A Marshall County native musician and fellow artists are gearing up for a local performance that showcases a little something for everyone.
Danny Joe Hawes, who hosted “On Stage at DJ’s” from 1990-95 in Marshall County, is rounding up former bandmates and entertainers to perform in the third annual On Stage at DJ’s Homecoming concert Saturday, Aug. 26 in the Kenneth Shadowen Performing Arts Center at Marshall County High School in Draffenville. The event will feature talents of Hawes and the former On Stage at DJ’s band members, as well as serve as a fundraiser for the Children’s Art Center in Benton.
The reunion show is a throwback to the days of Hawes’ show, a family country music segment on which he partnered with fellow entertainers, including vocalist, radio personality and comedian Chris Bynum. Bynum, a Calvert City native, was killed in an ATV accident in 2003 in Crittenden County. The pair collaborated frequently until that time, Hawes said.
The two got their break on the Nashville stage when country music star Brenda Lee caught Hawes and Bynum performing together at the annual Lions Club Telethon of Stars in Paducah. She called a friend, and the rest was history.
“She liked us, and she went and told her friend who owned the Nashville Palace there on Music City Drive. She told him about us,” Hawes said. “So, next thing I know, I’m getting a phone call from him, and he wants us to come down and do a show set. So, he just basically told us, ‘Well guys, if you do a good job you might get another set later on tonight, or if you don’t, you might as well pack your bags and go back home.’ Evidently he liked us, so we started doing every Saturday night at the Nashville Palace up until Chris Bynum’s death.”
The two had been scheduled for a spot on the Grand Ol’ Opry the week after Bynum’s death. However, Hawes said it was just, “God’s plan.” Some 12 years later – 20 years after On Stage at DJ’s had come to an end – Hawes pulled together some of the regular performers after he said fans had been asking him about the possibility of hosting a reunion show.
The gears started turning. Hawes decided to host a show, and use it to help an organization in the community.
“When I decided to do a reunion three years ago, I was trying to pick out an organization that needed the money,” Hawes said. “And so I, of course, thought about the Children’s Arts, and then I found out they get absolutely no funding other than what the community raises for them. So, anyway, that’s the reason I went with them, and you know, to help them get a start in performing arts and maybe make their life turn out different.”
The concert reunites many that Hawes performed with throughout the years, including guitarist Duane Rust, fiddle and mandolin player J.W. Groves, drummer Kirk Dripps, steel guitarist Terry Klope, rhythm guitarist Jeff Dowdy, bass guitarist Kenny Jones and vocalists Dee Dee Guthrie, Leah Hawes Story, Jaclyn Graves and Leigh Ann Jackson. The crew performs country hits such as Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ duet “Island in the Stream,” to pop favorites like “Beauty and the Beast.” The group will conclude the show like those that came before it: with gospel.
“I think they’ll remember back, some of these songs have got some years on them, and I think they’ll remember back on where they were and what they were doing when that particular song was popular,” Hawes said. “I think they’ll be very surprised at the quality of the show. … We’ve got the best that west Kentucky’s got, I think.”
The event has become a very popular draw, said Marshall County Arts Commission board member George Milam.
“The first year we had the show in the Children’s Art Center,” Milam said. “And it was packed out, standing room only. So the second year – you know that was so successful we decided to do it again, and they wanted to do it again – so, we moved it out to the Performing Arts Center last year, which has more seating of course. They have 890 seats there, and we had something like 600 people there last year.”
Milam said many of the band members are home-grown musicians who have since spread out to different areas and traveled in for the performance: hence the “homecoming” reunion. It’s a “big cast,” Milam said, with big talent to bring to the stage.
“They’re going to have several guests,” Milam said. “… You just kind of never know what’s going to happen when they get going. It’s kind of a synergistic thing, and they all play off of each other, and it’s just a big time.”
Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, and pre-show with local youth talent will begin at 6:15 p.m. The concert will kick off at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $15 apiece and can be purchased at the Children’s Art Center in Benton, WCBL, WCCK, Benton City Hall, the Benton branch of CFSB and Winsupply in Paducah. Seating is general admission, open seating; however, Milam said some seats would be marked as “reserved” for band members’ families.
For more information, visit the Marshall County Arts Commission on Facebook or at marshallcountyarts.com or call the Children’s Arts Center at 270-252-7022.