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THE "VIRGINIANS"

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        Pictures from the concert provided by Chris Starnes

 

Copied from THE POST

Virginians reunite for May 30 concert  in Appalachia

IDA HOLYFIELD > Editor


Forty years after they first gathered to create a dance sound that would create a regional following, the Virginians are coming back together on stage in Appalachia.
Mark those calendars for Tuesday, May 30. Get to the Appalachia Cultural Arts Center well in advance of the 7 p.m. downbeat, and don’t miss a moment of this wonderful reunion concert, organizer Charlotte Green urged in a Monday interview.
Green, who has been helping Sue Ella Boatright-Wells organize the music lineups at Home Craft Days for the past 25 years, couldn’t be happier about the masterstroke of good luck that brought the band back together, and to the town for a concert.
Appalachia Centennial Reunion organizer and council consultant Jerry Strong had contacted Green and asked for her assistance in coming up with concerts and musical events that could be staged downtown to help bring life back to Main Street. But Green said she never dreamed that project would result in a Virginians reunion.
“I’d been thinking about things we could do that would bring back memories of happier times, and the Virginians came to mind,” she said.
Several weeks ago, Green contacted John Collier in Lee County, a former Appalachia resident and the drummer for the original Virginians band, and asked if group members had ever thought of getting back together to play.
They had talked about it, just for fun and memories, but there’d been no serious discussion, she learned. Would the band members consider coming to Appalachia’s Cultural Arts Center to play a short reunion concert? Green asked.
A 1967 photo of the Virginians which had run in The Post earlier in the year had generated quite a buzz in the town, Green told Collier, and she wondered if a reunion might be possible.
To Green’s delight, Collier agreed to call around, and then band members decided to get back together to practice a couple of times. Then came the word — they agreed to play at the Cultural Arts Center on Tuesday, May 30.
The Cultural Arts Center will accommodate about 150 folks, Green estimated. To help the center meet the cost of operation, the event will be a fund-raiser. Tickets will be $5 per person, she noted.
As part of the reunion, and to preserve the wonderful history of this group, Green asked band member Ron Flanary if he would write up a history of the band (see story this page).
The line up for the reunion concert will include Ron Swindall on guitar, Mark Wooten on bass, John Collier on drums, Buddy Stewart on trumpet, Ron Flanary doing vocals and Dave Tipton, on keyboard.
Of the rehearsal, Flanary said, “We had a ball, and after a lot of the rust came off, we actually sounded quite good, I thought.” (See first version of the band’s play list, this page).
Of the performance Flanary said, “You have some old guys, including a retired school administrator, a high school band director, chief engineer of a major coal company, and the Lenowisco Planning District Commission director, coming together in a manner that only the geezers around here even remember. There are few people who would associate me with playing a trumpet and singing.”
But those who do remember truly cherish the memories, Green noted. “This reunion will be a wonderful gift to the town, and it’s a great reminder of the years when live music was an important part of our social lives,” she noted.
The Virginians, folks have said, helped put Appalachia on the map 40 years ago, and are an important part of the town’s legacy.
“It’s not about us. It’s about my old home town, Appalachia,” Flanary noted. “More than ever, they need some good news to say something positive about the community. This is about doing something that could bring back some positive Appalachia memories.”
Reserve your tickets early by contacting Green at Mountain Empire Community College, 523-7464.
Tickets are $5 each and may be purchased, beginning Friday, at The Post newspaper in Big Stone Gap, Roy A Green Funeral Home in Appalachia, and Green’s office on the campus of MECC.


Tunes you may hear May 30

Coming to the Appalachia Cultural Arts Stage on May 30 at 7 p.m. will be the Virginians — Ron Swindall on guitar, Mark Wooten on bass, John Collier on drums, Buddy Stewart on trumpet, Ron Flanary doing horn and vocals and Dave Tipton on keyboard.


Tunes you may be hearing, include:
 

  • “Hello Dolly,” Ron Flanary vocal, ensemble;
     
  • “Tijuana Taxi,” Ron Flanary and Buddy Stewart, horns;
     
  • “Mustang Sally,” Ron Flanary vocal;
     
  • “What I Say?,” Ron Flanary vocal;
     
  • “Cryin’ Time,” Ron Flanary vocal with ensemble backup vocal;
     
  • “Salty Dog,” John Collier on banjo, Ron Flanary vocal and backup;
     
  • “Alfie,” Buddy Stewart on horn;
     
  • “Girl from Ipanema,” Ron Flanary vocal;
     
  • “Wood Chopper’s Ball, ensemble;
     
  • “The Night Life,” Ron Swindall vocal;
     
  • “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” Ron Flanary vocal;
     
  • “Star Dust,” Ron Flanary vocal;
     
  • “The Preacher,” ensemble;
  •  
  • "Them That Got," Ron Swindall vocal;
     
  • “Everything I Love,” ensemble;
     
  • “Indiana,” Buddy Stewart on horn;
     
  • “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia,” ensemble.
  •  

The Virginians — memories of a Wise County band

Compiled by Ron Flanary

The Virginians was the brainchild of Joe Flanary, best known as the director of the Appalachia High School “Tricky Sixty” band from 1952 until 1971. Joe had lived a life of music, and was particularly a devotee of jazz. Beginning in the late ‘30s, he played trombone in a number of regional bands in his ome area of eastern Kentucky. However, there were many other personal stories involved in shaping this memorable dance band.

After moving to Appalachia, Joe met Glenn Smith, from Norton. Glenn was a phenomenal musician who had left a promising career in New York City in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s to return to his home when his father became ill. Finding a job as a postal clerk, Smith continued to play alto sax with other area musicians during that decade.

Over in Pound, guitarist Ron Swindall had developed into one of the finest musicians from that community, and was a founding member of another great band, the Wildcats.

For much of the first part of the ‘60s, the Wildcats were the regular house band at Club Scotty’s, which was located between Needmore and the Guest River area in Wise County. Glenn Smith had played occasional gigs with the Wildcats.

The Wildcats also played many other gigs in the area for proms, TV, theatre concerts, etc. Like the Virginians, several of the original Wildcats will re-unite on July 1 to play for a Pound High School Class reunion.

In 1966, Flanary, Smith and Swindall would come together in a serendipitous union, all motivated to go in new musical directions as the exciting young sounds of the decade unfolded.

A few rawboned rookies who heretofore were merely high school band musicians would join them. John “Danny” Collier, from Appalachia, joined the band as drummer. John was a 1964 graduate of Appalachia High School, where he was a drummer and drum major for the high school band. Ron Flanary also became a Virginian. Also an AHS graduate, class of 1966, Ron was an All-State trumpet player in the high school band. From Norton, William “Buddy” Stewart was the third member of this group of rookie semi-professional musicians. Buddy was also an outstanding All-State trumpet player and a member of the J.I. Burton Raider Band.

Just out of college, Swindall began a life-long teaching career at Appalachia High School as a biology instructor. There, he met Joe Flanary, who had learned of Swindall’s guitar skills. Joe was interested in forming a new band around some new concepts, so he invited Swindall to join him.

At the time, Joe and Glenn were playing with a more conventional jazz band. While the music was good, they could see there was a demand for rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and even some country and western that was not their forte. They could see an opportunity for a band that was extremely versatile in playing a number of musical genres well — but it would take the right people. In early 1966, the seeds that would become the Virginians germinated, and a run of almost a decade of musical success throughout the central Appalachian region would follow.

The Virginians became a true variety group. The instrumentation was initially patterned after Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass, but that same lineup lent itself to Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Ray Charles, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Chicago and any other number of groups and musical styles.

The Virginians all could read music, and played an extensive “book” of arrangements written primarily by Glenn Smith, but also by Joe Flanary. Ron Swindall and Buddy Stewart also scored tunes for the band, including some original numbers. The concept was an immediate success, and for the next nine years, the band normally played somewhere every Saturday night, and sometimes Fridays.

The original lineup of the Virginians thus included Flanary, Smith and Swindall (all of whom would stay with the band for the entirety of its nine-year existence, 1966-1974), drummer John “Danny” Collier, Buddy Stewart on trumpet, Ron Flanary on trumpet and vocals, and Merle Dockery on bass and vocals. By 1967, Dockery had left the band, and was replaced by Carl Hoag. When Hoag left the band in early 1970, Joe, Glenn and Ron Swindall auditioned a 14-year old bass player from Norton named Mark Wooten. They were impressed by his performance and command of the instrument, plus he could read music (he was a member of the J.I. Burton High School band). With special permission from Mark’s parents, he joined the line up, and remained the band’s bassist until the end.

When Ron Flanary departed the band in April 1970 upon graduation from college (to take a job in Louisville, Ky. with Southern Railway), another veteran musician from the region, Dave Tipton, stepped in to play trumpet. Dave, a native of Lee County, had also grown up doing dance band work in the 1950s and early ‘60s, and as director of the Powell Valley High School band, he was already a well-regarded friend and fellow musician within the region.

Ron would be drafted into the U.S. Army that fall, so Dave became a permanent fixture in the band. The following year, Buddy Stewart was also drafted into the Army, so Paul Dotson stepped in replace him. Upon Ron Flanary’s return to the region in 1972, he replaced Dotson.

Other musicians served brief stints with the band, including Gary Freeman and Mark Jackson on bass, and a number of different vocalists to cover that portion of Ron Flanary’s duties during his stint in the Army. These included “Little Willie” McCrary, Sam Broach, Aaron Ellis and George Reynolds. Greg Still replaced John Collier on drums in 1973. Earlier, Bob Moore played some sax with the band during its formative months.

As with virtually every band, the Virginians ultimately came to a time of dissolution. That happened in the summer of 1974. Everyone left as friends and lifelong colleagues, however. The pressures of real jobs, families and other responsibilities made it increasingly difficult to devote virtually every weekend to performing somewhere.

At the suggestion of Charlotte Green, some of the former Virginians were contacted to see if there was interest in getting back together for a “reunion” performance. Collier, Swindall, Wooten, Ron Flanary, Stewart and Tipton were all still living in the area, so after some 36 years since this particular ensemble last played publicly, the Virginians will bring back their particular brand of music on May 30.

 

 

 

 

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