ANDY MORRIS    November 24th 2005

          
To mark our 3rd Anniversary, Andy, as one of our favourite artistes, was chosen specifically to entertain us this evening. A full house assembled to join in the celebration.  It did not take long for Andy to get the dancers on their feet and fill the floor. They responded particularly to Merle's ' Today I Started Loving You Again' ( Incidentally a number one hit for the late Sammi Smith), Marty Stuart's  ' Tempted '  Dwight Yoakam's ' Guitars and Cadillacs,'  Tony Christie's ' Is This The Way To Amarillo,'  Hank's ' Your Cheatin' Heart' and  Ned Miller's ' From A Jack To A King,'  Don Williams' ' She's In Love With A Rodeo Man,'  George Strait's ' One Night At A Time,'  Froggy's ' Wings On My Heels' and Dave Sherriff's ' Red Hot Salsa'. Smoochers enjoyed ' Somewhere Between ' and ' You're My Best Friend '. As usual, Andy's powerful vocals and excellent guitar work were a joy to behold and the evening was rounded off in fine style to Geordie Jack's ' Best Of Friends' and Sonny Throckmorton's  ' The Cowboy Rides Away'.                                    Cyril Insley

May 12th  2005

A warm reception is always afforded tonight's artiste as he invariably gives us an evening of great Country music, and tonight was no exception.   Andy started with that very popular 'Froggy' song ‘All Because Of You' to set the tone, and followed it with a splendid mix of old, classic and newer, country songs.From the more recent New Country we had Hal Ketchum's ' Old Soldiers', Billy Ray Cyrus ' She's Not Cryin' Any More', Pam Tillis' ' Blue Rose Is', Susan Ashton's ' Closer ', The Maverick's ' There Goes My Heart', and The Bellamy Brothers ' ' Dancin' Cowboys'.   The dancers particularly enjoyed Bobby Bare's ' Ride Me Down Easy ', Robert Mitchum's  ' Little Ole Wine Drinker', Roy Orbison's ' California Blue' and Ray Price's ' Heartaches By The Number'.Smoochers filled the floor to Tony Orlando's 'Halfway To Paradise', Conway Twitty's ' It's Only Make Believe' and Don Williams' ' You're My Best Friend'.     I particularly enjoyed Andy's version of the Al Hibbler hit, later covered by the Righteous Brothers ,' Unchained Melody' but my favourite of the evening was a song new to me ' Hold Me Back' which Andy found on an old Irish C.D. For his final encore, he gave us the ever popular Keith Whitley song ' Don't Close Your Eyes' to bring this fine evening to an end.           Cyril Insley

November 4th 2004 Andy Morris

One of our favourite country artistes returned to the club tonight, Shropshire 's own Andy Morris. Together with his twelve string guitar he gave another sparkling performance despite suffering from a heavy cold.As always, Andy's program was a lovely mix of predominantly older Country with the odd more recent song thrown in for good measure. All evening, listeners, dancers and those wishing to join in with the music were adequately catered for.Songs we had not heard here for a long time included Jim Reeves' ' How Can I Write On Paper (What I Feel In My Heart), Bobby Helms'  ' Fraulein ', Slim Whitman's ' Cattle Call ' and ' Birmingham Jail' and Carl Smith's 'Before I Met You'.The more recent numbers were represented by George Strait 's ' Down Louisiana Way ' Pam Tillis' ' Blue Rose Is' and Dave Sherriff's ' Red Hot Salsa'.   Several other songs also filled the dance floor - Merle Haggard's 'Ramblin' Fever,' Vince Gill's ' Look At Us' and Paul Kennerly's ' The Union Mare and Confederate Grey.' One song I'm not familiar with  ' Turn Off The Lights, Turn Me On ' - I enjoyed, and Andy confirmed he had heard it on a Colorado LP My particular favourite was his rendition of Burt Bacharach's ' The Answer To Everything ' originally recorded by the late Del Shannon.For me, Andy Morris is one of the finest solo artistes on the British Country scene. He is an accomplished guitarist and possesses one of the most powerful, smooth and melodic voices I've heard. How he can so easily reach those ultra high notes I'll never know.With performances such as tonights, he will always be made welcome in our club. Cyril Insley Top

April 22nd 2004 Andy Morris

Tonight's guest artiste has appeared locally on numerous occasions, and having seen him frequently and always enjoy his show, I was looking forward to his act. Andy Morris comes from Shrewsbury and has been singing and playing guitar since he was ten years old. His parents were keen Country music fans, so he was raised on a diet of Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman and Frank Ifield etc. It's understandable therefore why he includes their songs in his repertoire.As well as being an excellent guitarist, Andy has the most powerful,   distinctively clear voice which enables him to perform yodelling songs better than anyone else i've heard. In fact the highlights for me were his interpretation of several Slim Whitman songs including 'Casting My Lasso'  'China Doll',  'I'm a Fool' (There's one born everyday). The ease with which he hits the high notes of Roy Orbison's 'California Blue' has to be seen and heard to be believed.He provided a good mix of ballads and up-tempo songs all evening and this kept listeners and dancers very happy. Songs of George Strait, Ricky Van Shelton, Raymond Froggatt and Keith Whitley are always popular and when sung in such splendid fashion even more enjoyable. So entertaining was the entire concert that the audience demanded two encores, and Andy obliged to rapturous applause. He is returning to our club in October and I for one eagerly await his next visit.

Cyril Insley. Top