Renfro Valley kicks off 77th season in April

Renfro Valley 2016 Schedule

Renfro Valley is back and excited for 2016 as this year marks Renfro Valley's 77th season of great classic country, southern gospel and mountain bluegrass.

For the first time ever, patrons can enjoy one of the great Renfro Valley original shows and their favorite country music headliner in the same night! Renfro Valley shows will begin at 6:30 p.m. so that patrons can see a show, grab a bite to eat, then head to an 8:30 p.m. headliner. 

This year also brings two new shows to Renfro Valley, Elwood's Smooch's Hillbilly Hoedown and Renfro Valley Bandstand.

Elwood Smooch's Hillbilly Hoedown is Dollywood's most famous funny man.  The Smoky Mountains most honored musical-comedy clown, brings his laughing, singing, barn burn- ing "Baptist burlap spectacular" to the Kentucky hills every Thursday night at 6:30 p.m, in 2016, beginning May 5th.

Renfro Valley Bandstand will take the audience down memory lane so they relive the music of their life from the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's! It happens every Friday night starting April 29th at 6:30 p.m.

Being revitalized for the 2016 season is the Mountain Gospel Jubilee. This show features the best of southern, country, and bluegrass gospel that you are sure to leave this show with a warm heart and a big smile on your face.  It happens every Saturday at 3:00 p.m. starting April 30th.

You don't want to miss the world famous Renfro Valley Barn Dance.  Having started in 1939, it is America's longest running Barn Dance in the United States and the second longest running show behind the Grand Ole Opry. The Renfro Valley Barn Dance is performed every Saturday night starting April 16th at 6:30 p.m.

Renfro Valley is also proud to announce their 2016 Headliner Concert Series that includes 30 Country Music artists, kicking off on April 16th with Tracy Lawrence. Kentucky's own "Coal Miners Daughter" Loretta Lynn will grace the stage of the New Barn Theater this season along with the "big man" himself, Trace Adkins, in the Valley for the first time April 24th. Also for the first time, Renfro Valley is proud to welcome LeAnn Rimes, her career expands more than two decades with over 44 million albums sold - this will be a show you definitely won't want to miss. Renfro Valley also welcomes back some of your favorite legends such as Gene Watson, John Anderson, Earl Thomas Conley, Marty Stuart with Connie Smith, Travis Tritt and many more. 2016 at Renfro Valley is sure to be a year that you will not want to miss!

For tickets and more information, be sure to visit www.renfrovalley.com.

Renfro Valley announces 2016 concert season

Trace Adkins is set to perform at Renfro Valley.  Photo by Mike Coppola

One of Kentucky's best concert venues is Renfro Valley Entertainment Center. It is located just an hour south of Lexington off exit 62 on I-75. Renfro Valley is known as "Kentucky's Country Music Capital" with its new barn headliner entertainment, along with their old barn theater, as well as the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.

Tracy Lawrence kicks off Renfro Valley's 2016 Headliner Concerts with the first show of the season on April 16th. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, February 16th. There are many shows that return each year, including the Oak Ridge Boys, as well as Marty Stuart with his wife Connie Smith.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.renfrovalley.com or by calling the ticket office at 1-800-765-7464. Box office sales begin at 9:00 a.m. and Online/Phone sales begin at 10:00 a.m.

Renfro Valley also announced their new shows in the historic Old Barn Theatre. Thursdays at 6:30 p.m., Dukes of Hazzard fans will have to join in with the Hazzard County Hoedown. Friday nights at 6:30 p.m., it is the Renfro Valley Bandstand. Saturday is complete with a Mountain Gospel Jubilee at 3:00 p.m., followed by the longstanding Renfro Valley Barn Dance at 6:30 p.m.

Below is a list of the headliner concerts at Renfro Valley. Please note that the schedule is subject to change. Ticket prices can be located at www.renfrovalley.com.

