The Scenic Route
Local country music lovers gathered on Sunday, February 16th, at the Graham Memorial Auditorium to enjoy the conclusion of the Graham Concert Association’s 79th season in the company of The Last Plainsmen & Friends.
Although I had not previously heard of The Last Plainsmen & Friends, judging from the number of people who came to enjoy their performance, the musicians were well-known to the community. The Last Plainsmen were originally founded in 2019 by Brendan Weatherman and Grant Ingram, musicians who had relocated to Young County and then cultivated friends in the local music scene.
The Last Plainsmen & Friends featured two board members of the Graham Concert Association: Brendan Weatherman (acoustic guitarist, vocalist) and drummer Donnie Maines of the Maines Brothers. Bert Willis played bass while Robert Weeks played fiddle for a few songs and did an excellent job. I wished he had been placed more forward on stage so the audience could see him better. We had no problems hearing his skill on the fiddle, but it would have been nice to see him play! Race Ricketts of Olney and Finis Smith of Ivan each played guitar and sang vocals for a few songs. It was obvious a lot of their fans were in the audience. Bryan Bivens played a variety of guitars and a flat-backed mandolin on several songs and did justice to some challenging vocals. Jennifer Marshall was a vocalist who kept time with tambourine. Married couple Zach Balch (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and vocals) and Karyna Balch (piano, keyboard, vocals) were a major component of the group and performed in most of the night’s numbers.
The setlist included twenty-one songs plus an intermission for refreshments. The selections ranged from the artists’ own original pieces, including Race Ricketts’ 2024 song “940”, to older pieces like Judy Collins’ 1968 “Someday Soon” and Willie Nelson’s 1975 “Can I Sleep In Your Arms”, to more current covers of songs like Chris Stapleton’s 2015 “Tennessee Whiskey” and American Aquarium’s 2020 “The Luckier You Get.” Occasionally there were only two people on stage, such as when the Balches sang their duets, but more usually, there were six or seven performers on stage at one time, sometimes with a single vocalist and the rest on instruments, and at other times, with three or four vocalists harmonizing. The final number was a cover of Bob Dillon’s “The Weight”, where seven vocalists played instruments, traded verses, and harmonized together on the refrain, accompanied by Maines on drums and Willis on bass.
Even if you missed the 79th season finale, look for updates regarding the Graham Concert Association’s 80th season, which kicks off in the fall of 2025, and put those evenings on your calendar.
Also, there was a plug for Fort Belknap’s upcoming Crawfish and Cannons event on April 12, where live music will perform throughout the day, with acts including The Wilder Blue and Shenandoah.