WEDNESDAY,JULY9,2003
FEATURE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN =15
TAKE A JUBILEE JAUNT
Follow Massachusetts Street north across the river, passing the I-70 exit. Continue north until the US-24/US-40 junction and turn east. Follow the highway 12 miles to Tonganoxie, and turn right on Fourth Street. Annie's Country Jubilee is at the corner of Fourth and Main streets. Adult tickets are $10.50.
Tonganoxie opry presented a chance to see a slice of Americana. Erlinger attended a show with three friends, expecting to hear bluegrass. Instead, he heard a Branson-inspired mix of 1970's country, modern country, country gospel and pop music.
"It's a lot like 'American Idol,' but it's really truly America," he said. "You got to experience it if you want to get the whole story of country music."
'Nobody's throwing beer bottles!
Patrons Erlinger's age are a rarity at Annie's, where more than 90 percent of the audience qualifies for a senior citizen discount. Aside from a half-dozen middle-aged couples, the entire audience seems capable of remembering Hank Williams croon "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on an AM radio.
The band members, however, are more likely to have grown up with Hank Williams, Jr.—the one best known for coining the theme for Monday Night Football. Their musical backgrounds range from playing with Brian Setzer's band to playing eight years' worth of Saturday nights at Fun House Pizza in Independence, Mo.
Steel guitarist Fred Uzzell paid for his cars in high school with gig money from his rock and roll bands. Now he gets his paycheck as a chief financial officer for a credit card processing company and plays at Annie's because he enjoys playing country music and hanging out with his friends.
"Most of us have played in bars and are glad to be out of it," he said. "You'll never have this kind of family at a bar. And nobody's throwing beer bottles, either."
The Annie's family exists thanks to the vision of Glen Smith, a retired heavy equipment operator who opened the theater in 1994. Smith grew up with a love for the Grand Ole Opry, but stopped listening to country music in 1978 because he thought it was too suggestive. A few years later, Smith attended an opry show and was impressed with the clean, family-oriented program. He carried that ethic over to his show, then known as Glen's Opry, by insisting on approving all of the songs before they were performed.
Richard Gintowt/Kansan
Opry-goer Calvin Stokes, 77, recalled a time the band caught Smith off-guard with a version of Garth Brooks' song, "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)."
"He came down pretty lewd on that," said
Singer Ronni Ward rests in the dressing room before taking the stage in the second hall or the snow. Ward, a fitness instructor and music teacher, played in bars with her husband before joining Annie's Country Jubilee Band.Her favorite performers are Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell.
Richard Gintowt/Kansan
Vocalist Jim Winters, left, and sound engineer Rick McKinsey announce the winners of a $60 raffle prize. Annie's Country Jubilee has a raffle during the intermission of every performance.
Richard Gintowt/Kansan
Performers at Annie's Country Jubilee see this sign before taking the stage. Former owner Glen Smith, a devout Christian, put the sign in the dressing rooms because he was offended by suggestive country music.
Stokes while laughing, who drives 50 miles from Liberty, Mo., every week to see the show.
'For old people'
In May, Smith sold the theater to Annie Dunavin, a regular performer at the theater.
Winters said Dunavin was not quite as strict with the show's content.
"We're still not doing swinging doors, jukebox and a barstool songs, but the rules have loosened up a bit," he said.
The rules would have to loosen up a lot to get 17-year-old Destiny Firucci and 18-year-old Elzy Folsom to think about going. The Tonganoxie teens said Annie's was "for old people, that's about it."
Annie's does not need the patronage of younger listeners to sell out the theater and pack local restaurants. But the theater's aging clientele indicates that its days may be numbered if it does not start attracting a younger crowd.
Betty Crowell, owner of the Big Creek Country Show in Pleasant Hill, Mo., said she had thought about the possibility of outlasting the show's audience and was trying to attract a younger crowd.
"I don't know what will happen," she said. "We just go from week to week."
But for Larry Smith, a retired electrical lineman with Kansas City Power and Light who performs every weekend at oprys in Kansas and Missouri, the opry scene is just as alive as ever.
"There's more talent in this two-state area than anywhere in the country," he said. "If you travel around and ask for family country music shows, this is still the best place you'll find."
— Edited by Kevin Wiggs