Rick & The All-Star Ramblers Update
We are packing up our gear and getting ready to head south early Saturday morning, down to West Springfield, Mass. to headline Vermont Day at the Eastern States Exposition, better known in these parts as “The Big E.” This is our fifth appearance on Vermont Day over the past 25 years. It is always a thrill to play on the special stage on the front lawn of the Vermont Building on the Avenue of States. We’ll be performing at the Big E from 1 pm to 4 pm, this Saturday afternoon.
Vermont Day at the Big E is the most-attended day of the entire 17-day fair which regularly brings over a million visitors to the beautiful 101 year old fairgrounds. The crowd this Saturday will number well over 150,000 smiling people, a perfect Rick & The All-Star Ramblers audience. I’ll post a couple of photos from previous Big E visits, one from 2009 and another with the late Fred Tittle and I, from 1996, the year Fred starred in the very successful movie, “Man With A Plan.”
In a review of “Welcome To OUR Vermont” a week ago today in the Rutland Herald, Art Edelstein opined, “The band is Vermont’s best-known and highly acclaimed western swing outfit. Band leader, lead vocalist and primary composer, Rick Norcross, is a Vermont icon backed by seven excellent musicians and a great singer, Taryn Noelle.” See the full review below. And THANKS, Art Edelstein for your terrific coverage of all our CD releases over the years.
Wonderful to hear Taryn’s heartfelt delivery of “I’ll Get Over You” this past Saturday on Jack Donovan’s “Outlaw Music” show on WDEV Radio Vermont and an hour later I caught Billy Bowles playing “I Love Western Swing” on his “Swinging Country” show on KSSL-FM out of Lubbock, Texas. Both these songs are on our newest CD, “Green Mountain Standard Time.”
For those who can’t make the trip down to The Big E this Saturday, we have just two more shows this season and they are both in fantastic locations. On Saturday, October 7th, we are playing a show in the brand new Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro. This is one of the most beautiful performing arts venues you’ll ever visit. And it’s perfect, in terms of acoustics and state-of-the art design and ambiance. Greensboro is the next town over from Hardwick and adjacent to East Hardwick, my four generation ancestral home. So there will be a house full of friends and family, another perfect Rambler audience. We are so looking forward to this one and encourage you to consider joining us for this very specail evening. Google Highland Arts and have a look at this amazing venue.
I’ll detail our final show of the year, scheduled for Sunday, November 5th in Juniper Hall at the magnificent Hotel Vermont in a future post.
Enjoy this beautiful, sunny, (unusual) Vermont weekend. And dig out a couple of your “Rick & The All-Star Ramblers Western Swing Band CDs and take them for a ride and enjoy our early Fall folliage... and our music. It will make you feel better!
See you soon,
Rambler Rick
United States