May 22nd 2008.. JONNY WILLIAMS

 

Tonight saw a welcome return for one of my favourite exponents of Honky - Tonk  music and Jonny, as usual, gave a faultless performance.

 

        

His concert included many favourites, amongst them Merle Haggard's, Sing Me Back Home, Willie and Waylon's, Good Hearted Woman, Buck Owens', Streets Of Bakersfield, George Jones', She Thinks I Still Care, Lefty Frizell's, Always Late, the Louvin Brothers', My Baby's gone, Dwight Yoakam's, Guitars, Cadillacs, and Hank Williams', Lost Highway.

 

Also featured this evening several songs either new to our club or only heard occasionally. These included  Eddy Raven's 1981 hit, I Should Have Called, a couple from singer / songwriter  Larry Boone,   I Know Who Drove Her There and Everybody Wants To Be Hank Williams, Skip Ewing's, The Very Best Of Me, covered by George Jones, Find It Where I Can, a 1983 recording by Waylon Jennings and James Garner, Heather Myles, Playing Every Honky Tonk In Town, and to end another night of great music, Jerry Lee Lewis's, 1979  smash, Rockin' My Life Away.

 

   

As before, Jonny gave us super vocals, superb guitar instrumentation and kept listeners and dancers equally content throughout.

 

    

Cyril Insley

 

August 23rd 2007... JONNY WILLIAMS

Tonight we were entertained by one of the most frequent and equally popular artiste to perform at our club and anyone witnessing this evenings show can understand why he is. As always, Jonny's concert was a non-stop extravaganza of everything Honkey - Tonk. Songs from the all time greats of this genre were sung one after the other throughout.

 

   

Tonight's programme included, Hank Williams', Your Cheatin' Heart, Lost Highway and lots more, Ray Price's, City Lights, Bill Nettles', Hadocol Boogie, also covered by Gerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Guy on his super dvd, Last Man Standing, plus Gerry's own songs , Good News Travels Fast, Bottles and Barstools, and I'll Find It Where I Can, Johnny Cash's, Folsome Prison Blues, Ring Of Fire, and I Still Miss Someone, Carl Perkins, Matchbox, George Jones', Bartenders Blues, recorded with the song's writer James Taylor, The Race Is On, Billy B Badd, etc., numbers from the catalogue of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Webb Pierce, Don Gibson and others.

 

 

Members filled the dance floor all evening,songs suiting Line, Partner and Rock 'n' Roll dancers during the show. Others sat back content to listen or join in with the songs as they saw fit.

 

    

As before our members gave Jonny the ovations he truly deserved and we all look forward to his next visit here.

Cyril Insley

 

 

September 14th  2006 ..   JONNY WILLIAMS

February 23rd 2006  JONNY WILLIAMS

Multi - Award Winner Jonny was our entertainer tonight; so we knew we were in for a treat. A full evening of excellent Honky-tonk Country Music.

 As is his wont, Jonny gave us lots of  Hank Williams, George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis and many others to make up the Forty-two songs he delivered.

 Several songs were from the ` Infrequently Heard' category, e.g. Jerry Lee's, Thirty Nine and Holding, There Must Be More To Love Than This and  She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye, which incidentally, was written by Mickey Newbury; Heather Miles'  Sweet Talk, Good Lies; Moon Millican's,  I'll Sail My Ship Alone;  George Jones', Honey Hush;  Verne Gosdin's,  If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong Do It Right and the old Porter Waggoner  classic, `Green, Green Grass of Home,' etc.

In addition we had loads of Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Neil Diamond, Webb Pierce, Ed Bruce, Don Gibson and more.

Dancers and listeners agreed that Jonny had once more given us an evening to savour.

 Cyril Insley.

September 15th 2005 JONNY WILLIAMS

One of the finest exponents of  Honkeytonk  country music came to entertain us tonight  and what a terrific show he gave us. Jonny has always been a devotee of Rock 'n' Roll, Hill Billy / Rockabilly Music / call it what you will / and his love and respect for this genre always comes through in his concerts.

  His performance is non stop, combining up-tempo numbers with ballads to suit both Line and Partner Dancers, songs to sing along with or just listen to.

So tonight we had loads of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis and Hank Thompson, Buck Owens, Webb Pierce, etc.etc. The dance floor was packed on lots of occasions including ' Pick Me Up On Your Way Down', ' Wild Side Of Life', ' What's Made Milwaukee Famous', Johnny Bond's ' I Wonder Where You Are Tonight', Vernon Dalheart's ' Wreck Of The Old '97' and others.

