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.
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Essex
Henry Birkett
by Nick Catford
27th April 2025
Henry Birkett has a Country background and has been inspired by the sounds of classic and modern Americana artists from industry legends like The Eagles, Glen Campbell and Brad Paisley, to Chris Stapleton and singer songwriter Gregory Allen Isakov. From an early age, he knew he wanted to be a Country singer. Influenced by Guitar Hero, a series of rhythm games in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing; he started playing when he was nine and first played professionally when he was 14 at the Rubber Duck Country Festival in Norfolk.
He is still a relatively new name to the British country music scene launching his Country journey locally in 2017 and starting travelling further afield in 2018 when he got a driving licence. I really found him to be a breath of fresh air when I first saw him in 2022, I saw a young performer with a good knowledge of Country music old and new and a great musician who does a lot more than just strum a guitar, he really has got everything going for him. It was good to see the club so full for his welcome return on his 25th birthday. It’s very common for an artist to sing “happy birthday” to one of the club members but tonight Dave Haylock led the club in a rousing “happy birthday” to Henry before the evening got underway.
Through three diverse sets, he gave us a good balance between old and new, kicking off with George Strait’s I Just Want to Dance With You, Brooks & Dunn’s Neon Moon and Clint Black’s Nothin’ But The Taillights which gave him his first opportunity to show off his skill as a guitarist with a complex guitar solo. I was surprised to learn that not only does he know how to play his instrument well but he also built his first telecaster. Sadly this was stolen in 2022 along with all his music gear but it just made him more determined to carry on so he built another one and that’s what we saw and heard tonight.
A few more songs that stood out for me in the first set included Alan Jackson’s Livin’ On Love, John Michael Montgomery’s Be My Baby Tonight, Robert Black’s Lookin For Love and Teddy Swims’ The Door. I also liked Conway Twitty’s Slow Hand. I hadn’t realised Conway Twitty recorded a better Country version of the Pointer Sisters’ 1981 hit. Henry ended the first set with Billy Ray Cyrus’ 1992 classic Achy Breaky Heart, the song that was responsible for launching the explosion of line dancing into the mainstream.
Henry opened the second set with an equally well chosen balance of mainly traditional Country classics which included David Nail’s Champagne Promise, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Have You Ever Seen The Rain which included another good guitar solo, Alan Jackson’s Country Boy, John Pardi’s She Ain’t In It and Gord Bamford’s Disappearing Tail Lights.
It was really good to hear an original song. Many Country artists do write but generally, original songs don’t go down well in dance clubs unless someone has choreographed a line dance which rarely happens. Henry studied songwriting at university in 2018 and what I have heard of his own songs they combine catchy melodies, memorable hooks, strong lyrics and a compelling arrangement that evokes emotion and leaves a lasting impression on the listener. He now writes whenever he has time which is less often than he would like as he has a heavy schedule of work. Henry will be performing a set of original songs at the Problem Child Festival at the Wayfarer Festival Field, Alder Lane, Parbold near Wigan in Lancs on 17/18 May. The organisers say of Henry “Henry Birkett is on the rise with big melodies and bold storytelling – watch for his next earworm, High Road”. Luckily for us, he sung High Road tonight, a song with a lot of drive that brought a lot of cheering. I hope we hear a lot more of his own songs in the future. He also told me one of our top dance instructors is choreographing a dance for the song. He took us out of the second set with The Weeknd’s popular Blinding Lights
Henry kicked off the third set with Tim McGraw’s Just To See You Smile. Non country ballads have always proved popular in clubs when it’s time for a smooch. 30 years ago everybody was singing Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight and sure enough Henry included it this evening. Another song that now falls into this category is Bruce Springsteen’s Tougher Than The Rest that had virtually everyone on the dance floor. I was tempted – very briefly, but resisted!
As the final set progressed, we heard Hal Ketchum’s Past The Point Of Rescue, George Strait’s All My Ex’s Live In Texas which meant it was time for a barn dance and Garth Brooks’ The Dance. Next a couple of less often heard songs, Brandy Clark’s Stripes and Alan Jackson’s Little Bitty. All too soon, it was time to wind things up with a couple from George Strait, Codigo and a song he like to finish the evening with, The Cowboy Rides Away. The applause and cheering was well deserved. It was clear throughout the evening that Henry was there to have a good time and that enthusiasm for his craft rubbed off on everyone we all had a good time as well. It’s nice to see a young man on the circuit who has a very good knowledge and understanding of Country music and I’m sure his future is assured. He formed his first band Henry Birkett and the Biscuit Band in 2018 during his first year in Uni and now fronts his own Henry Birkett Band, I can’t wait to see and hear it.
