November 9th 2006 DARREN BUSBY
One of our favourite entertainers was in attendance tonight and as expected, what a terrific show he gave us.
This evening was a special occasion as one of our members, Nigel, was celebrating his 65th birthday and the club was packed to capacity.
Darren's performance sustained the party atmosphere and really enhanced it to make the celebration an evening to savour and remember.
Lots of songs suitable for dancing, listening or joining - in were delivered superbly in Darren's own inimitable style. These included, Down Louisiana Way, Sea of Heartbreak, Some Beach, Lovin' All Night, Speak to the Sky, Closer, Walk of Life and Mama's Hungry Eyes etc.
Darren also chose to resurrect a few numbers no longer heard often on the circuit and these included Ricky Van Shelton's, Loving Proof, Ashes of Love, a Country chart hit for five different artistes, and the beautiful ballad covered by Kenny Rogers on his 1991, Back Home Again, album entitled, Someone Must Feel Like A Fool Tonight.
The party mood was catered for with songs that had been both Pop and Country hits. Amongst them, Unchained Melody, Don't Be Cruel, Save The Last Dance For Me and Sweet Caroline / yes, they were Country hits on numerous occasions!
Surfice it to say that this was party night to equal any other, mainly due to Darren's great show.
Cyril Insley
January 19th 2006 DARREN BUSBY
It's always a pleasure and privilege to welcome back to our club this multi- award winning Singer/ Guitarist. The quality of Darren's performance never varies and we know he is going to please all factions of members - Dancers, Listeners and Singalongers alike.
Such was the case again tonight as the dance floor filled on many occasions both by line and partner dancers; several acoustic ballads were presented to a rapt audience; and invitations to join in and sing were numerous.
Every song was delivered in fine style, some popular, some classic and some lesser known, but each earned generous applause from the audience.
The dance floor filled to ' I Walk The Line Revisited,' ' Billy B Badd,' ' Somewhere Under The sun,' ' Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind' 'Swingin' Doors,' ' Speak To The Sky' and ' Sold ( Grundy County Auction )' amongst many more.
We sang along to a couple of Slim Whitman medleys, ' Some Broken Hearts Never Mend ' and ' California Blue ' as examples.
Darren also gave us several numbers not heard from others on the circuit such as Eddie Raven's ' We Rob Trains ,' Joe Knows How To Live,' ' Casterway Heart ' and ' Cowboys Don't Cry,' Harlan Howards ' She's Gone, Gone, Gone' ( a hit for Lefty Frizzell , Carl Jackson and Glen Campbell) Kevin Sharpe's No 1 hit ' Nobody Knows,' and my favourite of the evening ' When I Close My Eyes,' first recorded by the late Keith Palmer in 1991 and covered by Kenny Chesney in 1996.
Once again, Darren gave us an evening of superb entertainment / I can't wait for his return later in the year.
Cyril Insley
6th January 2005
It's always a pleasure having tonight's guest performing at our club. Darren is no stranger to us and can always be relied upon to provide a show full of good Country music and spiced with a little humour.
Hailing from Brigg, North Lincolnshire he played drums and sang in a band on leaving school. At the same time he learned to play guitar and later joined his uncle and formed the duo ' Southern Pride '. Greatly influenced by his dad's love of Country Music, Darren has now been solo in this genre of music for twenty years or so. He does, however, front a band for Festivals and Concerts as required.
Darren takes particular care in the choice of his songs and obviously varies his show each time he comes here, and is very responsive to requests.
Tonight's programme was a pleasant mixture of older standards like Slim Whitman's ' I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen', ' The Davis Sisters' ' Rocky Top' and Elvis' ' Treat Me Nice' and ' Please Don't Stop Lovin' Me ' and loads of more recent music not regularly heard here - Darryl Worley's ' I Need A Breather ' Pat Green's ' Wave on Wave ', Joe Nicholls' ' What's a Guy Gotta Do ' and Blake Shelton's current chart hit ' Some Beach ' for example.
Darren has an excellent rapport with his audience and the one joke he told had a wonderfully hysterical reception. Requests for ' Vertical Expression ' and ' Working Man' were fulfilled but the two highlights for me were Darren's first public airing of ' The Woman's Place ' , which incidentally brought tears to certain members - and his rendition of one of my favourites, Simon and Garfunkels ' Bridge Over Troubled Water'.
Both occasions mesmerised the audience into total silence and brought the rapturous applause they so richly deserved. It is not surprising that Darren has won so many awards for his performances and is so busy on the circuit. Let's hope he can find time to return here where he will always be welcome.
Cyril Insley
4th March 2004 Darren Busby
For those of us who had seen Darren Busby before, we all expected something special tonight and Darren did not disappoint. The North Lincolnshire singer, a recipient of numerous local and National Awards, provided an evening's entertainment to savour. He has become one of Britain's foremost singers with a voice so pure, melodic and crystal clear.
He makes no bones of his admiration for American Eddy Raven and so treated us to three of his songs, 'Cowboys Don't Cry', 'Castaway Heart' and 'In A Letter To You', all fine ballads. However, up tempo numbers also featured frequently including 'Grundy County Auction' 'Mercury Blues' and 'Walk of Life' which highly pleased the dancing fraternity.
Darren's entire programme was an enjoyable mix of Country standards, 'Swingin' Doors' 'Old Flames' etc. lesser known songs 'Keeper of the Flame' 'April Fool' etc. but two particular highlights are worthy of note, the first was Darren's tribute to his mentor the late Dale Green, from whom he learned Roy Orbison's ‘Penny Arcade'. The second was an acoustic version of the song ' Please Don't Stop Lovin' Me' as featured in Elvis Presley film ' Frankie and Johnny' which was delivered in perfect silence and brought rapturous applause.
An evening of wonderful entertainment was brought to a close with Darren singing Joe Nicholls' and 'Broken heartsville' once again in acoustic mood.
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