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Music show organizers recognized
For all they do -- and to give them a plug -- organizers of the Fort Scott Country Music Show received recognition from the city commission this week.
Steve and Nancy Cliffman, along with his children and grandchildren, and Jason and Darlene Richison, join forces twice a month to put on the show at Memorial Hall, 1 E. Third St. This Sunday's 2 p.m. performance will feature Rachel Center, a regular on Kelly's Kountry Junction on KOZK/KOZJ Ozarks Public Television.
"It made me feel good that they care and that they support it," Cliffman said, adding City Manager Dave Martin has been good to work with.
The first country music show was Feb. 20, 2011 and performances at Memorial Hall started June 26, 2011. Each show features the Dewayne Bowman and the Swingin' West Band, plus a featured performer or two and Jason Richison, who also runs the soundboard.
Bowman has been out the past few shows because he had open heart surgery, but Cliffman said he's slated to return Sunday. "There are some people that just come to see him," Cliffman said.
Center, 23, lives in Greenland, Ark., a few miles south of Fayetteville where she attends the University of Arkansas. She plans to apply to nursing school at the end of this semester, but music is her passion. She tries to fit her singing in with school work.
"I've been singing since I could talk, really. I've just recently gotten into the shows the past two or three years," Center said in a telephone interview. Her parents, Beverly and Kenneth both sing and play guitar -- and are teaching her to play now -- but it was her grandfather, the late Frankie Kelly, who gave Center her start.
"He played the fiddle and played all over the place," she said. "He had his own band. Mostly I would just jump on stage with him and start singing."
Center said she has performed with the Swingin' West Band on Kelly's Kountry Junction and is looking forward to her first appearance in Fort Scott. "I'm actually really excited. I love the band that I played with (on Kelly's Kountry Junction). ... They're by far the best group of musicians I've been able to play with."
She expects to sing the Hank Williams tune "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," and will have several others ready.
This year, Cliffman said show attendance has averaged 135-140 people. Sometimes there are 200 and others, 115. Singer/songwriter Ron Williams, son of Leona Williams, also a singer/songwriter, will return Nov. 4 and Leona is due back Dec. 4.
The certificate presentation was meant to give the showcase a boost.
"I just love doing it," said Cliffman, a master scheduler at Peerless Architectural Windows and Doors. "We're not making anything at it, but I'm really not doing it to make any money off it anyway. I just enjoy doing it."
If he was talking to someone who didn't know anything about the country music show, Richison said he would say the Cliffmans are "very nice people to work with.
"All the band members think so, too. I think that's one reason it's been successful. They're not doing it to make money. They're just doing it to try and keep music in town," Richison said. He added some shows come out ahead and some don't, but whatever profit is made always goes back into the show.
"That's just impressed me that they're not in it for the money," he added. "I know a lot of people in town who go to it who really appreciate it, too."
Some people offer donations just to keep the show alive, Richison said.