Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 16, 1995 TAG: 9506160028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
They will appear along with the groups Cimmaron and Shalako in concert at Calfee Park from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. June 24 as part of Pulaski's second annual Depot Day Festival. Concert tickets are $5 in advance and $8 at the gate.
"Our father loved country music," said David Bellamy, "from Jimmie Rodgers to Webb Pierce and Hank [Williams] Sr. He put on the record player in the front room and just blasted it."
Their first public performance in 1968 came at the annual Rattlesnake Roundup in San Antonio, Fla. Soon they were putting various groups together and experimenting with different kinds of music, right up to their first pop hit: "Spiders and Snakes," which David wrote when his brother crawled out of a sleeping bag after discovering he had a chicken snake for company.
It was their "Let Your Love Flow" that established them in pop, and "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me" - taken from a line David once heard Groucho Marx use - in country. They also gained a reputation as a hot concert act.
Some of their other inventive and distinctive songs include "Sugar Daddy," "Do You Love As Good As You Look," "Old Hippie" and "Baby Boom." They have gotten more nominations for Duo of the Year from the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music than any pair of musicians.
Their Snake, Rattle & Roll Jam, a benefit concert they added to the Rattlesnake Roundup where they first played publicly, is now a major annual event at their home base in Florida.
Cimmaron features lead vocalist Bobby Smith, steel guitarist Joey McCray, bassist Brian Jones, guitarist Lee Koon, drummer Jerry Parris and keyboardist Bryan Pope.
They got together in the Roanoke area where some of them had been performing in other bands. Their music pays homage to the the kind of country songs they heard growing up but with the intensity of their rock heroes.
They have been at it for 15 years.
Other musicians entertaining in Jackson Park during the festival June 24 include Country Current, the Navy's premier country-bluegrass group.
A speciality unit of the U.S. Navy Band, they tour the country each year in conjunction with naval recruiting. They have also performed at the White House, Grand Ole Opry and Academy of Country Music Awards show during their 22 years.
Country Current received national acclaim during Operation Desert Storm for its original composition, "We Are With You," which aired on ABC-TV's "Good Morning, America," The Nashville Network's "Nashville Now" and more than 500 U.S. and Canadian radio and television stations.
by CNB