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.
Ray & Dave's CMC, Rettendon, Essex
Kevin Barry with Ray & Celia Kerslake (club promoters.
The late Dave Norman.
by Nick Catford
10th January 2026
It was good to be back at Ray & Dave’s CMC at the Rettendon Memorial Hall in Essex on 10th January to see Kevin Barry who I first saw 35 years ago when he was a member of New Dawn Trio with sisters Julie and Linda Dawn who he later married. Both Kevin and Julie are now soloists, both still busy, but working only in East Anglia and Essex.
I was very saddened to hear of the passing peacefully at home of Dave Norman on 14th December. Condolences to Margaret and the family. Dave and Margaret ran the Chaparral CWC for many years at the Rettendon Memorial Hall (having moved there from the North Woodham Ferrers Village Hall). They gave up running the club in 2017 when Colin Wilson took over and it became Col’s CMC. Ill health forced Colin to give up the club in 2022 and Dave Norman was tempted back with the help of Ray and Celia from the recently closed Golden Spur CMC at Terling. The club then became Ray & Dave’s CMC. Ray and Celia intend to continue running the club retaining the name Ray & Dave’s CMC in memory of their late friend Dave Norman.
By the start of the evening the club was filling nicely and Ray opened proceedings with a minutes silence to remember Dave before welcoming Kevin who kicked off with Tim McGraw’s Just to See You Smile. He prefers traditional Country music and from the start there was plenty of friendly banter that allowed him to make friends with everyone very quickly. He promised us a mix of mainly old country favourites, a few newer songs with a good helping of Irish songs starting with Derek Ryan’s Hold On To Your Hat.
I have always been a lover of British songwriters but sadly British songs tend to be avoided by line dance choreographers and are rarely heard in dance clubs. I have always considered Charlie Landsborough to be one of our best and although at 84 he has now retired from singing, tonight we heard No Time At All. If you are ever in Liverpool there’s a mural of him painted on the side of Merseyrail’s Birkenhead North railway station.
A few more from Kevin’s first set included Don Williams’ First Fool In Line, Roger Miller’s King Of The Road, Dean Martin’s Memories Are Made Of This, Mary Chapin Carpenter’s Down At The Twist And Shout and The Mavericks’ All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down. Next it was time to slow it down with a medley of Irish favourites from Foster & Allen that had almost everyone on the dance floor. These were My Lovely Rose Of Clare, Silver Threads Among The Gold, Maggie and After All These Years. These were followed by Jim Reeves’ He’ll Have To Go a nice waltz.
Marty Robbins’ A White Sport Coat meant it was time for a barn dance. Keeping the barn dancers on the floor Kevin followed this with Webb Pierce’s There Stands the Glass. It’s always good to see people enjoying themselves at a dance club whether it be western dancing, line dancing, jigging or just having a smooch. A little rock ‘n’ roll finished the first set with Jerry Lee Lewis’ Great Balls Of Fire
Time for a change of instrument at the start of the second set with Kevin swapping electric guitar for banjo. Banjo was probably his first instrument; he joined his first band, a bluegrass trio called Country Life when he was 14. He kicked off this session on the banjo with a high energy instrumental, Flatt & Scruggs’ bluegrass classic Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Kevin has always liked bluegrass music and having started his career in a bluegrass trio he went on to join Britain’s longest established bluegrass band The Down County Boys. He kept the banjo on for a few songs that included The Fureys Red Rose Cafe, another nice waltz, Darius Rucker’s Wagon Wheel, Steve Earle’s Galway Girl and Michael English’s Locklin’s Bar. There were a number of Irish songs I particularly liked, another being The Irish Rovers’ The Belle of Belfast City.
Next came my pick of the evening and a request for me (thanks Kevin). It’s a really beautiful song called Armstrong about Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon in July 1969. The song written by the late John Stewart an American singer / songwriter (and former member of The Kingston Trio) who is best remembered for his contributions to American folk music. A number of Country artists have recorded this song including Nanci Griffith but Kevin’s arrangement is somewhat slower than the original and really suits John Stewart’s moving lyrics. I asked Kevin where this arrangement came from and he told me he got it from British country band Clancy and guitarist Rod Maclane. Some people might remember this as a song from The Byrds 1969 Ballad Of Easy Rider album.
30 years ago many people sung Raymond Froggatt songs but you hear them less frequently these days which is a shame, he’s a top class songwriter. Tonight we were treated to two, firstly Million Miles Away. A few more Irish songs followed Shawn Cuddy’s Can We Go Round Again, Michael English’s Dance All Night and another from Derek Ryan, Down On Your Uppers. Kevin took us out of the second set with The Lennerockers’ High Class Lady.
