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.
Delta Dawn CMC, Tonbridge, Kent
Wayne T with Mick, Terry and Dawn Coomber
Nick Catford
29th November 2024
Wayne Thornhill launched his singing career as a cabaret singer in the mid 2010s singing mainly chart covers. It wasn’t until late 2017 that he switched to Country music as Wayne T. His dad, Arthur Thornhill, was already well known on the Country circuit as one half of the Thornhills Duo and a founder member of popular Liverpool based Country band West Virginia in the late 1970s.
I first visited the Delta Dawn CMC in Tonbridge in May 2023 and the first artist I saw there was Wayne T who I was seeing for the first time. The club is run by Terry and Dawn Coomber who first met at a Talahassie gig at a Country club in 1989. Tonight was a very special night for Terry and Dawn and also for Terry’s Dad Mick who was celebrating his 88th birthday with a party at the club. Mick has been a lifelong Country music fan and he too ran his own club, Texas Rose CMC in Pembury, Kent until the early 2000s. In the 1990s, West Virginia were presidents of Mick’s club and Keith and Arthur Thornhill were good friends with Mick. Having met Dawn at a Country club it is appropriate that Terry proposed to her on stage at a West Virginia show at the Prestatyn Pontins. A very romantic thing to do one may think. Dawn said “yes”, but then Arthur, (Wayne T’s dad) quipped “Did you know you left you knickers in our van Dawn?” It is probably true to say that Terry, Dawn, Mick and Wayne T are all one big extended Country family.
Wayne kicked off with Jerry Kilgore’s Love Trip which set the mood for the evening, traditional country classics that quickly proved popular with everyone there. Wayne has a warm personality with a jovial Scouse sense of humour that made it easy for him to make friends and create a good rapport with the audience. In the first set there were plenty of old favourites spanning 50 years and these included Tim McGraw’s Just to See You Smile, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Buck Owens’ Think Of Me, Hal Ketchum’s Old Soldiers, Mel McDaniel’s Louisiana Saturday Night and Vince Gill’s Young Man’s Town.
Often, it’s nice to get back to traditional country, with the songs that first drew me to the club circuit in the 90s. There were a few songs tonight that are rarely heard, these included Zach Top’s Sounds Like The Radio, Lee Roy Parnell arrangement of Take These Chains From My Heart, Larry Stewart’s Alright Already and another Buck Owens song; he is one of my all time favourite Country singers. Wayne told us that Made In Japan was one of the first Country songs he ever sung. My pick of the evening was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Face on the Cutting Room Floor a song that The Thornhills always include in their set, in my view you can’t get enough Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
There was a free buffet in the second break as part of Mick’s birthday party. A few more songs that stood out during the evening included Eagles’ Peaceful Easy Feeling, Alan Jackson’s Don’t Rock The Jukebox and Tracy Byrd’s I’m From The Country and an excellent rendition of Garth Brooks’ If Tomorrow Never Comes. Towards the end of the evening there were more classics like Desert Rose Band’s One Step Forward, George Strait’s I Just Want to Dance with You and Merle Haggard’s Okie from Muskogee. Don Williams’ Tulsa Time brought the traditional audience response that I would have expected 30 years ago. Wayne finished the evening with Gene Watson’s Carmen and as an encore, George Strait’s The Fireman.
It was a very enjoyable evening from a polished performer who knew how to please his audience. The Thornhills Family Band have agreed to play at Delta Dawn but not until 2027, I hope it comes off.
See below my phone video of Wayne T at the Delta Dawn CMC.
Epping Riders CMC, Epping, Essex
Richard Palmer with Pat & Jean, organisers of the Epping Riders
Nick Catford
25th November 2024
Richard Palmer is best known as a line dance performer. He has won six CCN awards for Dance Act of the year most recently in 2024, five Crystals Boot awards for Dedicated Dance Act Of The Year and three UK Line Dance Awards for Dance Act Of The Year. Despite this, he has a very wide repertoire of Country songs spanning more than 50 years and he tells me he is equally at home in a Country and Western club as he is in a line dance club. Epping Riders does have some line dancers but is primarily a Country & Western club. When I saw Richard for the first time in early 2019 he had dropped guitar, which he had learnt to play when he was six, from his stage act but that in no way detracted from his performance as, in my view, the voice is an instrument; however he now plays guitar again.
Richard opened the evening with George Jones’ Billy B Bad, George Strait’s I Just Want To Dance With You, Don Williams’ First Fool In Line and great pair from Alan Jackson, Talk Is Cheap followed by 5 O’clock Somewhere, one of my favourite Alan Jackson songs. Tonight he played mainly classic Country with a few newer songs and it was soon clear that he had the balance spot on with lots of friendly banter that allowed him to quickly create an excellent rapport with his audience. He asked for requests and he got plenty of them. Someone wanted something by The Eagles so he sung Lyin’ Eyes and Take it Easy later in the evening.
