14 = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FEATURE
WEDNESDAY, JULY9, 2003
Richard Gintowt/Kansan
Nini Blackburn performs a song at Annie's Country Jubilee in Tonganoxie. Blackburn's parents performed once on the Grand Ole Opry as members of "The Pine Trio."
Annie's Country Jubilee offers slice of Americana
Richard Gintowt rgintowt@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
It's 7:30 p.m., and the Annie's Country Jubilee Band has just kicked into its first song.
"Gonna have a party, every Saturday night," sings Jim Winters. With his sultry baritone croon, Winters could make a living as an Elvis impersonator. Judging by the captivated expressions on the wrinkled faces of the white-haired crowd, Winters could very well could be the King resurfaced.
As the band kicks the last note of the song to raucous applause, sound engineer Rick McKinsey's game show-like voice booms out of the speakers.
"Good evening ladies and gentleman, and welcome to Annie's Country Jubilee," he said with a smile. "In beautiful, tropical downtown ..."
"Tonganoxie, Kansas!" shouted the near-capacity crowd of 284, as if led by a flashing teleprompter above the stage.
'Good, clean family entertainment'
The eight performers onstage at Annie's are not thinking about their day jobs as fitness instructors, chief financial officers and industrial battery technicians. For two hours every Saturday night, they are an opry band. According to the Annie's faithful patrons, they are the best opry band in Kansas.
"There's no smoke,no drinking and no dirty talk. It's a wonderful show."
Lorie Corbin
Eudora resident
"There's no smoke, no drinking and no
dirty talk," said Lorie Corbin, an 80-year-old fan from Eudora who has been in Row D Seat 6 every Saturday night for the last five years. "It's a wonderful show."
Annie's is more than just good, clean family entertainment for the entertainers and 300 patrons who pack downtown Tonganoxie every Saturday. It is a place for friends to gather and family to meet; a place where the experiences of a sevendecade life can be neatly folded and placed in a little three-minute songs with room left over for a steel guitar solo.
For bluegrass musician Jon "Clamp" Erlinger, St. Louis graduate student, the