European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday september 27, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 19 Erin go country Frank Jennings f by Dan Warfield is entertainment editor rank Jennings lectured with impish Grin and Beer driven intensity looking very much the stereotype of an irishman in his cups. We were in London drinking double Diamond talking about country music and an. I be been in country music a Long time he began since i was 11 years old before anybody Over Here started picking it up. My father used to Tell me you should listen to an they play Good songs on an that s where i got my taste for country music. I wrote a song about that it s called the reason Why i wrote that based on hearing country music from Nashville Tennessee broadcast from West Germany. You get it Good in the  the Frank Jennings Syndicate led by an Irish Man making a living in England singing american music plays British cd clubs american bases and cabarets. It was one of the Best British bands on stage at the Wembley country music festival this Spring. Jennings is a country music Star at Home. That does t mean quite the same thing in Britain As it does in Tennes see but the work is steady. He had planned to bring his show to . Clubs in Ger Many this month but it will be a while before that trip materializes. He won t work for the $200-$275 nightly wage those clubs Are willing to pay for an unknown coun try  commands about twice that fee in clubs in the . Jennings is prosperous enough with his Emi recording contract. But he said there s really no such thing As a country hit in England. There Are no country music charts As such there s Only a country album Chart. Our last album which was called heaven is my woman s love has been in there for seven months. But you see in England you have to recall what s called a crossover record you Hope that the coun try music fans will buy it but you have to record some thing the pop people will buy As  there Are More country music fans in England than you might think hardcore fanatics who dress up like Matt Dillon and strut Down to the Kentish equivalent of the Long Branch Ordinary Folk who Are hooked on it and yet More Ordinary Folk who can take it or leave it. Their numbers Are growing in spite of North americans who can t quite understand what the Nashville sound has to do with King Arthur s Countryside. I know what really bugs you is How the hell English people can do country music it seems strange to you does t it Well yes it did i admitted. He nodded sagely took a sip of Beer and leaned toward me a bit As if to preparing to whisper the location of a treasure. The Only Way i can explain it to you is that everybody thinks country music is from the South from Nashville Mississippi Texas Well i s pose it is. It s their Kinda music. If an american wants to know How the hell a Guy from Ireland living in England can sing country music with the same conviction As a Guy from Birmingham Alabama or Nashville Tennessee the Only thing i can say is he was born and lived the same Way i did. It s very much red neck i Don t like to use that word1, How can i say it in this country it s Middle to Low class music. You know the lower Cla. That sounds awful does t it but you know what i mean Don t you it s the working class people. It just happens to equate with them. I m working class so it equates with me. The thing is this that country music is a feeling if you have a feel for country music you can come from the other Side of the  i was trying to relate what he was saying to my own uneasiness at having heard Philomena Begley the Irish Loretta Lynn singing about her ten Nesse Mountain Home at the Wembley festival. Jennings could see it was hard for me to put together. He stared at me for a moment and jumped Back into it. With a slightly different tack. I could say this. We have two programs on the to Over Here. One is called top of the pops which explains itself it s the pops. And the other is called stars on sunday which is All the religious songs for people on sunday. I would think country music Bridges the  Between the two. And All those people in the Middle of that category they like country music. My mum likes it. See i m Irish and Irish people have a natural Bent for country music anyway. The Irish people love country music. America s full of people that emigrated from somewhere. It s not that they take their music with them they take their heart with them. They take the feeling with them. And any music that explains the feeling a personal feeling is people music. To me country music has that Market cornered you know. Most country music songs Are abut life and love and that kind of thing. Every body experiences that. All Over the world people experience living their life and love and Heartbreak and All the rest of it. It just happens that the people in Nashville put it Down on record in a certain Way. Country music is the biggest soul music there Ever was. It s a feeling you have have. If you be got a feeling for the songs for the sound for the music then you can sing country  you can certainly give it a Good try. There is an Aura of anticipation around the British country music scene these Days the . Country fans Are starting to come to terms with the idea of a British country band and the British audience is growing at a Pace satisfying to the London record companies. Fox Hunts mystery trains id a a ? i Odd holidays in Britain i f you would like to shout tall Yho and High Tail Stover Hill and Dale in Pursuit of the wily Fox Here s an offer for you the King s arms hotel Kingsbridge Devon England is offering a week s Fox Hunting no vember through april for $392. This