September 9th 2004   Richard Palmer

We were pleased to welcome to our club tonight, the youngest entertainer to grace our stage. Richard comes from Scunthorpe and celebrated his seventeenth birthday the previous Saturday.

He started to play the guitar when only six years old, generally practising with seventies pop songs. Greatly influenced by his Grandfather's love of Country music, he soon developed a liking for this genre too.

Amongst his favourite singers are Chris Le Doux, Garth Brooks , George Strait and Merle Haggard; so it was inevitable that their songs featured frequently in his programme.

 Despite his relatively tender age, Richard has been playing and singing professionally for eighteen months. He was smartly dressed, strong on vocals, very capable with his guitar and showing a confidence and maturity of a seasoned performer.

The variety in his presentation accommodated dancers and listeners alike. Darry Worley's ' Take a Breather ' Merle's 'Okie' and Hal Ketchum's 'Small Town Saturday Night' filled the floor and Richard, too, tripped the light fantastic during the Maverick's 'Dance The Night Away'.

 Songs not heard at the club before included Chris Le Doux's 'Look at you Girl' Rodney Crowell's 'Long Hard Road,'  Garth Brooks 'The Beaches of Cheyenne' and Sheffield singer John Gibson's 'Touring the U.S.A. ' 

 He also took time to devote a George Strait song to his chauffeur and general factotum, his Grandad / 'Carrying Your Love for Me'.

If tonight's show is anything to go by this young man has an exciting future on the Country Music circuit.

Richard is to be commended for managing to perform concerts whilst doing full time college studdies in philosophy and computers. We all congratulate him and wish him well for the future.                                                    

Cyril Insley Top