A few more songs from the first set included Patty Loveless, Mr. Man In The Moon, Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again another George Strait song Down Louisiana Way and Luke Combs’ 5 Leaf Clover. It was good to see a change of shirt each set.
Richard is a very visual singer with a lot of facial expressions and head movements. He has a very clear voice with lots of rising crescendos; I could hear every word he sung which you can’t say about many other singers. He also played his guitar with a lot of enthusiasm. His presentation was polished and professional and I for one was entertained from start to finish.
After singing Merle Haggard’s Sing Me Back Home he explained that Merle was one of the first singers to get him into Country music when he was a teenager. A few other songs that stood out for me as the evening progressed included Jaden Hamilton’s Heaven’s Jukebox, Roger Miller’s King Of The Road, Marty Stuart’s version of Don’t Be Cruel and Charlie Landsborough’s What Colour Is The Wind. I felt ballads really suited his crystal clear voice. One of my picks of the evening was a reggae version of Kris Kristofferson’s Help Me Make It Through The Night. John Holt recorded this reggae version in 1973 and I really feel the song suits a reggae arrangement. I have heard other Country artist sing this version and I really like it. Strangely I saw US Country singer Nancy Hays doing a reggae song a few months ago and I really liked that too.
A few songs from the final set included Wade Bowen’s Day of the Dead, Randy Travis’ Where That Came From, Hal Ketchum’s Small Town Saturday Night, Drake Milligan’s Save It For A Sunny Day, Garth Brooks’ Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old and Desert Rose Band’s One Step Forward.
At the end of the evening Richard took us out in fine style with an excellent rendition Garth Brooks’ The Dance followed by Gary Perkins’ Thank You. For an encore we had Lucky Lips. I know this is best known as a Cliff Richard song but it was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who wrote many of Elvis’ hits and the song was originally recorded by R & B singer Ruth Brown eight years before Cliff recorded it. The applause at the end of the evening was prolonged and well deserved. Richard Palmer entertained us with three excellent sets and, I feel, he is a real credit to the British Country scene. I drove home a happy man.
See my phone video of Richard Palmer at the Epping Riders
Milton CMC, Gravesend, Kent
PJ with club organiser, Gill Garwood
Nick Catford
17th November 2024
Paul James, better know these days as simply PJ, has been line dancing for 27 years. He opened his first line dance club in 2014 and although he always enjoyed singing in private it wasn’t until 2017 that he started singing on the Country circuit. Initially he didn’t travel far from his Durham home but his ambition to give up the day job and work full time as a Country singer and line dance instructor in 2020 was scuppered by covid. With a CCN award for ‘best newcomer’ in 2021 he started travelling further from home and in August 2023 he fulfilled his ambition to leave work and go full time on the circuit and he now has a very full diary.
It was good to see him at the Milton CMC in Gravesend on 17th November. The club was full and with the dance floor throbbing to DJ Philip’s music, it was clear that we were going to have a good night even before PJ took to the stage. He opened with George Jones’ Billy B Bad followed by a couple from William Michael Morgan, Missing and In Walked You. Next we heard Jaden Hamilton’s Heaven’s Jukebox which features Badland’s Russ Kitchen on lead guitar on the backing track. PJ has recorded a number of his own backing tracks, some with the help of established musicians. Another of his tracks, a Gary Perkins song, features The Breeze’s Andy Mottram on lead guitar and bass.
When it was time for a barn dance I was surprised to hear Lindisfarne’s This Guitar Never Lies. Everyone took to the floor so it clearly does the job nicely. Paul gave us a couple from Midland, Runnin’ Wild and Playboys and a triple from George Strait, I Just Want to Dance with You, The Cowboy Rides Away and Adelida. Everybody seems to be singing Randy Travis’ new song Where That Came From. It’s a beautiful song and I never tire of hearing it. As Paul is a dance instructor there were, of course, lots of useful dance suggestions that ensured the dance floor remained busy from start to finish. I got a chance to see PJ in action as an instructor a couple of years ago and he quickly built up a good rapport with his dancers; I almost began to believe he could teach me a move or two – but maybe not!
As the evening progressed, we had a good selection of Country songs mainly from the last 30 years but there were some real classics too. A few that stood out for me included Brother Phelps’ Any Way The Wind Blows, Tim McGraw’s I Like It, I Love It; he describes Tim as one of his biggest Country influences. We also heard Luke Combs’s The Kind of Love We Make, Jim Reeves’ I Love You Because, Keith Urban’s Texas Time, Drake Milligan’s Save It For A Sunny Day and then it was time for another barn dance, this time something a bit more conventional with Marty Stuart’s Tempted.