Renfro Valley 2016 Headliner Concerts

April 16 Tracy Lawrence
April 23 Sawyer Brown
April 24 Trace Adkins
April 30 Exile
May 15 Merle Haggard
May 20 The Time Jumpers 
June 11 Billy "Crash" Craddock
June 18 Oak Ridge Boys
July 9 LeAnn Rimes
July 16 Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
July 22 Wynonna and the Big Noise
July 30 Ronnie Milsap
August 5 Sara Evans
August 6 All Night Gospel Sing with Dove Brothers, Michael Combs, The Singing Cookes, and His Heart Quartet
August 20 Earl Thomas Conley
August 26 Jamey Johnson
September 3 Bobby Bare
September 9 Loretta Lynn
September 10 Gene Watson
September 16 John Anderson
September 17 The Isaacs
October 1 Dailey & Vincent
October 8 John Conlee
October 14 Mickey Gilley
October 15 Marty Stuart & Connie Smith
October 29 Rhonda Vincent & the Rage
November 5 Travis Tritt

November 18 - December 17 Christmas in the Valley

Kentucky Music Hall of Fame group Exile announces 2016 Tour Dates

Country rockers Exile will bring their energetic show, packed with hits like “Kiss You All Over” and “She’s A Miracle,” to 15 venues across the country during the first leg of their 2016 tour.

The group will set sail with “Country’s Family Reunion” Cruise Jan. 31-Feb. 7 before their first stop on their nationwide tour Feb. 13 in Columbus, Ohio. A full tour schedule is below.

“We're excited to announce the first few dates of our 2016 tour - the 53rd year of Exile! We're especially proud to start this year with many of our fellow Artists and friends, on the Larry's Country Diner/Country's Family Reunion Caribbean Cruise. Here's to another year of seeing old friends, and making new ones,” said keyboardist, Marlon Hargis.

Exile members Marlon Hargis, J.P. Pennington, Les Taylor, Sonny LeMaire and Steve Goetzman, will be joined by country star John Conlee, T. Graham Brown, Moe Bandy, Rhonda Vincent, Mark Wills, Gene Watson, Johnny Lee, and many others to perform and meet fans while on the cruise. The sold-out annual 7-night Western Caribbean cruise includes stops in Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. The ship will set sail for the Caribbean sun on January 31 and end February 7.

Exile formed in 1963 looking to play small clubs in Richmond, Kentucky, but managed to top both the pop and country charts during their over 50 year-long career. Their most successful hit, “Kiss You All Over” spent four weeks at the top of Billboard’s pop chart in 1978. In the early 1980’s Exile started to focus on country music. During their run on the country charts Exile has successfully had ten No. 1 singles including “I Don’t Want To Be A Memory” and “Give Me One More Chance.” They have toured with acts including Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Gatlin Brothers and The Judds. The 5 original Exile members reformed in 2008 and continue to tour today. Current members of the band include J.P. Pennington, Les Taylor, Sonny LeMaire, Marlon Hargis and Steve Goetzman.

Be sure to follow Exile on Facebook, Twitter or visit exile.biz for more information.

EXILE ON TOUR:

Jan 31 - Feb 7 - Larry's Country Diner/ Country's Family Reunion Caribbean Cruise

Feb 13 - Columbus, Ohio -Valley Dale Ballroom

Feb 20 - Nashville, Tenn. - Grand Ole Opry

March 11 - Shelbyville, Ind. - Indiana Grand Casino

March 18 - Ft Payne, Ala. - Chris Roberts School of Music (former Pickin Post)

April 8 – Ft. Myers, Fla. - The Ranch (with Janie Fricke)

April 9 - Weirsdale, Fla. - Orange Blossom Opry (with Janie Fricke)

April 29 - Benton, Ky. - Kentucky Opry

April 30 - Renfro Valley, Ky. - Renfro Valley Entertainment Center

June 25 – June 26 - La Veta, Colo. - Fir Station Amphitheater

July 4 - Rowlett, Texas - Pecan Grove Park

July 30 - Ft Worth, Texas - Stagecoach Ballroom

Sept 4 - Winchester, Ky. - Lykins Park (Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival)

Sept 8 - Bremen, Ga - Milltown Music Hall

Dec 2 - Lebanon, Ky. -Angelic Hall

Dec 3 - Scottsburg, Ind. - Ross Country Jamboree

Kentucky Music Hall of Fame members Exile release book on their historic past

The story of one of the most successful bands in Country Music history has been documented with the recent release of the book 50 Years of Exile: The Story of a Band in Transition. Written by Randy Westbrook, an Eastern Kentucky University musicologist, the book details the group’s rise to prominence over the past five decades.