 Jonny also included more recent songs which proved to be just as popular as those already mentioned, :- Rodney Crowell's ' I Walk The Line Revisited'  George Jones'  ' Honey Hush'  George Strait's ' Give Me The Real Thing' and a gem of a Honky- Tonker his brother recommended , found on an album by the Fountains of Wayne ( an American Rock Band), titled, ' Hung Up On You'.

  Mention must also be made of Jonny's excellent Guitar playing all evening, particularly outstanding on ' Streets of Bakersfield', ' Folsom Prison Blues' and ' Move it on Over'. My favourite tonight was Hank Snow's ' I Don't Hurt Anymore', but every song and medley was superb. I for one can't wait for his next appearance here.

Cyril Insley

Jonny Williams March 24th 2005

As we have come to expect, tonight's singer / guitarist gave us yet another evening's entertainment to savour. Immaculately dressed and developing an instant rapport with his audience, Jonny had all of us enthralled all night with his wonderful guitar playing and dynamic vocals, all in true Honky - Tonk fashion.

 As usual there were lots of songs familiar to the listeners and dancers alike; so it was no surprise to see the dance floor full for most of the evening.

Once more Jonny carefully chose his material from the catalogues of his own favourite artistes, but gave us quite a few different numbers.

Tonight he featured  Webb Pearce's ' There Stands The Glass', Hank Snow's ' I Don't Hurt Anymore', Harlon Howard's ' Life Turned Her That Way', Jerry Lee Lewis' ' Another Place, Another Time', Johnny Cash's ( and Hank Snow's) ' Wreck of the Old ' 97', George Jones' ' A Good Year For The Roses' and ' Walk Through This World With Me'  Micky Gilly's ' Don't The girls Get Prettier At Closing Time' and Micky Newbury's ' Why You Been Gone So Long'.

  Jonny also included the occasional modern song and rounded off a wonderful evening with two songs from Neil Diamond's 'Tennessee Moon' album, both of which filled the floor. ‘Talking Optimist Blues ( Good Day Today)' suited the line dancers and rock 'n' rollers, whilst ' Reminisce For A While' was gratefully appreciated by the partner dancers an listeners alike judging by the tremendous applause.

  With shows like this Jonny Williams will always be welcome at our club.

       Cyril Insley

September 2nd  2004 Jonny Williams

Tonight's visiting performer was making a welcome return to our club. Recently nominated as Solo Performer of the year by Cross Country UK Magazine. Jonny is a devotee of Hank Williams, George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis; so it was inevitable that we were in for loads of real Honky-Tonk Country music and Jonny did not disappoint.

Hank's songs included ' You Win Again '  ' I Can't Help It '  ' Your Cheatin Heart '  'Hey Good Lookin' and ' Tear in my Beer.'

George was represented by  'He Stopped Loving Her Today'  I'll Give You Something To Think About'  'Walk Through This World With Me' and Billy B Badd.

Jerry Lee, of course, covered loads of Hank's material but two songs peculiar to him were 'She Sings Amazing Grace ' and ' Rockin My Life Away'

All the various sections of the audience enjoyed Jonny's non -stop programme but the dancer's were especially pleased. When he saw a full dance floor, despite his backing music fading out, Jonny continued the song acousticly to prolong the dancers' obvious enjoyment.

All in all he gave us thirty -nine full length songs and confirmed his status as one of  the best and most popular entertainers on the Country Music circuit.             

             Cyril Insley Top

January 8th 2004 Jonny Williams

When a performer tells his audience of his great admiration for Hank Williams, George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis, then one should expect some music with a Honky-Tonk beat during the evening's entertainment.

However what Jonny Williams gave us tonight was a feast of good, old fashioned, pure and simple country music. Jonny hails from Marske-by-the-Sea, Redcar and spent the first ten years of his music career playing Rockabilly and Rock and Roll. For the last six years he has concentrated on Country Music.

How refreshing it was to see Line Dancers, Rock 'n' Rollers and 'Smoochers' taking the floor to songs of the Louvin Brothers, Red Foley, Reno and Smiley, Johnny Bond, Johnny Paycheck, Et Al, besides Jonnys aforementioned heroes.

He even pulled out of the bag a song written by a friend from Georgia USA 'Nowhere To Nashville' and what a cracker it was! Jonny wasted no time delivering over forty songs during the evening, and in a brilliant fashion too, so that everyone enjoyed a memorable show.