The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #37179   Message #2904927
Posted By: Shadowman
11-May-10 - 11:25 PM
Thread Name: Members of the New Christy Minstrels
Subject: RE: Members of the New Christy Minstrels
Head over to the New Christy Minstrels site. Randy Sparks is busy rehearsing the "Class of 2010" New Christy Minstrels. In the past 2 years (2008, 2009), we have seen "The New Christy Minstrels" in concerts in Florida. The audiences were mostly retirees. My wife and I, in our late 50s, were among the youngest kids there. We traveled 2 hours each time because several of the original Christies were out of retirement, so to speak, so we heard Randy Sparks, Dolan Ellis, Jackie Miller Davidson, Art Podell, and Clarence Treat. A couple of other "ringers" rounded out a group of 7. I enjoyed Becky Jo Benson very much, and her "ringer" career as a NCM has been since the late 1990s, I believe. The ensemble blend was so much fun, but a couple of the individual voices were showing much roughness of age. Still- would not have missed it. And their after show meet-and-greet autograph sessions were a treasure.
Well, Art, Jackie, and Clarence have left this revived ensemble, and the "magic" of seeing the original NCMinstrels has left with it, in my humble opinion (not having heard the new replacements). I wish them all well. The New Christy Minstrel official website gives extensive promo introductions by Randy Sparks that the "Class of 2010 is 'the real deal.'
Shadowman