and the dancers certainly showed that to be true tonight. It really doesn’t have to be all the latest songs.
A few more that stood out towards the end of the second set included Hank Thompson’s Who Left The Door To Heaven Open, I don’t think I have ever heard that before in a club, followed by Rodney Crowell’s I Walk the Line (Revisited) and Ty England’s Should’ve Asked Her Faster. The Thornhills closed the second set by going back to 1956 with Mitchell Torok’s When Mexico Gave Up The Rhumba.
Set 3 opened with Rick Nelson’s Garden Party – this is Ricky Nelson but by the 70s he was calling himself Rick – followed by The Desert Rose Band’s One Step Forward. Next the boys sung a Kenny Rogers medley, Ruby Don’t Take You Love To Town, Coward Of The County and The Gambler. A few other songs that stood out during the final set included one of Marty Robbins’ lesser know songs After the Storm followed by Mel Street’s Borrowed Angel
As the evening drew to a close we heard Del Shannon’s The Answer to Everything followed by what must be one of George Strait’s most popular songs, The Cowboy Rides Away. At the end of a very enjoyable evening of classic Country and a lot of good humour the boys took us out with Alan Jackson’s It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere which brought loud applause and cheering and shouts of “MORE” They saved their most requested song for the encore. Cilla’s You’re My World is not, of course, a country song but Keith sings it with a lot of emotion and pride of his Liverpool heritage. He recorded the song during lockdown and it was the title of his first solo album released in 2021. A fitting end to a superb evening, I can’t wait to see them again and I really hope I get the opportunity to see the Thornhills Family Band somewhere.
See my phone video of The Thornhills at Hickory Lake.
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Colchester, Essex
Rick Storm
by Wendy Haylock
7th September 2025
On top form as always, we had Rick Storm at Hickory Lake 0n 7th September and he gave us all a brilliant evening, with his cheeky ways! He gave us a great mix of songs with some new ones added for good measure..Thank you Rick for a very entertaining evening and look forward to the next time.
It was good to meet Jo who runs the Carolina CMC in Kent, who came along to see Rick; it was lovely to meet you Jo. We welcomed Beryl & Mick back after Beryl’s recent hip operation, we have missed you both, and it was good to see you looking very well now Beryl. Also it was Sue’s first time back after the tragic passing away of Big Jim, Sue it was great to see you back again and Big Jim would have been proud of you, we know it must have been hard for you, but you did really well.
The raffle this week was taken care of by myself and Sylve (girl power!) thank you Sylve for taking part you did a grand job, and we thank all who added prizes to the raffle table it’s much appreciated. Also another big thank you to Jan, who stepped in to help Chris in the canteen at the start of the evening in the absence of Bev, and also Mick who did the hall lights in the absence of Phil.
To all our Hickory Lake team of helpers , another huge thank you for all that you each do every week from the start of the evening until the end, you are all top class!..and we truly appreciate your help to us and your club, and that goes to all our supporters who come along, we value the support you give to your club, and this is very much appreciated.
Take care and much Love to you all. Wendy xx
Silver Churn CMC, Dartington, Totnes, Devon
The Stage Robbers
by Phil Jenkins
6th September 2025
It was the first time at the club for a new Somerset based duo, The Stage Robbers who are Kelvin Brinacombe on bass and vocals, who is stranger to the scene having been in, Rebel Yell, Jean Lesley and Country Connection and Highway 38 and Mike Shameless on guitar, keyboards and vocals, another who is well known on the Country scene.A bit low on numbers tonig
We were a bit low on numbers but the main thing is those present enjoyed the very full sound of the band who play a very varied selection of old and new Country, doing a great job on only their second gig together and also managing to do several requests.
We had music from George Strait, Don Williams, Hank Williams Jr and Sr, Randy Travis, Merle Haggard, Luke Combs, Dwight Yoakam, Buck Owens, Cody Johnson and Johnny Cash, which kept us all dancing, great stuff.
Thanks to Pam, Bill and Bev for some tasty refreshments, which went down very well.