See my phone video below which includes his own song, High Road.
Milton CMC, Gravesend, Kent
Chris Harris
by Nick Catford
13th April 2025
Chris Harris has been playing guitar since he was 11 but it wasn’t initially Country music, he played a mixture of folk, rock and blues with some country rock. He was in a number of school bands around Romford, Essex which gave him a good opportunity to hone his skills as a guitarist.
He was a latecomer to Country music but after he saw a late night Garth Brooks concert on TV, he began listening to a lot of different styles of Country music and quickly realised his future as a Country musician. In 1996 he collaborated with Sarah Jory and in 1997 he won the international Songwriter of the Year Award at the American Country Music Association awards.
Chris Harris first came to the public’s attention in 2002 when he joined the John Douglas band as lead guitarist. He stayed with them for two years but left to form his own 4-piece band Southern Union. He went on to work in duos with Clive Grant (Harris ‘n’ Grant) and Jim Martin (Harrison County). I first saw him with Jim Martin as Southern Union duo in August 2018.
The Milton is a line dance club and Chris geared his programme towards a dance audience kicking the evening off with Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Tracy Byrd’s Heaven In My Woman’s Eyes and Alan Jackson’s Don’t Rock the Jukebox. He has a good country voice and he is very chatty and a good communicator and had little trouble getting the dancers on the floor with some useful dance suggestions and that’s pretty much where they stayed all evening.
A few more songs that stood out in the first set included Jaden Hamilton’s Heaven’s Jukebox and Tebey’s Blinding Lights. With soloists it’s always good to see a singer who is also a musician rather than having to rely on the backing tracks. There were plenty of complex guitar solos through the evening and early on, he had a good opportunity to show off his skill as a guitarist in Wade Bowen’s Day Of The Dead which was followed by Miranda Lambert’s Ain’t in Kansas Anymore. With a few exceptions, most male singers seem to avoid girls’ songs so it was good to hear something from the excellent Miranda Lambert.
I particularly liked Keith Urban’s Heart Like a Hometown but was surprised to see the dancefloor empty. Chris joked about this and someone commented “We don’t yet know the dance to this one but we’re going to be learning it next week,” and I bet they did. Chris kept his programme up tempo which suited the dancers but as the set came to a close he slowed things down with Don Williams’ still very popular First Fool In Line before closing the set with George Jones’ Billy B. Bad.
Chris opened set 2 with Tim McGraw’s Just To See You Smile followed by Brooks & Dunn’s Boot Scootin’ Boogie. Next came William Michael Morgan’s Gone Enough known by many by the dance, Dark Side Of The Moon. Chris joked, this isn’t what you might be expecting, it’s actually the 23 minute opus by Pink Floyd. I can make it last that long if you want! Luckily he didn’t and it included another good guitar solo.
My pick of the evening was a beautiful Joe Diffe song, Ships That Don’t Come In. Chris described the song as one of the saddest country songs he knows. It’s a song that features two men philosophising about the nature of life while having a conversation at a bar. Strangely it was Toby Keith’s final studio recording before he passed away last February.
This was followed by another Miranda Lambert song, Space In My Heart. Miranda recorded this as a duet with Enrique Iglesias and it really needs to be sung as a duet. Chris joked that he emailed her to ask her to sing it with him but she didn’t reply so he added her voice to his backing track. I don’t think I have heard anyone singing a duet with someone on a backing track before and I feel it worked really well.
The second set drew to a close with Radney Foster’s Nobody Wins, The Eagles’ Lyin’ Eyes and Darryl Worley’s Messed Up In Memphis with another guitar solo.
Chris was at the end of a very busy week and this was the last night of a long tour and he was looking forward to getting back to South Wales on Monday morning. With so many days on the road he was still full of life and some of the songs that stood out in the final set included Drake Milligan’s Save It For A Sunny Day, James House’s This is Me Missing You, Luke Combs’ Where the Wild Things Are and, of course Garth Brooks’ The Dance.
Next came my second pick of the evening with Collin Raye’s Little Rock. “This is not a jolly song” he joked; “it’s about an alcoholic which” he said sarcastically “is a ‘strange’ subject for a country song, as is the breakup of a relationship! When I was writing back in the 90s”, he told us “I remember being phoned by a publisher who told him no drinking, no marital breakups and nothing about dogs. How times have changed.”