includes seven nights in the hotel three meals a Day taxes and tips. No special costume is required. The organizers Supply the mounts and gear. Kingsbridge is in Southwest England near Plymouth. The King s arms is a 15th-Century inn with four poster Beds. For brochures and de conducted by j. King Cruger travel writer tails drop the hotel a letter at the above address. Bird watchers May be interested in four Daybird watching holidays in Norfolk in Eastern England. Rates Are $114 per person or $101 in november and de Cember. This includes accommodations and half Board at the links country Park hotel next to the North Norfolk National Park. Details available from University holi Days . Box 2093, Eads station Arlington a. 22202. Want to relive the Days of the Orient express starting dec. 29, from London a group of train buffs in 20s and 30s costume will tour to Istanbul in the original Pullman and Saloon cars. Actors will enact a murder and the passenger solving the crime gets the trip free. Every one else will have to Shell out $1,540. Still interested write for the Lowdown from Concordia hotel tourist bookings ltd., 51 Hugh st., London sw1 v4hp the popularity of medieval banquets continues to grow All Over the . More than 100 hotels castles and inns have medieval victorian or elizabethan banquets at least once a week some nightly. For a list of them write to the British tourist authority new York n. Y. 10019. Hotels Many hotels in Europe operate on the american plan while most hotels in the states Are run on the european plan. To Lessen uncertainty the next time you Register for hotel accommodations pan am passes along the follow ing definitions of various food and hotel plans table d Hote a Complete meal limited to the dishes listed although there is usually a Choice of items. If you deviate from this menu you usually must pay extra. Continental breakfast most commonly includes Only Coffee Tea or hot chocolate butter Jam or marmalade and Rolls. In some countries particularly Holland and Scandinavia cheese cold cuts or fish May be included. English breakfast commonly served in Britain or Ireland this Hearty meal usually consists of hot or cold Cereal Bacon sausage or Ham and eggs sometimes fish Toast butter Jam or marmalade Coffee or Tea. Juice often is not included. American plan hotel accommodations and three meals daily. Continental plan room and breakfast. European plan hotel room with no meals. Full pension also known As full Board the same As the american plan but a Continental breakfast is served rather than a full american style breakfast. Demi or half pension room Continental breakfast and a Choice of either lunch or dinner. Also known As modified american plan map. A in it fact the German wine festival one wine ic9i of the country a biggest will be held at Neustadt sept. 30-oct. 10. It features the crowning of the German wine Queen and the wine Queen of the palatinate and a big Parade swings through the town on oct. 9. For More information Contact the town tourist office Neustadt Civ 06321 855204. Salzburg v corps recreation Cente Splan a rail tour to Salzburg Austria oct. 8-10. Cost is 199 Marks about $87 and includes return train trip from the Frankfurt area two hotel Over nights with breakfasts and a City tour. Tickets on Sale at american express and window 20 at the Frankfurt main station. By Joe Edwards associated press Ashville is jammed with persons using various methods to get into the country music business. They trudge door to door along music Row seeking someone to listen to a song. They station themselves outside recording studios waiting for a Star who might help them out. They also Send letters and demonstration records and tapes. Hundreds arrive daily. For Dave Conway of Royston ga., the mail in Man Euver worked. He signed a recording contract and made the National charts through what his producer. Howard Knight Calls a one in a million Chance he owes it All to his wife Mary Ann. She saw an and in a Trade Magazine from Knight s record company. Posing As a fan of Conway a she sent the company a copy of a record her husband had Cut on a custom Label several years ago. Dave has that atmosphere about him that makes you know he is  material she wrote the company. Conway soon got a Call from Knight and a few Days later the two met in Royston. They had a Midnight snack and before Dawn Conway had a personal management and recording contract. Within a week he was flown to Nashville and recorded if you re Gonna love you gotta Hurt which  the 60s of the top 100 on the National charts the business is so competitive he s one in a  Knight  irony is that Conway himself had been sending letters and tapes to Nashville without Success. And i it had never seen the letter his wife sent. I got refusal letters from everybody in the country. Said Conway who recently gave up a record store he operated. Over the years i guess i sent 300 to 400 letters. I used to Send tapes in a big Box just to be different and get attention. What s funny is that i d been sending All these letters and then she scores with one. I was to the Point where i d put All i could into it i also had been going to shows in Georgia and pitching songs. I d always had a lot of compliments but that s As far As it went. I d done everything. When Howard called i did t know what was going on. But i did t have any Money so i did t take him too seriously. I kept saying i Don t have any Money and he kept saying i Don t want your Money finally i pretty Well evaluated him. Then 1 of  Knight said the record he was sent showed con Way s potential and Talent but he had no direction to go in because no one had taken the time to listen to him "