When is will Narvel Felts be back?”

That question was asked countless times after Saturday night’s “final show” by we Music Ranch’s founding operators.

We promise, his health permitting, Narvel will be back in 2008. Either Kevin Grissom, Music Ranch’s new operator/producer, will schedule him or we will as a special show on some time other than a Saturday.

Many of those in the audience Saturday night had never heard Narvel, and became instant fans. Fans from Missouri, Indiana, Tennessee and Minnesota as well as Kentucky will be back whenever Narvel is here.

The three Saturday night shows since we announced that Kevin Grissom will take over the Music Ranch theater have been the best of the year. Our attendance is up. Narvel’s performance was great and the attendance great. We set a record for meals served in the Chow Hall.

Narvel was backed by the Dixie Creek Road Show band, playing without vacationing Matt Lyerla. That could have been a problem, but it wasn’t. The band was flawless as Narvel ranged over eight octaves: an accomplishment.

Yes there were tears as we parted with the last of our four house bands.

Kevin has announced a few changes. Tickets will be $8 for all adults. Children will be $4 for children under 12. Ticket sales will begin at 6:00 p.m. rather than 6:30, and for the first few shows at least, there will be open seating. There will be a few seats reserved for long-time customers of Music Ranch, as negotiated, but these are few and scattered – not the prime seats.

Vernon Curl – sidelined Saturday after a heart procedure earlier in the week – will be familiar as the popcorn maven under his third management team. He began with Ivan and Edna Jennings when the building was opened in 1993. Talk about endurance!

Nancy and I and the Chow Hall restaurant volunteers will be in the Chow Hall as usual.

There will be a few physical changes. We have cleaned a bit, added new directional signage, repaired steps from the southwest doors to the parking lot, and are repainting the floor in the Chow Hall main dining room.

Rick Thompson, the sound man for Kevin, has installed a new sound control board but has discovered he need not replace our speakers – they are as good as the newer ones – but they needed some adjustments that he has made. His new board and some additional equipment are going to add new dimensions to the sound experience.

The area above the stage will become the screen for projected images adding a new dimension to the theatrical experience. There also will be cameras for a variety of new experiences and for filming that will appear on thousands of cable and satellite home TVs.

Some of the improvements will take a little time, but you will notice the difference – and the similarities –in Grissom’s first show at Music Ranch Saturday July 21.

One of the differences will be immediately noticed – six guest performers: Ryan Ross guest vocalist, in an appearance widely promoted by Radio Station WXBC in Breckenridge County plus Eric Simmons, Michelle Cain, Sharon Hardin, Carl Powell and McKenzie Grissom. We’ve never had more than three!

We had a great show by Narvel and the Dixie Creek Road Show to end our nearly ten years in the Music Ranch theater building. Now we hope for an even greater show welcoming Kevin Grissom and the Country Cookin’ Band to the best country music theater in Kentuckiana.

Rube

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