There weren’t that many slow songs through the evening but as we got close to the end, Chris sung a beautiful Alan Jackson song, So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore which had almost everyone on their feet. It’s a song I haven’t heard for years.
He finished the evening with Glenn Frey’s Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed which gave him one more opportunity to play a complex guitar solo. The applause was loud and well deserved, Chris was on top form tonight and I know everyone enjoyed the evening and Chris told me he always enjoys playing to such an enthusiastic and responsive audience.
See my phone video below.
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Essex
Martin Jaye
by Wendy Haylock
20th April 2025
What an absolute pleasure it was to have Martin Jaye perform at Hickory Lake on 20th April. He interacts with his audience so well with his lovely personality and always creates a party atmosphere, keeping the dance floor busy all evening with line-dancers and freestylers alike. Martin did many requests and also a great mixture of songs, the evening went far too quickly and we thank you Martin for a really fantastic evening, it was also great to see Martin’s wife Maria again, it’s always good to see her and catch up, a lovely lady. We look forward to seeing you both back at Hickory Lake later in the year.
We had one birthday which was Christine whose birthday was Thursday 24th. Martin sang Happy Birthday to her and we all wished her well and thank you Chris for the chocolates that you bought round to celebrate. We had one first timer which was Tina who is Sue’s sister, it was nice to meet you and hope you enjoyed the evening and come back to see us again soon. Roger took care of the raffle this week with Sylve and we thank you both for taking part you did a grand job, we had quite a few prizes to get through being Easter and we thank all who added prizes to the raffle table it’s much appreciated.
To all our fabulous team of Hickory Lake helpers we thank you all so much in all that you each do for us and your club, from the start of the evening until the end you are all truly amazing. We thank all our supporters who support us and their club, you all make Hickory Lake what it is, and we appreciate you all.
Take care and much Love to you all. Wendy xx
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Essex
Aiden J Daniels
by Wendy Haylock
13th April 2025
We had the return of Aiden J Daniels at Hickory Lake on 13 April, due to Aiden being a little late in arriving because of traffic and also not feeling 100% he did his best to give us a good evening of music and mixture of songs, which kept the dance floor busy with line-dancers and freestylers alike, it was nice to have Aiden back at the club and also good to see his wife Kerry again, a lovely lady, and also their grandson Kian came along and what a fantastic line-dancer this young man Kian is, I am sure all the other line-dancers would agree.
The raffle this week was taken care of by myself and Sylve, thank you Sylve for taking part you did a grand job..We thank all who added prizes to the raffle table it’s much appreciated..Thank you to Sandra who kindly stepped in for Pru in her absence (get well soon Pru). We thank all our super team of Hickory Lake helpers who each do a fantastic job in all that they each do, from the very start of the evening until the end with the clearing away, we really do appreciate everyone’s help. We as always thank all our lovely supporters, we always appreciate your support of your club.
Take care and much Love to you all. Wendy xx
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Essex
Longshot
by Nick Catford
6th April 2025
Longshot were formed as a 4-piece band in 1990 and there have had many changes in line-up over the following 35 years, The current duo is two very experienced musicians Glyn Long, the founder of Longshot and Lee J Hodgson, I have known both of them for well over 30 years in various bands so I was looking forward to this new collaboration.
Lee Hodgson is one of our best Country guitarists and is listed in the International Who’s Who of Popular Music. He bought his first guitar in 1973 when he was 12 and turned fully pro in 1979 after which he was invited to join George Moody and the Country Squires. After leaving the Country Squires he worked in a number of Essex bands and eventually joined the newly formed Memphis Roots in 1987. The band stayed together until 2001. The following year he joined Longshot and stayed with the band until 2006. Memphis Roots reformed in 2018 and are still working as a trio today and Lee has recently rejoined Glyn in Longshot Duo.
Glyn Long has an even longer pedigree than Lee as he has been singing since he was 11, joining a beat group in the late 1960s. By the 1970s he was earning a living on the cabaret circuit and in 1979 he was asked to deputise for the drummer in popular country band Hickory Lake. At the end of his stint with the band, Vic Woodhouse offered him the job full time and he joined his first country band. When Vic decided to go fully pro with Hickory Lake c1983 it was time for Glyn to move on. Following the demise of the Ned Porridge Band, Ed Pearson joined Spellbound to replace Jeannie Spiller. Glyn also joined Spellbound. In 1986 Glyn and Clive Grant joined Rio which was fronted by Steve Scott. Glyn only lasted with Rio for a few years, launching his own band, Longshot, in 1990.
