Johnny Paycheck Tribute highlights Greene Countrie Towne Festival
Bobby Mackey will be joining in on vocals along with Richard Martin, Eric Huff and Rhett Sims during the Johnny Paycheck Tribute scheduled Saturday, July 20 at the 2013 Greene Countrie Towne Festival in Greenfield.
“We are happy to hear that Bobby Mackey will be able to join in the fun at the Johnny Paycheck Tribute, scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 20 during the Greene Countrie Towne Festival," said Greenfield Rotarian Ron Coffey. "It should be a great night for country music fans!”
The show will pay tribute to the music and times of Johnny Paycheck and his contemporaries such as George Jones, Merle Haggard and others who sometimes stopped in Greenfield when they were in the vicinity during their tours around the country.
Country music legend Johnny Paycheck passed away in 2003 following a long and successful – and sometimes controversial – career that brought him national recognition.
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Ten years later, Paycheck's legend lives on and classic country radio stations still play "Take This Job and Shove It," "She's All I Got," "I'm the Only Hell (Momma Ever Raised)," "Old Violin" and other classics recorded by the Greenfield native.
Once again the Greenfield Rotary Club reached out to Stephen Lake, who helped organize a very successful Paycheck tribute in 2003, and he is putting together a show paying tribute to the music and times of Johnny Paycheck that will feature four singers and a five-piece band, plus stories and recollections about the man who started as a singer of country and honky tonk music and later embraced the "outlaw" movement over a career that spanned half a century.
The show is scheduled from 8-10:30 p.m. Saturday, July 20 during the Greene Countrie Towne Festival and will feature vocalists Bobby Mackey, Eric Huff, Rhett Sims and Greenfield's own Richard Martin.
In addition, radio personality and steel guitar legend Chubby Howard will share some stories about Johnny Paycheck, who began life in Greenfield as Donny Lytle before scaling the heights of country music.
“I am extremely happy with having Bobby Mackey a part of this show,” said Stephen Lake of Steve Lake Promotions, who organized the show for the Greenfield Rotary Club, sponsors of the Greene Countrie Towne Festival.
Bobby Mackey was born and raised in Concord, Ky. He has been singing and winning talent contests since age 4. Growing up in his father’s grocery store in Lewis County, Bobby learned the songs of Hank Williams, Buck Owens, George Jones and Merle Haggard on the jukebox located in the store.
After graduating from high school, Bobby moved to Covington, Ky., with his new bride, Janet, to work on the railroad and pursue his singing career.
While raising two daughters, owning and operating his own nightclub and enjoying national chart success with hit songs “Hero Daddy” and “Pepsi Man,” Bobby Mackey has built a solid fan base in the Midwest and enjoys international success selling CDs and mp3s of his music to fans worldwide.
For more than 30 years, Mackey’s nightclub has been known as Greater Cincinnati’s top country night spot, where “the way it was is still the way it is.”
The Greene Countrie Towne Festival will feature lots of live entertainment, games, booths, food and fun as thousands come to Greenfield on the third weekend of July. Proceeds from the benefit auction on Saturday afternoon benefit the Greenfield Rotary Club, and many other local organizations gain financial support by sponsoring various activities that weekend.
The Greenfield Rotary Club, which sponsors the Greene Countrie Towne Festival, is expecting a big crowd for the festival July 19-21. Other activities at the festival will include "Blue Friday" featuring popular regional bands The Blues Merchants and Blue Steel, games and contests, antique tractors and classic cars, a parade and the Lip Sync Contest.
For more information about the festival visit the Greenfield Rotary Club's website: www.greenfieldrotary.org.