In the final set we heard Wade Bowen’s Day of the Dead, Troy Cassar-Daley’s Things I Carry Around, Don Williams’ First Fool In Line and another from Drake Milligan’s Don’t Look Down and another Tim McGraw, Just to See You Smile. PJ closed a great evening of Country music with Josh Kiser’s I’m Never Drinking Again which brought well deserved applause and lots of cheering. As an encore he sung Cody Johnson’s ‘Til You Can’t which PJ described as one of the best songs to come out of Nashville in recent years. He also told me later that Cody Johnson is one of his favourite Country artists. PJ did us proud tonight; he looks and sounds like a Country singer and it was good to see a change of shirt each set, something that used to be common practice once. I look forward to seeing him again in the not too distant future.
See below a phone video of PJ at the Milton.
Hickory Lake CMC, Feering, Essex
Aiden J Daniels pictured with Wendy & Dave Haylock.
Nick Catford
10th November 2024
Although he has been singing Country for more than 40 years, Aiden J Daniels will be a new name to many as it’s only in recent years that he has started travelling as far south as Essex from his Leeds home. He has been to Hickory Lake before but I missed him on the first occasion and have been looking forward to seeing him for the first time on 10th November. I certainly wasn’t disappointed and judging by the enthusiastic applause and comments from club members at the end of the evening everybody had a very enjoyable evening.
Being Remembrance Sunday, before Aiden took to the stage there was a short service organised by Mick (Sarge), Big Jim and Roger. Mick read a citation and Carla played the last post on the trumpet. We all stood in silence for two minutes remembering those that died to ensure our freedom. Later in the evening, after the raffle, Big Jim conducted a special auction of two Remembrance Day cushions made by Roz, this raised £33 for the Royal British Legion.
Aiden launched his Country career in 1989 when he formed a duo with his brother Tim called Me N R Kid. The duo only lasted 18 months as Tim was offered a job as drummer with popular Bradford band Dillinger. It’s then that Aiden first launched his solo career adopting the name ‘Daniels’ as he had been drinking Jack Daniels while thinking of a new name. He’s not the first Country artist to be named after a popular pub spirit. George Moody’s Country Squires were so named when the band played their first gig in 1971. They had no name at that time and when guitarist Rae England was asked what the band was called he looked at the drinks behind the bar and saw Squires Gin “The Country Squires” was his reply.
Aiden kicked the evening off with Tim McGraw’s Just to See You Smile, Don Williams’ Imagine That and Randy Travis’ Where That Came From. I still find it difficult to believe that Randy Travis’ voice has been recreated using artificial intelligence after a near fatal stroke in 2013 that left him unable to sing. What a beautiful song it is too. Aiden is a consummate entertainer very quickly creating a great rapport with the audience with a rich country voice and a lot of very funny one liners. Before he relaunched his Country music career in 2018 he spent 20 years working in cabaret throughout the UK and on cruise ships winning his first prestigious Comedian Of The Year award in 2000 with two more to follow in later years.
Aiden gave us a well chosen mix of songs, some old, some newer but all strictly Country. He told me that he will never sing ‘pop’ songs, everything has to be strictly Country. A few others that stood out during the first set included Mark Wills’ Places I’ve Never Been, The Mavericks’ As Long As There’s Loving Tonight, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and a couple from George Strait, Famous Last Words Of A Fool and All My Ex’s Live In Texas, a good western swinger. It was nice to hear a few songs that aren’t heard so often in clubs including Brady Seals’ Love You Too Much and Confederate Railroad’s Queen Of Memphis.
A few more songs that stood out for me as the evening progressed included William Michael Morgan’s In Walked You, Gord Bamford’s Diamonds In A Whiskey Glass Cody Johnson’s Half a Song, Sundance Head’s Close Enough to Walk with John Schneider’s nice smoocher, What’s A Memory Like You, ending the second set.
Hickory Lake is a friendly club catering for all styles of dancing whether it be line dance or western dancing and it’s always good to see the dance floor busy all evening. Aiden had little problem keeping the bums off seats as he went through his well chosen programme, that in the third set included Rodney Crowell’s Lovin’ All Night, Merle Haggard’s Workin’ Man Blues, Hank Williams’ Move It on Over and Drake Milligan’s Goin’ Down Swingin’ a modern western swinger. Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems meant it was time for a barn dance. Aiden took us out with Keith Whitley’s Don’t Close Your Eyes a nice smoocher that filled the floor. He will be back at the club for another helping of good humour next year.
Click below to see my phone video of Aiden J Daniels at the Hickory Lake CMC
Wraysbury CMC, Staines, Berkshire
Rocky Road Ramblers
Nick Catford
1st November 2024
I have seen Jonny and Lynnette many times but I have never seen their 4-piece family band The Rocky Road Ramblers, so I have been looking forward to seeing them at the first time at the Wraysbury CMC near Heathrow Airport on 1st November. The band was well received at the club in 2023 so it was a welcome return for many people.
