WORTHINGTON -- Last year, Jeff Meyer sat in the audience and enjoyed the variety of local talent showcased in the first edition of "Gone Country: A Salute to the Grand Ole Opry" at Memorial Auditorium Performing Arts Center in Worthington.
For "Salute to the Grand Ole Opry II," scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Meyer will be up on the stage, sharing his own singing talents with the assembled crowd.
"I tried out last year and didn't make it," Meyer explained. "This year, they're giving me a chance. ... I bought a ticket to the show last year and was really impressed by the singers and the band and the way they conducted everything."
Now, with a glimpse behind the scenes of what it takes to pull off such a variety production, he is even more impressed. Meyer, who works at Swift & Co. and honed his musical talent by singing karaoke, will sing two numbers -- songs popularized by Kenny Rogers and Merle Haggard -- backed up not by canned music, but by a live band.
That band features musical director Bill Shoup and Harold VanDer Sloot on guitars, Ken Clark on drums and Paul Larson on bass.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We have a lot of fun," said Shoup, who first got involved with productions at Memorial Auditorium in 1999 and has been involved in one or two shows a year ever since. "It's the same band that played for this show last year. Everybody's back. To me, a lot of the complications in working with other musicians are personalities, and these guys all have great personalities and are easy to get along with."
Shoup, who lives in Brandon, S.D., and works for Bedford Industries in Worthington, will also do some singing this year, including a duet with vocalist Rita Beecroft, who is returning to the auditorium stage after a short absence.
"I'm singing a duet with Bill," Beecroft detailed. "Ever since I first heard him sing and play, I've wanted to do a duet, so we're doing 'Whiskey Lullaby.' Then I'm also singing an Anne Murray song.
"It's a whole different thing than just getting up and singing with an accompanist at church or something or with a recording," she added about singing with the live band.
The band provides a level of comfort, as the vocalist isn't alone on the stage, Beecroft said, although that's unlikely to settle her own case of nerves come show time.
"My co-workers said 'Why would you do something you feel half sick about before you got out there?' but I've read that even the big-name stars get butterflies," related Beecroft, who is employed at Nobles County Family Services. "We've got people involved in this thing from just about every background imaginable. It's fun to see everybody come together for something like this, but their lives outside of this are completely different."
Teresa Dickey is serving as director of the annual spring production for a fifth year and also dances with a clogging group that will perform. Each year, she's amazed by the talent that crops up and tries to include as much variety as possible in the show.
"You're going to hear some of the veterans, but there are quite a few new voices out there," she detailed. "We've got the Prairie Thunder Cloggers, under the direction of Judie Johnson. There's a group of five of us, and it's a workout, I'll tell you that. We've also got the younger dancers (from Kay Prunty's dance studio), and I'll be making my debut of choreographing for them, under the direction of Kay. This year, we've also got Pat Brandt and the Gone Country Line Dancers, so there will be three different dancing segments."
ADVERTISEMENT
Another new addition to the vocal lineup is Judy Johnson, not to be confused with Judie Johnson the clogger. This Judy Johnson, also of Worthington, started singing with a country-western band at age 15.
"I did that until I got married, then I raised my family, and now they're all graduated from college, so it's time to do some stuff that's fun," she related. "This group is really fun to work with, and everybody's so supportive. The auditorium is just a great place to perform and such a nice asset for Worthington. Everybody there is so good at what they do."
Performances of "Gone Country" are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Memorial Auditorium. Reserved seating tickets are available by calling the auditorium box office, 376-9101. Hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday.
