European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Iville m Ai n c a Juto one ithe x in with Nuch band one Bdl 1usic ilex had Shuw s by Lown Ollof but what do i know people write to this paper All the Lime from Threeman Carrier Pigeon relay stations in the Sahara land similar places putting Down dissatisfied Heidelberg housewives who find of nov All we get to watch Are the pigeons and the occasional they and rightly Mervyn Conns festival is at least As Good As and likewise Nils a definite void notice the letter writers from the cohort a areas say we watch it All the and Why aint it better they dont keep their sets tuned to the German programs out of if youre a True country music is better than no country country music English style included a concentrated promotional Campaign this year the British record companies Are hoping to Harvest a record crop of country fans that included getting Dolly Parlon on the cover of the sunday times Conns demure mostly hired specifically for the were everywhere inside the decked out in Continental rechecked Western shirts like the tablecloths in an italian restaurant a la a riot of Henna Cowboy cute ban Danas around their is mtg from Nashville the radio Side of the House owns the opry sent a film Crew for the festivities and a Bohan of Tennessee official tourism office came with an award for Conn which he presented inside the but outside the concert fans came Early to spend a few crowded hours among the Booths space was purchased by record com country music the British country music cigarette companies and by South pm which provided a bar serving Only the real you could get your genuine Cowboy boots and Western shirts in addition to the usual Bagful of bumper stickers Bohan handed out the ones that said follow me to Tennessee and Lapel buttons and cold the dress code for the crowd seemed to be something Cowboy looking if youve got it and ranged from a few elaborate costumes Complete with Bullet studded gun belts with real looking six shooters through a lot of cow boy hats and one fellow was circulating a petition aimed at the asking for More country music on the he thrust it at me and started babbling about How there is Only about three hours a week of what everybody wants More of which is country music on the air in Britain except for the occasional Midnight reception of an and they dont usually play country at Midnight and anyway didst i think it was i told him it certainly sounded strange to me and signed his petition with a i thought the idea of a British country and Western band too it if your ideas about country music came from until i saw an Irish one singing thank god in a country and thumping their Way through my Tennessee Mountain that was Early on and set the Lone for the Homegrown Side of the festival whatever else it May British country musics annual Bash is like nothing youll Ever see any where near your Tennessee Mountain but it has own British and must certainly be British country bands come in All from the Irish laments of Philomena Begley and Ray Lyn Baro the Conway and Loretta of the Emerald Isle to heavily electric Colt which provides a pretty Good copy of the the thinnest though far from the worst of the old world country Talent was englishman Keith who idolizes Hank Williams and has a Mellow voice Simi Lar to manifold also tends to write songs that arc profoundly familiar you find yourself trying to match words to the familiar like on name that one of his songs had the same Melody and style As Ank Williams your cheating another is a reworking of Kristofferson me and Bobby Mosa Beach now query Carl Perkins about which guitar player was sitting in on the session on july 1959 when they All left Early to go to the if manifold is approaching songwriting from the Folkie in which you Start out by assuming that everything is or at Best a a Melody borrowed Here and there is not any big wont travel too far Back in the land of the not with our surfeit of this fusion confusion of Folk and country in Britain May account somewhat for the recent popularity of american Don who has taken England by storm this last his trademark a battered leather Western perched Over an suitably timeworn graced the cover of almost every country music magazines festival although certainly a Star in the Nashville orbit he has a song in the billboard country charts now and it int the is More a Folk Singer than either a Cowboy or a hillbilly whatever that thais Worth a lot in London these he topped the Bill the first night winning the first really energetic audience response of the his popularity extends into surprising Corners Rock guitarist Eric Clapton is a Don Williams fan who has been known to wander into the stage act and Start playing a quiet Clapton came to Wembley for a View of his favorite country Singer and after the show returned to the hotel with Hank Thompson and assorted British and american the mostly scruffy looking group pulled some overstuffed chairs into a Circle and were shortly out raging the liveried Al night waiters with a loud study of the differences Between the american and the British concept of barroom Williams went up to his room Early and Thompson began roving the clumps of american conventioneers who were having their own party across the look ing for which he Clapton mostly smiled and everyone was sound asleep some Hank slight where by the time the Sun came up and nothing got so much for wild Showbiz one Showbiz Credo that big names sell no matter what they can do was sadly in evidence at Dennis Veteran of Guni Moke Gunlaw to the British and Star of gave an acting lesson on the teaching Point was that performing and lib for a live audience is a different thing entirely from performing for a camera not Only did his years of experience and polished delivery to Transfer badly to the Ming Job that he signed on but Weaver has lately got it into his head that Hes a country i was embarrassed to be an the material he writes is a reflection of his lifestyle clean living organic meditation his wife came to the backstage bar during the evening several times to order Orange juices for weavers songs Are like the songs in a and they Arent but they Arent commercial and he Hast quite mastered the concept of singing in he suffered a similar problem with his gentle Ben and Kentucky Jones to remember them neither did i until i started Reading some record company they were Nons exploitative series that quickly faded Marshall Sam Mccloud is something else the hard bitten Cowboy who chases bad Guys through the Street of Manhattan on horseback and who Doest mind too terribly having to plug one with his shooter every now and is immensely not Only in the Stales but in Europe As that Why he was on the Bill in London and in the main event was in of but there were on night sideshows in Gme where he was billed As Dennis Mccloud and in where he was simply sheriff no other he was at the top of the Bill in the Bottom in there were a lot of other people on the stage at web ranging from the ridiculous Sherri i Mccloud to the polemic Jean Shepard stopped singing Halfway through her time and made a speech about the bad Guys violating the purity of country music to the Sublime Mickey Newbury singing his own material in a rare and Superb personal is it Wurtin a trip by an american country fan next easter if youre stationed in absolutely in probably in if youre really serious about the Nashville sound and you were going to go some where in Europe see you Mcgee nut but close enough to make it a guessing he did do an upfront Hank Williams tune be care Ful of the stones that you throw and did a Nice old opry style Yodel Folk music is still a draw in and country fandom is at least partly an outgrowth of the Folk the same people who used to try to find out exactly which summer afternoon it was that Woody Guthrie said i to a Field hand on Holiday in her stay 1977 Billie to Spears signing autographs and Selling her records at a music festival sales the stars and stripes Page 17