It was good to see Kevin going round the tables during the break speaking to people, he was given plenty of requests and I was surprised just how many he got through as the evening progressed.
Kevin opened set three with Chris Norman’s Gypsy Queen, Jo-El Sonnier’s Tear-Stained Letter, Johnny Preston’s Running Bear and Don Williams’ You’re My Best Friend. Before Kevin sung Vince Gill’s Look At Us. He surprisingly suggested that we might not know Vince Gill. I was tempted to shout out “I bought his big hit Edelweiss”, I’m glad I resisted the temptation!
Tonight Kevin gave us a high energy performance lots of back to back music chosen to keep the maximum people on the dance floor for most of the time. Not everything was strictly country but Olly Murs’ Dance With Me Tonight slotted in nicely.
Towards the end of the evening, Kevin slowed down with a few love songs, Del Shannon’s The Answer To Everthing is, in my view, one of Del’s best songs. This was followed by Buddy Holly’s True Love Ways. Next we had a couple more barn dance songs Dean Martin’s Little Ole Wine Drinker Me and Leroy Van Dyke’s Walk On By. All too soon it was time to wind up proceedings with a second Froggie classic, Wings On My Heels, which has to be one of his best known songs followed by Daniel Boone’s Beautiful Sunday. It was clearly apparent that Kevin was enjoying himself just as much as we were. At the end of the evening I asked him if he still got pleasure out of singing and playing after a lifetime in the business. He said he still loves it and although he has cut down travelling in recent years he has no intention of retiring any time soon.
There was prolonged applause, cheering and shouting for more. Kevin, of course obliged with a double encore Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Roy Orbison’s Penny Arcade. I always enjoy watching Kevin Barry, he is always full of energy and really knows how to entertain and I know we all went home entertained tonight.
See my phone video which includes Armstrong
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Colchester, Essex
Steve Cherelle
by Wendy Haylock
11th January 2026
What a great start we had at Hickory Lake for 2026, with Steve Cherelle he was his usual brilliant self, with his own unique style, it was good to see him back at the club again, he did many requests and the dance floor was kept busy all evening, we thank you Steve for giving us all a good start for the club, and look forward to seeing you back again soon.
It was good to meet John, Steve’s dad who came along with him, it was our pleasure to have you visit the club, and hope you come along again soon. It was good to see so many of you back on 11th especially on such a wet and cold evening, it was nice to see Kim, Albie’s daughter come along, to keep her eye on Albie, haha – only joking Alb!!
We had several Birthdays which were Sheila, Bev and Dave, Steve sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to them all and we wished them all well and thank you for the chocolates that were bought round to celebrate. As always many grateful thanks to all our brilliant team of Hickory Lake helpers, from the start of the evening until the end, and to Phil who stepped in to help Bev in the canteen at the start of the evening, due to Chris hurting her back as she fell over on the ice in the week, and also to Sandra who helped Jane in the canteen at the first break in the absence of Pru. Many thanks to you both for your help.
It was really good to see all our supporters back with us, and we truly appreciate the support you give to your club. Don’t forget its every fortnight this year. Take care and much Love to you all.
Wendy xx
Milton CMC, Gravesend, Kent
Rob Childs
by Nick Catford
4th January 2026
Rob Childs made a welcome return to the Milton CMC, Gravesend, Kent on 4th January. Much of the snow from the previous few days had gone but it was still a very cold night for the opening dance of 2026. DJ Philip got the dancers warmed up ready for Rob. I have known Rob Childs for 35 years, he is very good at interacting with the audience and had little problem creating a great rapport very quickly.
He kicked off with Midland’s Playboys, George Strait’s All My Ex’s Live in Texas and Lee Brice’s Cry before going way back in time with Hank Williams’ I Saw The Light, a song Rob used to sing with Nadine Somers when they had a residency at the Sheraton Hotel at Heathrow in 1994. Rob is a multi-instrumentalist and has a large collection of guitars. Has been “messing about” (his words) with guitars since 1964 when he was 3 and always brings four to each gig so, as usual, he was switching between guitars throughout the evening. Guitar players tend to play many different styles of music and each guitar suits different styles and has a different sound.
A few more songs from the first set included Neon Union’s Made In Mexico, Marty Stuart’s Don’t Be Cruel and BR5-49’s Seven Nights To Rock. Now it was a time for a duet with Rob being joined on stage by his partner Izzy Archer to sing Ella Langley and Riley Green’s You Look Like You Love Me. Rob told me that Izzy is shy but that certainly didn’t come across, this is the first time I have seen her singing on stage. People first got to see Izzy during lockdown when Rob kept busy streaming Country music two days a week when his ‘Cactus Club’ entertained us which was a sort of online Country magazine with plenty of good music, chit chat and lots of wacky antics from Izzy. I am glad that he has now transferred this to his stage act. A lot of artists sing this song as a duet sometimes calling on someone in the audience to assist or adding Ella Langley to the backing track. Rob and Izzy interacted together very well and it was very entertaining and I have included it on my phone video. Rob ended the first set with Darryl Worley’s Messed Up In Memphis.
