NEWSLETTERS & FILE DOWNLOADS

Well summer is quickly creeping on and the weather is still pathetic - fingers crossed that July will be better than June.

It's been a busy month with weddings, however apart from enjoying two good nights the bonus was hearing some country music, as one week we had Kate Bain Band playing and the next was Manson Grant and The Dynamos.

I told you all last time that Slange Ava had been our first club award winners for the Sandy Swanson memoriam trophy; we have them booked to play as part of our Christmas show. However if you would like to hear them before then, ourselves the Festival committee along with Thurso Town Improvements Committee have booked them to play as part of the Gala Week programme. Everyone keeps saying there is not enough country music in the county so we thought it would be a good opportunity to put something on and also help funding. Hopefully it will be a success and if it is we might consider running something again in the future so please come along and support ourselves and the Thurso Town Improvements. The committee work hard all year round to keep the gala week tradition alive and raise funds for our town, the dance is on Friday 13th August at 9.00pm in the Legion so do turn up maybe a country night might be a regular event for the gala.

Speaking about events I keep getting asked for tickets for the Brendan Shine Show which is on in the Legion in October, this show has nothing to do with NNCMC - it's Peter Sutherland from Lybster who's running it. I spoke to Peter the other night and asked him where folk could get the tickets he said that they will be on sale from this week in the Legion.

From past experiences we know that June is a funny month, it's usually pretty quiet and last Friday night was no exception, although it was busier than I had thought given that a lot of the regulars were at a wedding. Although missing some old faces we did have visitors joining us from Elgin, Inverness, Orkney and Gary Macbeath and his wife from south of the border, all of whom seemed to have had a good night.

The night kicked off with Bill Alexander and Ernie Whiteoak or Nebraska taking the stage, both are regulars in the club and need no introduction to our members, Bill and Nebraska were part of our first ever Nashville show. Bill has a great country voice and plays a range of country classics old and new.

Next on stage were Norman Borland and the Double K Country Band. Norman was with us last year as part of a duo act but this time was joined by a four piece band, and was something new for me and as I hadn't heard Norman last year. Norman hails from Co. Donegal and is making quite a name for himself both here and in Ireland. His debut solo album recorded in 2007 is called Cross Country and that's exactly what we got all night - a real cross section of country material, impressively delivered. Norman sang some well known country numbers like Ashes of Love and his newly released single Catfish John but also some new songs such as One In A Million and Far Away. The Double K band consists of Ken Neely on drums, son Kenneth on steel and lead, also Jim Nichol on bass and Andy Cooper on rhythm. The guys have only been together since April however that certainly wasn't evident if I hadn't known. Young Kenneth shared vocals and did a great job - he also has a good country sound and I am sure has the ability to go far in his career given the right experience.

I didn't get a chance to say cheerio to them at the end of the night - we went away sharp as we were going off early in the morning to a wedding in Inverness, but I think they enjoyed themselves, and we certainly enjoyed having them with us. I will hopefully catch up with them in Ireland.

James Davidson, who is a member of Slange Ava, celebrated his 50th birthday with us on Friday night - he looked like he was having a great night and never seemed to be off the dance floor; however you better watch yourself now James, start taking things easy --- You'll never keep up with Shirley and Marilyn!!!! So stop trying ---

I won't be at the club for the next show we are going away to Ireland for the Country Fest, will give you all the news from that next time. Unfortunately I will miss one of mine - and everyone else's - favourites in the club Joe Moore, and joining him this time is Sharon Nixon. Sharon will be familiar to you who watch Hot Country; she is a very petite blonde who sings mostly ballads - her voice is not powerful although really quite different the only way I can describe it is that she warbles. Shame I'm missing her but I think she is on the stage at the Festival on Sunday so will catch her then. Nickels and Dimes are also back with us to support the acts on stage. Looks like you will all have a good night but remember to keep these boys in line for me.

I know this is not much of a newsletter but there's nothing in the way of news at the moment apart from football and tennis. Hopefully next time I will have more to tell you, but remember if any of you have news regarding your clubs or anything you think people might want to know drop me a line and I can spread the word.

Until next time fingers crossed for good weather

Keep it Country

Christine Gray
Chairperson NNCMC

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