Founded in Richmond, Kentucky by Jimmy Stokley, Ronnie 'Mack' Davenport, Paul Smith, Mike Howard, Billy Luxon, Buzz Cornelison, and J.P. Pennington – while all were still in high school – the band found a following in the Lexington area. But, the Exile story doesn’t end there. A stint on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars in the mid 1960s broadened their audience even more. During that stint, they opened for such Pop acts as the legendary B.J. Thomas.

Continuing to record and tour throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Exile’s star began to shine bright with the 1978 release of the single “Kiss You All Over.” After fifteen years in the business, the band was suddenly an “Overnight Success,” with the song hitting number one in the fall of 1978, and selling over 5 million singles. The single’s massive commercial success introduced Exile as the new opening act on the Aerosmith tour and then the Heart tour, respectively. The group followed up that hit with another Top 40 on the Hot 100, “You Thrill Me.”

In the 1980s, Pennington – along with members Sonny LeMaire and Les Taylor – began to have success a songwriter in Nashville with cuts by Alabama (“Take Me Down”), Kenny Rogers (“Take This Heart”), Janie Fricke (“It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Easy”). That, combined with the fact that their roots had always been steeped in Country (Pennington’s mother, Lily Mae Ledford, was one of the stars of the iconic Renfro Valley Barn Dance), led them to sign with Epic Records in 1983.

Their first single, “High Cost Of Leavin,” found success at radio, and set the stage for hit after hit throughout the decade. “Woke Up In Love” became their first chart-topper, and it was followed by songs such as “She’s Too Good To Be True,” “Hang On To Your Heart,” and “She’s A Miracle.”

50 Years In Exile: The Story of a Band in Transition is an honest look at one of America’s most enduring success stories, with anecdotes from many of the band’s former and current members, including Paul Martin, who later went on to fame as one of Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives.

Praise for the book has come from a variety of critics and fans, with Randy pinpoints individual performances, instruments as well as the members themselves. Steve Goetzman, longtime drummer of the band, stated “Randy pinpoints individual performances, instruments played and recording techniques used, all in fine detail, yet in a language music fans will enjoy reading. This musicologist’s analysis of song after Exile song intertwined with an accurate history of a 50-year-old band might set a new standard for music reviewers. Colorful personalities, career-shaping decisions and solutions for longevity are talked about here.”

Keyboardist Marlon Hargis says the book was educational – even for him, “I learned things about the band that I never knew before! An interesting history of Exile from a musician’s viewpoint. I recommend it to any Exile fan, or any budding musician wanting a realistic depiction of a band’s life!”

Published by Acclaim Press, 50 Years of Exile: The Story of a Band in Transition is available in select bookstores and Amazon. The band continues to tour in 2015, with dates already being added to their itinerary for 2016.

Click here to order 50 Years of Exile

Kentucky honors musical heritage with 2013 Hall of Fame class

KY Music Hall of Fame 2013 Class - photo by Jessica Bray

The sun was shining bright on the home of those inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame over the weekend. The induction ceremony was held in the Bluegrass Ballroom in the Lexington Center. Inducted were The Kentucky Headhunters, Exile, Linda Lou Martin and her late husband Emory Martin, Steven Curtis Chapman, The Hilltoppers, the late Skeeter Davis, and the late Old Joe Clark.

Chad Warrix and David Tolliver of Halfway to Hazard, along with Josh Bliedt, received the Danny R. Ford Distinguished Service Award for their work with Kentucky charities. Jackie DeShannon was honored with the Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Highlights of the evening included performances by Halfway to Hazard, The Kentucky Headhunters, Exile, the WKU Hilltoppers Choir, and special performance by the granddaughter of Linda Lou Martin and son of Old Joe Clark.

Also in attendance were 2011 inductee Steve Wariner, 2006 inductee Sam Bush, and 2004 inductee Jerry Chestnut.

More information on this year's inductees, as well as the Hall of Fame can be found at www.kentuckymusicmuseum.com.