Rob opened the second set with Dean Martin’s Memories Are Made Of This followed by Don Williams’ First Fool In Line which has got to be one of Don’s most requested songs. Originally released on 2012 on his album And So It Goes, it remains a popular 32-count 4-wall line dance that everyone still wants to hear and it always fills the dance floor as it did tonight. From an old favourite to a newer song with Dan and Shay’s Bigger Houses a heartfelt ode to the American dream, exposing the never-ending pursuit of materialistic bliss, this was followed by Shaboozey’s A Bar Song. Next it was time for another duet, a new song for them with Rob being joined by Izzy to sing Hayes Carll and Bonnie Whitmore’s Another Like You. Can’t say I have heard this song before although it’s 15 years old. Izzy gave it a bit of class and I hope Rob includes it in his set in the future. It also meant it was time for a barn dance.
After The Montgomery’s Brotherly Love it was time to do some requests. Rob asked for requests early in the evening and I think he managed to get through all of them including Alan Jackson’s So You Don’t Have To Love Me Anymore, a beautiful ballad that Rob told us he hadn’t sung for years. This was followed by Raleigh Keegan’s Jealous of the Sun. Rob has a jovial personality with plenty of light hearted banter and it was clear he was having as much fun as we were on a very cold January night.
Next we heard a single he
recorded during lockdown. You’re The Reason is an old Hack Locklin song from 1961. He told us it’s still available as a download from iTunes. He joked that each download earns him 69p but as most people stream it he only makes .0069p per stream so it’s not going to make him rich quick. It was a good version of an old classic.
Rob has often told me that he rarely sings girls’ songs but he does include a couple which tonight included Jill King’s Can’t Let Go which is still popular with line dancers. This was followed by George Jones’ Billy B. Bad to close the second set.
As usual my £1 investment in the raffle brought no reward so after a few songs from DJ Phil it was time for the final set which opened with Tebey’s Blinding Lights, Josiah Siska’s 3 Tequila Floor, Glen Frey’s Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed and Blake Shelton’s Texas. Next we heard his second girls’ song of the evening Miranda Lambert’s I Ain’t In Kansas Anymore. Having worked with other people all his life either in bands, trios or duos, he went solo in 2014 but still occasionally works with Bob Keeley and Nadine Somers in the Nadine Somers Band and he has also been US country comedian Rich Hall’s right hand man since 2001 providing the musical accompaniment with his Black Liars Band in which he performs as Myron T. Buttram. Rob remains very busy with solo gigs when he’s not touring with Rich Hall.
A few more songs from his final set at the Milton included Randy Travis’ Where That Came From, Post Malone’s Fallin’ In Love, William Michael Morgan’s Gone Enough, Ty England’s Should’ve Asked Her Faster! a good cowboy charleston, Tim McGraw’s I Like It, I Love It and Brooks & Dunn’s Whiskey Under the Bridge.
Rob ended the evening with the ever popular Lennerockers’ High Class Lady a song that is regularly heard at the end of a country evening. The enthusiastic applause and shouts for “More” were well deserved tonight. I feel Rob really did us proud with a well chosen programme of classic and newer country. For an encore we went back in time with Bruce Channel’s Hey! Baby a US No 1 hit from 1962. I look forward to seeing Rob again at a club and hopefully with Rich Hall on his next tour which starts at the end of May.
Click below to see my phone video of Rob Childs at The Milton CMC.
Silver Churn CMC, Dartington Devon
Chris Harris
by Phil Jenkins
3rd January 2026
Thanks to everyone who turned out on a bitterly cold night, everyone soon warmed up to the pure Country sounds of Chris Harris,who braved a journey from Swansea at the last moment, to stand in for the flu bound, Chis James.
Chris reads his audience well with some mean guitar picking and excellent vocals, keeping the music flowing and the dance floor full, with everyone enjoying music from, Randy Travis, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, George Strait, Keith Whitley, Alan Jackson, Waylon Jennings, The Eagles, John Denver, Don Gibson, Don Williams and Hank Williams Jr.
Great stuff, pure Country, just the way we like it.
Sadly one of our regulars, Michael Tilley, passed away just before Christmas. Michael and Mandy loved their dancing and so our thoughts are with Mandy and his family.
Anyone who used to follow Medicine Bow will be sad to hear that John Pearson, singer and songwriter with the band, who emigrated to Canada, also passed away at the end of 2025, John was still writing songs up until his death.