September 22nd 2011

PAUL D.HOPKINS    September 22nd 2011

Having performed excellent concerts at our club before, Paul again filled all expectations by giving us another great show. Once more he featured old  country songs in the main but also provided a few of the 'New' variety.

    Numbers featured this evening included, Hank Williams',Tear In My Beer, Lovesick Blues, Dwight Yoakam's, 1000 Miles From Nowhere, It Only Hurts When I Cry, George Straits', Cowboy Rides Away, Buck Owens', Act Naturally, Marty Robins' White Sport Coat and Steve Earle's, Galway Girl.

Each of his three sets had a similar format. Later songs included Alan Jackson's, Summertime Blues,Here In The Real World, Don Williams', I Recall a Gypsy Woman, Jim Reeves', He'll Have To Go, Randy Travs', Forever and Ever Amen and to conclude another superb evening's entertainment he encored with Gene Pitney's, 24 Hours From Tulsa.

     Throughout he was appreciated and applauded by both listeners and dancers, confirming his continuing popularity with our members.

  PAUL D.HOPKINS April 28th 2011

Following his sensational debut at our club last year, it was inevitable that Paul would be asked to perform another concert at Shobnall. Tonight his show was just as professional and superb as his previous one.

With a change of costume for each of three acts, he had the dancers and listeners enthralled from the start of his first song to the end of his final number, his forty -fifth delivery and not one medley amongst them.

His programme was predominantly from the 'Classic' category with the occasional New Country item included. Amongst the songs were Hank Locklin's, Send Me The Pillow, Faron Young's, Four In The Morning, The Mavericks', Think Of Me, Frank Ifield's, I Remember You, Jack Greene's, Statue Of A Fool, Ray Price's, Release Me, Gene Pitney's, I'm Gonna Be Strong, (a special request by one of our members, Sheila)  Jim Reeve's, Welcome To My World, Charlie Rich's, Rollin' With The Flow,  Hal Ketcham's, Past The Point Of Rescue, George Strait's, The Cowboy Rides Away, Steve Earle's,Galway Girl, Dwight Yoakam's, Guitars,Cadillacs, Garth Brooks', If Tomorrow Never Comes, Tim McGraw's, Just To See You Smile and to conclude this excellent show Mickey Newbury's, American Trilogy.
Once again our members had nothing but praise for Paul's performance, applauding enthusiasticly after each number and eagerly anticipating his next show here in September.

            Cyril Insley

Tonight was a special occasion as we were celebrating the birthday of Sheila, our organiser, and a buffet was provided for the party. However, what made the evening more enjoyable was the superb entertainment provided by Paul, to make the night one of the most memorable in our club's history.

    A recent newcomer to Country Music and making his first full concert appearance on our stage, Paul has been a singer/vocal impressionist since 1982. For ten  years he took lead vocals and was front man for the showband, 'Kool Decision'. This kept him busy with summer seasons in the U.K. and Spain, residancies in the Middle East, touring Scandinavia and entertaining on numerous cruises.

Paul's voice has a marked resemblance to 'The Big 'O's' and consequently following frequent public references to the similarity, he formed a Tribute Show, The Roy Orbison Experience', which work has taken him to theatres, corporate events, cruise liners including  The Queen Mary II, and BBC TV and radio appearances.

      He and his fiancee Jayne have been regular visitors to our club for a year or so during which time Paul has become more aquainted with Classic and New Country and having devoted himself to learning songs from this genre of music decided to 'try his luck' with country shows, starting only a few weeks ago.

Smartly dressed and playing guitar, he began with Hank Locklin's, Please Help Me I'm Falling, Marty Robbins', Singing The Blues and Ricky Nelson's, Hello Mary Lou, delivering the songs with power and emotion. He soon developed a rapport with our members who delighted in his performance with terrific applause after each number.

        Songs followed in quick succession:- Slim Whitman's, Rose Marie, Radney Foster's, Just Call Me Lonesome, The Eagles, Lyin' Eyes, a super version of Gene Pitney's, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Everly Brothers, Bye,Bye Love and Hal Ketchum's, Small Town Saturday Night, amongst many.

    Requests for the Big 'O's songs were acted upon as Paul gave us, Blue Bayou, California Blue, Penny Arcade,Crying and Claudette. Other covers came from the catalogues of George Strait, Steve Earle, Dwight Yokam, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks etc etc.

 After the buffet Paul invited 'Spade' a member and local performer (Woodburner) to the stage as he had written a song for the occasion, 'Sheila's Song', a tribute to the good lady and our club.

        To end this wonderful concert, Paul delivered a couple of encores, Conway Twitty's, Hello Darlin and The Mavericks, All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down.

    With such excellent shows, Paul is bound to return here and i can only recommend that if he is in your area, go and see what a splendid entertainer he is.