Jonny Williams and Lynnette Marie were both successful solo country singers until they decided to form a duo together in 2009. Since then, this husband and wife duo who were married in 2014, have been much in demand with their traditional style of Country music that has earned them a CCN duo of the year award in 2116, a female vocalist of the year award for Lynnette in 2017 and a CCN Services to Industry award in 2023. Jonny & Lynnette formed a band called Rocky Road Ramblers in 2017 which also features Lynette’s younger brother Adrian Marsh on lead guitar and lap steel and Jonny’s daughter Sophie O’Shea on drums.
The Ramblers opened the evening with Merle Haggard’s Workin’ Man Blues followed by another Haggard classic Swinging Doors. The Rocky Road Ramblers play traditional Country and Western and it was quickly clear that we were in from an evening crammed full of old classic songs. Next we heard a couple from Hank Williams, Jambalaya and I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, a nice waltz and later in the first set Hank’s Tennessee Border.
Completely different in style to any other band on the circuit today they have a unique presentation with Lynnette playing a stand up slap bass affectionately called Maybelle, an instrument we see far too infrequently these days. In the duo, Jonny plays a classic Gretsch guitar which gives them an authentic ’50s sound but in the band he plays rhythm guitar. Adrian is a top glass guitarist and equally proficient on the lap steel and he’s a good singer as well. There have been few lady drummers in British Country; I think I have only seen one, Rosie Hayward. A drummer’s job is to keep the rhythm and provide the foundation for the overall sound of the band; Sophie played her skins with flair and enthusiasm.
A few other songs from the first set included Patsy Cline’s Walkin’ After Midnight, Buck Owens’ Act Naturally, Chuck Berry’s C’est La Vie and Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. With lots of lively banter between Jonny and Lynette and Jonny constantly on the move around the stage the band was very visual they had little problem making friends with everyone very quickly. I was also impressed with a change of outfit each set, something that was common practice in the old days but less often seen now.
As the evening progressed, we heard more Hank Williams songs including Hey, Good Lookin’ and Take These Chains From My Heart. A few others that stood out for me included George Jones’s Walk Through This World With Me and Porter Wagoner’s Green Green Grass of Home. Adrian sang lead on a couple of songs including Tennessee Ernie Ford’s The Shot Gun Boogie and he finished second set with and instrumental version of [Ghost] Riders in the Sky.
The Ramblers opened the third set with another Hank Williams song You Win Again followed by Leroy Van Dyke’s Walk On By. Next came one I had requested, Clint Bradley’s Slap That Bass. Jonny explained that when they were doing a gig a few years back Clint was in the audience and Lynnette didn’t know who he was. Jonny quipped “by the way the chap who wrote this song is just up there at the back”. “I nearly died!” Lynnette joked.
Towards the end of the evening there were plenty more old Country favourites like Chuck Berry’s Thirty Days, another one sung by Adrian Marsh, Willie Nelson’s Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain and Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs. Then it was way back in time to 1950 with Hank Penny’s Bloodshot Eyes which I haven’t heard for 30+ years. On most songs either Jonny or Lynette sung lead but there were some duets like Johnny Cash & June Carter’s Jackson.
The band took us out with a few rock ‘n’ roll favourites; Rock Around The Clock, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On, Blue Suede Shoes and finishing the evening with Carl Perkins’ Matchbox. I love traditional Country and Western and this has to be one of the best evenings of entertainment I have had in a while. Great singing, great songs, great instrumentation from a top class Country band. Can’t wait to see them again.
I videoed four songs on my phone during the evening which you can see here.
Pedlars, Swaffham, Norfolk
Dan Thornhill
by Sid Randell
17th November 2024
It was yet another great evening of countrified music and entertainment from Dan Thornhill with a lot of new songs added to his repertoire which kept everyone dancing on the floor throughout the night.
On the 24th November it’s George McIntosh.
Silver Churn, Totnes, Devon
Honky Tonk Strangers
by Phil Jenkins
2nd November 2024
We had a brilliant night of entertainment from the Honky Tonk Strangers.
On lead guitar and vocals was Mark Jacobs, on steel, Dave Wheelhouse, both from Hampshire, on bass from, Kent, Harley Dave and on drums and vocals, a special guest , from Plymouth and of Medicine Bow fame Mr Dave Cawse.
It was great to have a four-piece band on stage and some brilliant musicians, playing non- stop Country music, the way we like it, keeping everyone on their toes with a mixture of fast and slow Country classics.,
Having Dave and Mark on stage meant we were treated to some great Merle Haggard numbers, as well as music from Charley Pride, Buck Owens, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, George Strait, Elvis, Dave Dudley, Leeroy Van Dyke and Alan Jackson, great stuff, with everyone going home happy. One hundred percent live Country at it’s best.