Performance Honors Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash
Country’s biggest stars get honored in an upcoming performance at Chestnut Center for the Arts on March 24.
Sweet Dreams & Honky Tonks is a classic country music revue featuring the best-loved songs of four of America’s greatest and most influential singers: Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Johnny Cash. The show celebrates their lives and careers in story and song. It stars two veteran performers.
Tom Waselchuk is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer who has performed for over three decades, sometimes juggling multiple projects, but always keeping one foot planted firmly in country music.
Lindsey Giese is a dynamic singer and a consummate performer who has sung just about every style of popular music performing in scores of revues with her sister duo The Giese Girls and as a soloist, starring in the Fabulous Fifties Live! show for five seasons. Ms. Giese was also lead vocalist on Holland America and Celebrity Cruises for four seasons.
“I originally started to write and produce a show with more classic country artists and music, but I realized along the way that the more artists I included, the less deeply I’d be able to get into any one of them,” said Waselchuck. “I wanted to make a show that was a little richer in details and scope, and I narrowed it down to four.”
The task was difficult, but reflects the artist’s status in country music. “I do think that they would be almost anyone’s top ten, and I think everyone would recognize the important role they played in culture,” he said. “These artists in particular were artists whose work influenced me.”
During the revue, Walechuk and Giese perform about six of each artist’s well-known songs, as well as a couple that the audience might not be as familiar with but which represent another side to the artist, and will also share stories and anecdotes about their lives and careers.
“Even if you think you know it all, I like to think that we’ll be able to shed a little light on each of the artists,” said Waselchuck.
The show treats the songs with a lot of reverence, he added, and most arrangements follow the original song. But there are a few that are creative. Their cover of “I Still Miss Someone” by Johnny Cash is a moving arrangement of the original.
“I was worried that country music fans wouldn’t take to it, but it gets the loudest applause,” noted Waselchuck.
Sweet Dreams & Honky Tonks has been performed a handful of times every year in the Midwest and is now in its fifth year. “It’s been a very popular show,” he said.
Waselchuk’s band, The Dang-Its, is the backup band for Sweet Dreams & Honky Tonks. The group was named 2013 Country/Bluegrass Performer of the Year by the Madison Area Music Awards, and their most recent release, A Lick of Sense, won the MAMA’s 2014 Country/Bluegrass Album of the Year. In 2014 and 2015 The Dang-Its were regular guest artists on Midwest Country, a music showcase broadcast Saturday evenings in prime-time on the RFD-TV network.
Along with Waselchuk, The Dang-Its include Rick Nass on pedal steel guitar, Matt Rodgers on upright bass, Mark Luhring on drums, and Chris Wagoner on mandolin and violin.
Audience members can purchase a CD of sixteen songs from the show after the performance. Advance tickets can be purchased via Box Office for $20 by calling 715-389-8999 or online at www.chestnutarts.org. For more information about the show, visit www.sweetdreamsandhonkytonks.com
