April 30th 2009.. ALAN WESTWOOD
Another evening of great country music by the Black Country Cowboy Alan was fulfilled again tonight, with both listeners and dancing enjoying the complete show. As usual, we were treated to predominantly classic country songs from the catalogues of yesteryears' masters with a few of Westwood's works for even more variety. Numbers featured included Ed Bruce's, Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, The Hags, I Started Loving You again, ( 'Today' was only added to the title when other artistes recorded it). Hank's, Jambalaya, Guy Clark's, Desperadoes Waiting For A Train, Steve Goodman's, City Of New Orleans, Waylon's, Luckenback Texas ( back to the basics of love), Don Gibson's, Oh Lonesome Me, Willie's, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, Johnny's, Ring Of Fire, Mickey Newbury's, American Trilogy, and Roy Orbison's, Pretty Woman, amongst many. He is a regular performer at our club, and Alan's show and our members appreciative applause confirmed his popularity here.
June 26th 2008 ....ALAN WESTWOODTonight we were entertained by one of the elder statesmen of British Country Music, singer / songwriter Alan from the West Midlands, and what a lovely show he produced again.
Starting with the Kenny Rogers classic, Ruby,Don't Take Your Love To Town, he continued with the modern Larry Cordle condemnation song, Murder On Music Row, and Kris Kristofferson's great ballad, Loving Her Was Easier, a hit for Roger Miller in 1971 and Tompall and the Glaser Brothers ten years later.
Lots of songs kept the dancers happy and others were ideal for singing along to e.g, Ghost Riders In The Sky, Little Ole Wine Drinker Me, and Wonder Of You.
My pick of the evening however was Alan's superb interpretation of of Kenny Rogers', Sweet Music Man.
To bring this great concert to a close, Alan gave us Don Gibson's, I Can't Stop loving You, and received the appreciative applause from our members he truly warranted.
Cyril Insley
AUGUST 16th 2007 ALAN WESTWOOD Tonight was Alan's first show here as a solo artiste as his previous apperances have always been as a member of a duo. This however, was no detriment to his performance which, as always, was a concert ideal for both dancers and listeners.
Starting with a couple of Don Williams' numbers, Some Broken Hearts Never Mend and ( Turn Out The Lights ) and Love Me Tonight, he continued with, She's In Love With A Rodeo Man, a hit for Johnny Russell in 1974.
Both line and partner dancers were well provided for and filled the dancefloor to Country Classics including, Seven Spanish Angels, King Of The Road, Sea Of Heartbreak, Oh Lonesome Me, Me And Bobby McGee, Walk Right Back, Hey Good Looking, and Suspicious Minds. More recent songs included, Much To Young To Feel This Damn Old, Islands In The Stream, and Neon Moon, and Alan treated us to several of his own compositions including, Talking Indians, and The Balad Of J.R.Cash.
His finale included several numbers not commonly heard now, the most popular being Dr Hook's, More Like The Movies and a couple from Neil Diamond, Cracklin Rosie and Sweet Caroline.
With performances like this evenings, Alan will always be welcome back at The Northern Renegades, solo or otherwise.
Cyril Insley
September 29th 2005 ALAN WESTWOOD DUO
As we have come to expect, tonight's performers gave us a splendid concert of various types of Country music. The West Midlands, Black Country duo of Alan, vocalist and lead guitar and Brian Curran, bass guitarist, gave a good variety of music to keep dancers and listeners alike splendidly entertained all evening. Particular songs to fill the dance floor included Garth Brooks' ' Not Counting You', George Strait's ' The Cowboy Rides Away', Hal Ketchum's ' Tonight We Just Might Fall In Love', Willie and Waylon's ' Good Hearted Woman' and 'On The Road Again' and a wonderful medley of Brooks and Dunn's ' Boot Scootin' Boogie', Carl Perkins' ' Matchbox' and Elvis Presley's ' Don't Be Cruel'. Partner dancers especially enjoyed Larry Cordle's ' