Country legend taking over Diddle Arena on Saturday; Harley riders making grand entrance to concert

Thursday, April 29, 2004

George Jones is just happy to know hes still pumpin gas. When fans still want to see you when youre 72 years old, that makes you feel great, he said in an interview Wednesday. Its the greatest feeling in the world. The legendary country singer will get that great feeling again when he performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at Western Kentucky Universitys E.A. Diddle Arena. Tickets are $31 and will be available at the door. The concert is part of our grand opening, said Rose Wheat, motor clothes manager for Harley-Davidson of Bowling Green. We wanted to have a top name for the grand-opening festivities. A motorcycle parade will gather at 6:30 p.m. at Harley-Davidson on Cumberland Trace, and will head out to Diddle soon afterward, Wheat said. The first 300 bikes will get VIP parking. The real VIP, however, will be Jones, a singer who has had more than 175 chart singles and recorded nearly 200 albums in five decades of recording. Best known for the hits White Lightning, She Thinks I Still Care and He Stopped Loving Her Today, he said he is looking forward to his Bowling Green performance. He even mentioned the city which he has visited before in a 1959 song called Who Shot Sam. I mention a gal from Bowling Green in it, he said with a laugh. Jones will sing old and new songs at the concert. We just changed the show up and put in old songs that people would enjoy hearing. Were gonna have the biggest time of our life, he said with a laugh. Im going to get out there and feel young again. Well, actually I dont feel old. It feels great to be in there. The Franklin, Tenn., resident has been keeping a young mans pace. His latest album, The Gospel Collection, is one that he said he was very thrilled with, and he is already thinking ahead to his next project, a yet unnamed album that will feature other peoples hits. Ill do everybodys hits but mine, he said. The songs Im trying to pick were big hits, but not overdone by different artists. We may finish up in the latter part of May, but itll be July or August before the album has a chance to come out. Jones has also been touring across the United States and Canada for the past several months. We werent planning on going back to Canada, but they were such great fans that we may go back again next year, he said. Its all about the love of his fans for Jones. He said he, like other longtime country veterans, has gotten past the point of worrying about heavy radio play. Weve got a few years under our belts. People know us, he said. We dont have to worry about radio play. Weve got enough to stay on the minds of people. We have all the work we could ever want. Besides, the sound of country music has changed to one that doesnt reflect the sound that he likes to sing, he said. The songs have a touch of country in them, but you dont have songs like you used to hear way back, he said. Like (late singer) Hank Williams Your Cheatin Heart you dont hear songs like that anymore. You dont get the heartfelt country songs anymore. Life has been great since he gave up alcohol, smoking and drinking coffee, Jones said. I never realized it could be this beautiful when you clean your life up, he said. While Jones said being elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 was a major highlight, the Saratoga, Texas, native believes the devotion of his fans ranks even higher. Ive been so lucky to have been accepted by so many fans who are very devoted traditional country music lovers, he said. You feel like youve accomplished something. Jones accomplishments inspire Steve Gulley, guitarist and lead singer of the bluegrass group Mountain Heart, on a regular basis. The band has been touring with him since last year and will open Saturdays concert. We do a lot of shows with George, he said. He has been my singing hero since I was a little boy. Its an honor to get to watch him sing every night. Gulley and the other five band members banjoist/singer Barry Abernathy, fiddler Jim Van Cleve, mandolin player Adam Steffey, bassist Jason Moore and guitarist Clay Jones enjoy singing music that brings emotion in the group as well as people who hear their songs. Their new album, Force of Nature, will be released May 11.We never set out to record and market to anybody. We record songs we love. Its really heart music, he said of the bands sound. Were spiritual. Were all Christians. Whether its secular or gospel, we have to feel something for the song. For example, Soldiers Prayer talks about a timely subject, but it wasnt the total reason the song will appear on the upcoming album, Gulley said. The song talks about going through a crossroads, and its spiritual at the end, he said. There are inner battles that people go through, decisions to make that have ramifications throughout life. The concept for the band started in 1998, Gulley said. We all came from different bands, he said. We wanted to make a living and make good music. We started with four members and now we have six. The bands name sums up what the band is about, Gulley said. Were mountain men, he said. We draw from a sense of growing up in mountain communities. Although there have been personnel changes over the years, the band members past and present get along very well, Gulley said. We have talk sessions with people we hire, and we are good terms with anyone who has ever left the band, he said. We get along offstage, too. Inner strife can tear a band apart. Its like a cancer. From the bandmembers to their families and crew, nobody is treated like an employer, Gulley said. People genuinely like the band, he said. We pray together. Were good friends in a family way. About 2,000 tickets are still available for the concert and can be purchased by calling 745-5222 or (800) 5-BIGRED, or online at www.wkusports.com. Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700