Musicians to play for one of own
BANDING TOGETHER: Musicians are often known for taking care of one another, and here is another example of such. Arkansas native and American Roots musician Sleepy LaBeef has a wife, Linda, who is fighting cancer. And he has heart and circulation problems that keep him from working regularly, contrary to what he’s done for more than 60 years.
Cue the friends — lots of friends — many of them musical pioneers from the early days of Memphis-based Sun Studios. On Sunday, March 19, a benefit concert for the couple will feature Sun Records original recording artists Sonny Burgess and the Pacers leading the charge. The show, open to the public, is set for 1-6 p.m. at Ward Country Music Hall. The hall is in Ward in Lonoke County at the corner of Hickory and Arkansas 319, just off Exit 25 of U.S. 67/167. The owner of the dance hall, which seats 250, is donating the use of his building.
Others set to perform so far include: Jason D. Williams and his band; Ace Cannon and his band; W.S. Holland, who played for Johnny Cash for 37 years and on all of Carl Perkins’ hits at Sun Records; Perkins’ son, Stan; and J.M. Van Eaton, who played drums with Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and more. Sleepy is expected to be there, and the hope is that he will be able to perform some as well.
Tickets, sold at the door, will be $20 per person with all proceeds going to the LaBeefs.
“We are hoping for a full house and to make Sleepy some money,” says Bobby Crafford, the longtime drummer with Sonny Burgess and the Pacers, which earlier held a similar fundraiser for Bill Riley in Newport.
MUSIC CITY NEWS: Marion native Barrett Baber, who made it as far as a finalist on NBC’s competition show The Voice, recently signed with the digital marketing firm Gyrosity Projects + Crosshair in Nashville.
The Arkansas connection? Garrison Snell, who is the founder of Gyrosity Projects. Snell is a Jonesboro native who was reared in Bentonville. Snell, a Bentonville High grad (class of 2011), was recently named in a Forbes magazine article titled, “Meet The Twentysomethings Changing Nashville’s Networking Tune.”
AWARD-WINNING WORK: The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism recently won a national travel media award in the 2016 North American Travel Journalism Association’s awards competition.
The state agency landed the silver award in the Destination Social Media or Marketing Campaign category for its Parkansas Vacation Giveaway campaign. The campaign featured lighthearted videos and social media posts highlighting Arkansas’ 52 state parks, seven National Park Service sites and many other municipal recreation areas through a park personality quiz and prize giveaway. The campaign drew more than 67,000 views to its page on Arkansas.com and more than 21,000 unique entries.