It is appropriate that Longshot regularly play at Hickory Lake CMC which was Vic Woodhouse’s club until Dave and Wendy Haylock took over. With two good singers, Glyn and Lee share lead vocals opening the evening with Ricky Nelson’s I Need You sung by Glyn followed by George Strait’s I Just Want to Dance With You which was sung by Lee. Hickory Lake prefers traditional Country and we were treated to an evening of classic Country including a few songs I hadn’t heard for many years. A few others from the first set I liked included Patty Loveless’ Mr. Man In The Moon, Jim Reeves’ I Love You Because, Steve Earle’s Galway Girl, Troy Cassar-Daley’s Things I Carry Around and The Eagles’ Tequila Sunrise. The first set ended with a couple of barn dances back to back, Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry’s But I Do and Leroy Van Dyke’s Walk On By.
Glyn and Lee work very well together with one good song after another and some witty banter between them. It’s really good to see a live drummer, something of a rare breed in clubs these days and some fine picking from Lee who was swapping between electric guitar and acoustic guitar all evening with some fine guitar solos. Many soloists strum and acoustic guitar and rely on backing tracks, it’s really good to see a guitarist who can play an acoustic guitar.
The second set opened with Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs. Tonight it was ballads that were filling the dance floor and early in the second set we had three in a row Alan Jackson’s Remember When, Vince Gill’s Loving You Makes Me a Better Man and Jim Reeves’ Moonlight And Roses. Three songs that that showed up the quality of their respective voices. Glyn Long has a mellow voice and a rather cheeky personality while Lee Hodgson has a strong more raunchy voice. I felt they complimented each other superbly.
They asked for requests and plenty came in and I think they got through most if not all of them. The Shadows’ Apache was a request and it gave Lee a good opportunity to demonstrate his skill as a guitarist and the loud applause and cheering from people in the hall was well deserved.
Hickory Lake is a western club rather than a line dance club but there are always plenty of line dancers there and they were certainly enjoying the evening. Next Glyn and Lee gave us a couple of vintage line dance classics Billy Ray Cyrus Achy Breaky Heart which has been credited for launching line dancing into the mainstream in 1990 and before that The Desert Rose Band’s One Step Forwarded which predated it by three years. A few more songs that stood out for me included Don Williams’ First Fool In Line, Merle Haggard’s Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You and It’s Five O’clock Somewhere one of my all time favourite Alan Jackson songs
Set three opened with a couple more bum grabbers, not really Country songs but both have always been played in Country clubs. These were Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight and Bruce Springsteen’s Tougher Than The Rest. It’s always good to include at least one waltz and tonight Glyn sung Kenny Roger’s Someone Must Feel Like A Fool Tonight which I don’t think I have ever heard in a club. A few more I liked in the final set included Merle Haggard’s Today I Started Loving You Again, Darius Rucker’s Wagon Wheel, Willie Nelson’s Always On My Mind, Glen Campbell’s Wichita Lineman with a good guitar solo at the end. The Lennerockers’ High Class Lady came next and still seems as popular as ever in all clubs.
Confederate Railroad’s Trashy Women brought an end to a very enjoyable even with Longshot. For an encore Glyn and Lee finished with William Michael Morgan’s Missing. I heard a number of people congratulating the duo on a superb evening so I know there were plenty there who shared my view. To my absolute amazement one of the club regulars, Pru Richardson, somehow persuaded me to join her on the dance floor. This is something I would never normally do as a confirmed non dancer with three left feet. It wasn’t exactly one step forward and one step back but I’m glad nobody caught it on camera!
Click below to see my phone video of Longshot at Hickory Lake.
Silver Churn, Totnes, Devon
Roots & Wings
by Phil Jenkins
5th April 2025
A little bit low on numbers tonight but we still had a great evening of classic Country music, just the way we like it, from the brilliant, Roots & Wings who are Kelly and Michael, who take a lot of trouble to get the presentation just right.
They perfomed an excellent choice of music from all the greats of Country music – George Strait, Buck Owens, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Chrystal Gayle, Lorreta Lynne, Heather Myles, Don Williams, Waylon Jennings, Leroy Van Dyke and Johnny Cash.
Several numbers we don’t hear very often made the evening go with a swing, including Sweet Music Man, from Waylon Jennings and from Don Williams, If Hollywood Doesn’t Need You and also from Heather Myles, Playing Every Honky Tonk In Town.
Great stuff.