Roffey CMC, Roffey, West Sussex
Rick Storm
by Nick Catford
2nd September 2025
In the early 1990s a group of friends got together on a Friday evening to play guitars and sing. In 1995 two members of this informal group, Michael Barnes and Rick Pearce formed the Country duo Cheyenne and they stayed together for six years working mainly on the club circuit. As club attendance began to decline Rick Pearce decided to go solo and Rick Storm was born.
Rick is a self-confessed ‘Essex Jack the lad’; full of banter and fun and with a cheeky sense of humour. He seems to have a permanent smile on his face. Perhaps most important, he has a clear rich voice, ideally suited to Country music. Over the years, he has built up a great reputation on the club circuit with a good knowledge of the latest Country songs and which dances will fit. Tonight his programme included a lot of recent songs with a good helping of Country classics. He is clearly a fan of Merle Haggard – aren’t we all.
It was good to be making my first ever visit to the Roffey CMC near Horsham in West Sussex. It was quickly obvious that Rick Storm is very popular at the club and I was pleased to see him speaking to almost everyone before he took to the stage. This really is refreshing and the right thing to do and something that is certainly not practiced by everyone. The club was full tonight with, I was told, some first timers. The dance floor was already throbbing before Rick opened his mouth with Troy Cassar-Daley’s Things I Carry Around. Next was Josh Turner’s Your Man which suits his rich voice. Then it was The Refreshments’ Riverboat Queen and Miranda Lambert’s much requested Ain’t In Kansas Anymore (Rattlesnake Kiss). There was more Miranda Lambert with the excellent Trailblazer a heartfelt tribute to the pioneering women of Country music sung with Reba McEntire and Lainey Wilson; it’s one of my favourite new songs at the moment. A few more that stood out in the first set included Joe Nichols’ Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, Waylon Hanel’s My Kind of Lonely and Merle Haggard’s Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star. Rick took us out of the first set with William Michael Morgan’s Gone Enough.
Roffey has an in-house dance instructor Ruth and Len Chaplin’s son Glenn. He teaches a new dance at the club’s Sunday dance class and in the first 15 minute break members get a last chance to practice it as it will be the opening dance in the second set. Tonight it was Eddie Montgomery’s Brotherly Love. I think they did alright but I’m certainly no expert.
After Shaboozey’s A Bar Song I was please to hear a Nancy Hays song Come Dance With Me. I had the opportunity to see Nancy Hays for the first time earlier in the year. The song was an international hit and was named one of the most popular line dance songs in the world by multiple publications in Europe and the US and here it won the 2024 Crystal Boot Award in Blackpool.
Next we heard Ella Langley and Riley Green’s You Look Like You Love Me, another request, then we heard Lee Brice’s Cry and Neon Union’s Made In Mexico. After The Lennerockers’s High Class Lady it was time for a barn dance to Rodney Crowell’s I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried. Rick finished the second set with Josh Kiser’s I’m Never Drinking Again, Cody Johnson’s ‘Til You Can’t, George Jones’ Billy B. Bad and Roy Orbison’s Penny Arcade
Rick opened set 3 with Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton’s Islands in the Stream; Ty England’s Should’ve Asked Her Faster, Post Malone’s Fallin’ In Love and Chris Janson’s Hawaii On Me
After Jon Pardi’s Boots Off and Blake Shelton’s Sangria, it was time for another Merle Haggard song, the rarely heard Shelly’s Winter Love, a beautiful love song written by Merle but first recorded by Dottie West.
It’s always good to hear a song by our own Dave Sheriff, If anyone is going to sing a Dave Sheriff song you can bet it will be Red Hot Salsa but not so Rick Storm who sang his high speed Walkin’ The Line. I don’t think I have heard that in a club before apart from by Dave himself perhaps.
As the evening drew to a close, Rick sang my all time favourite George Strait song Amarillo By Morning and then finished with Vince Gill’s Loving You Makes Me A Better Man followed by William Michael Morgan’s Missing as an encore. The applause was prolonged and very well deserved with lots of people shouting for more. There was no more but Rick will be back at Roffey next year, that’s a given. Roffey is a very friendly and well run club and I don’t think it will be long before I am heading back down the M23 again.
See my phone video below.