January 3rd 2008... JIM RYDER and ADAM JAMES

 

 

To welcome in the New Year, our first entertainers were the North Wales based duo of father and son Jim and Adam Ryder. Jim was expecting to work solo this year but Adam decided to work with dad as well as doing band work.

   

As usual they provided superb vocals and excellent instrumentation for songs old and new. Lots of popular country numbers included  Willie Nelson's, Me and Paul, Merle Haggard's, Today I Started Loving You Again,  The Eagles',  Peaceful, Easy Feeling,  Boxcar Willie's, I Love The Sound Of A Whistle,  Roy Acuff's, Wabash Cannonball,  Don Williams', Till The Rivers All Run Dry and  Hoyt Axton's, Evangelina.

 

Amongst other songs were a couple from Raymond Froggatt's catalogue and always received  well here, Somewhere Under The Sun and Wings On My Heels.

 

All of which contributed to a great start for the New Year.

 

                                                                       

Cyril Insley

 

 

 

March 1st 2007    JIM RYDER and ADAM JAMES

Tonight was Jim's and Adam's last  scheduled concert here as a Duo as son Adam is to form his own band next year, and what an outstanding show they gave us. As always it was full of super singing and masterful musicianship, all of which was most appreciatively received by our members.

The show was a good variety of Country Music, New country songs included Joe Diffie's, Honkytonk Attitude, John Michael Montgomery's, (Sold), Grundy County Auction, and the Willie /  Toby Keith smash, Beer For My Horses. Older Country numbers featured, Don Williams, Amanda, Willie and Waylon's, Good Hearted Woman, Mel McDaniels, Louisiana Saturday Night, Johnny Paycheck's, Take This Job And Shove It and the Stan Jones Classic, Ghost Riders In The Sky.

 

 

Jim added a bit of spice to the show with one of his many risqu'e ditties, this time one about, ' My Life Size,Wife Size, Full Grown, Blow Up, Plastic Girl '  (Named Wendy).

 

 

In addition we had a Rock ' N ' Roll medley of Johnny B Goode and Blue Suede Shoes which received rapturous applause.

 

   

Once again we had a superb show and on behalf of the Northern Renegades members I would like to wish both  Jim and Adam success in their future ventures.

 

                                                              

Cyril Insley

 

October 12th 2006 JIM RYDER and ADAM JAMES

March 9th 2006 JIM RYDER and ADAM JAMES

 Another good crowd was in attendance for tonight's concert which was a testament to our members fondness for this duo.

   As usual Jim delivered the vocals, played rhythm guitar, while Adam supported his Dad with harmony vocals and superb lead guitar work.

Catering for both Line and Partner dancing, and Listeners alike, they received enthusiastic applause from the audience all evening for each song presented. The most popular were, Ladies Love Outlaws, Fields of Athenrye, Don't Close Your Eyes, The Gambler, Blue Wing, Charlie, Wings On My Heels, and Good Hearted Woman.

 As is his custom, Jim told a few amusing stories and sang a couple of humorous risqué ditties. Together with their excellent vocals and musicianship the duo gave us another night to savour.

     Cyril Insley

  August 25th 2005

JIM RYDER and ADAM JAMES

A longtime stalwart of the British Country Music scene, Jim Ryder, with his talented son Adam James provided this evening's entertainment.

Their programme was a good mix of songs and tunes for dancing or listening and singing along to. The dancers not only filled the floor to the more recent numbers like Tracy Byrd's ' The Truth About Men',  Lee Roy Parnell's ' Country Down To My Soul'  and Joe Nicholl's ' Brokenheartsville' but also to Classic Country songs including Bobby Bare's ' Marie Laveau', Mel McDaniels ' Louisianna Saturday Night', Creedance Clearwater Revival's ' Bad Moon Rising' and Waylon's ' Dreaming My Dreams'.

It was also good to hear again Kris Kristofferson's ' The Taker', Johnny Horton's ' North To Alaska', Nat Stuckey's ' Whiskey Whiskey', Frankie Laine's ' Rawhide' and an excellent rapport with his audience, especially with his amusing quips and humorous anecdotes.

Old favouites like Billy Ray's ' Wher'm I Gonna Live', George Strait's ' The Cowboy Rides Away' and John Denver's ' Some Days Are Diamonds' went down very well but perhaps the best applause was saved for their superb version of Danny and the Juniors ' At The Hop'.

 As expected Jim and Adam gave another super all round performance.

                           Cyril Insley

  March 31st 2005 JIM RYDER and ADAM JAMES

A sizeable crowd gathered tonight knowing they would have an evening of splendid entertainment as Jim and his son Adam were our guests. Not only do we get excellent music and songs from two fine musicians but you get humorous anecdotes and a jocular rapport between artistes and audience.

A carefully chosen programme to keep dancers and listeners happy included Dick Fellar's ' Some Days Are Diamonds', Joe Diffie's ' Honky Tonk Attitude' Mick Hanley's ' Past The Point of Rescue' and Dave Dudley's ' Six Days on the Road'

Songs new to the club included  Tracy Byrd's ' The Truth About Men', which incidentally was their first public airing of this song, Kenny Rogers' The Buckaroos'  from his 1980 album ' Gideon'  and the recently deceased Chris Le Doux's ' Hooked on an 8-Second Ride'.

   Partner dancers were well catered for and filled the floor for Don Williams' 'Till the Rivers All Run Dry / You're My Best Friend' medley, Gary Morris's ' Wind Beneath My Wings' and Hal Ketchum's ' Old Soldiers'

When asked for a waltz, they responded immediately with Waylon's ' Dreaming My Dreams Of You'

     Yet again we had an evening to savour.   

Cyril Insley

September 30th 2004  Ryder and James

Tonight we were pleased to welcome father and son duo, Jim Ryder and Adam James, for their first visit to our club. Jim, originally from Birkenhead , but now resident in the Wrexham, North Wales area, has been involved in Country Music for twenty four  years or more.

He performs the vocals and rhythm guitar while Adam harmonises and plays lead guitar.

Adam incidentally, has only been playing for five years and started to accompany  his Dad after only six months learning.He has obviously a natural gift and flare for this, as he quickly developed into a virtuoso on this instrument.

 Their programme has a nice mix of older and new Country songs, Comic Ditties and amusing anecdotes from Jim, who came over as a ' Raconteur Extraordinaire'.

The Dancers were kept active all evening even though several songs were not familiar to them: eg. Johnny Russell's ' How Deep In Love Am I',  The Pirates of the Mississippi's ' Till I'm Holding You In My Arms Again ', Gary Allan's ' Don't Look Away' and John Fogerty's ' Walking In A Hurricane'.

Two numbers especially well received were two classics from the Rock 'n' Roll era - Danny and the Juniors ' At The Hop' and The Shadows ' Apache ' which was Adam's Solo spot.

My favourite song of the evening was the Pete Rowan song 'Land of the Navaho', a beautiful, haunting melody.

After a performance like this, no doubt Jim and Adam will be invited back to our club. 

         Cyril Insley