December 29th 2011

 BILLY LEONARD

It is over six years since Billy last visited our club, but during that ime he has regularly entertained at various venues in the Burton and South Derbyshire area. He continues to fill his programmes with Classic and New Country, Bluegrass, Folk and Irish songs, all of which were suitable for listeners and dancers alike.

   Starting tonight with, Me and Bobby McGee, a hit for Roger Miller, he continued with, Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands, Blue Ridge Mountain Girl, Don Williams', Loving You's Like Coming Home, John Denver's, Back Home Again and Tim McGraw's, Just To See You Smile.

   Billy delivered quite a few songs I do not recall hearing here before. Amongst these were Matt Keane's, Ireland For The Summer, John Prine's, It's Happening To You and Love, Love, Love, Mike Nesmith's, I've Just Begun To Care, Nancy Griffith's, Roseville Fair, John Randall's, I Came Straight To You, Billy Joe Shaver's, Live Forever, Jean Ritchie's, My Dear Companion and three Woody Guthrie songs, Grand Coulee Dam, This Land Is Your Land and to conclude this excellent show the rousing, My Oklahoma Home. 

   It may be a few years since his last appearance, but I am certain, with shows like this Billy will be coming back in the New Year.

Billy Leonard May 19th 2005

We are always pleased to welcome Billy to our club as we know that the entertainment provided will include all aspects of Country music with some Folk and Irish thrown in for good measure, and a little bit of Rock n Roll if required.

Just as before Billy duly obliged giving us some fine examples of songs infrequently heard on today's circuit.

Amongst his first songs, he included John Prine's ' You've Got Gold, ' Kate Wolf's ' Across The Great Divide, ' and Kenny Rodgers ' Daytime Friends.' Later we had ' Someday You'll Call My Name',a song covered by Hank Williams in 1949, Hank Snow's ' Nobody's Child', Bob Dylan's ' Blowin In The Wind' Buffy Saint Marie's ' The Universal Soldier', Delbert McClinton's ' Lone Star Blues' Waylon's 'Good Ole Boys', the theme music to the Dukes of Hazard TV series, and another John Prine song ' That's The Way The World Goes Round'.

Irish numbers included  ' I'll Tell Me Ma'  ' Whiskey in the Jar' and ' When You Were Sweet Sixteen' which got the audience singing along.

  Dancers were well catered for with Mary Chapin- Carpenter's ' Down At The Twist And Shout', and The Bellamy's ' Beautiful Body' , Eddie Cochran's ' Summertime Blues', The Drifters ' Save The Last Dance ', and 'Pretty Little Girl From Omagh' which has been covered by numerous Irish singers.

  Once again Billy gave us a lovely, varied concert including a Bob Dylon song not heard here before ' Things Have Changed' and how well it went down with the dancers. We look forward to seeing him again.

               Cyril Insley

26th February 2004 Billy Leonard

Since the inception of our club, Billy has become a personal friend of many members. He comes from York and has been in the music business for 26 years 18 of which he was in a Duo 'Free Wheelin' and the last 8 years as a solo performer.

   He is steeped in various types of music- Country, Folk, Pop, and having an Irish mother he has a large catalogue of Celtic songs at his disposal.

Billy's versatility allowed him to include less familiar songs amongst the perennial country ditties.eg.'Devil's Right Hand ''That's the way the World goes Round', Irish Heartbeat', 'Universal Soldier' etc.

 His mixture of ballads and up tempo standards kept both dancers and listeners content all  evening.

However, the night was further enhanced when Billy invited his friend Tony Martyn of (Double Barrel)  to do a short spot.Tony obliged with 'I Can't Help It' 'Man of my Word' 'Lead On' and 'Things'.

Billy's last session really raised the roof as he delivered a mixed bag of Country and Irish -'Down at the Twist and Shout', Islands in the Stream', 'Irish Rover', 'I'll Tell Ma' amongst others, eventually finishing with the ever popular 'Making Friends', and a final encore with 'Hello Mary Lou'.

 No doubt we'll be seeing more of Billy in the future!

 CYRIL INSLEY Top