By Dan Deming
Dissenting with Dan
It’s becoming normal for Community Concerts to bring a largely unknown singer or musical group to Hutchinson and have the audience go away highly impressed and somewhat amazed at the talent being brought to Memorial Hall for less than $10 an event. That was certainly the case last weekend when AmeriCoustic was in town for a unique blend of classic old cowboy songs coupled with near-perfect harmony, humor and enjoyable narration.
Dan Miller, a former L.A. game show host who makes frequent appearances on a television show called Larry’s Country Diner, teams with bass player and fellow vocalist Wendy Corr to produce a two-member, two-guitar performance that is surprisingly strong and highly entertaining.
For more than twenty years, Miller has hosted his “Cowboy Music Revue” from his home in Cody, Wyoming, six nights a week. He and Wendy, whose last name is never mentioned in the accompanying program or on stage, have been together for more than 2500 shows, with Miller sometimes accompanied by his musical daughter Hannah.
Wendy’s voice approaches the singing of Patsy Cline and provides harmony difficult to duplicate.
Corr has won multiple broadcasting awards in Wyoming, where she often performs, along with being a Presbyterian Church music and worship director. Miller has major connections in Nashville and links to numerous country entertainers.
Perhaps you need to be fifty, even sixty years old, to fully appreciate Western songs like Johnny Cash’s I’ve Been Everywhere” or Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans,” but anyone who really appreciates the roots of country music comes away from a Miller/Corr program thoroughly impressed. When asked how long couples attending had been married, one woman said 74 years.
Most people under 40 would have needed help to even know Tennessee Ernie Ford or Frankie Lane (whose hit songs were also a part of AmeriCoustics), and why they contributed to their musical times as much as Taylor Swift does today.
But if you ever get to Cody, Wyoming, and Dan Miller is playing at the Cowboy Music Review, those remembering the giants of country music will have a real treat. And you can thank Community Concerts for booking what may turn out to be one of the best of their six offerings this season.
Dan Deming is a retired media professional and former elected city and county official. He can be reached at 620-960-6733 or dan.deming2@gmail.com.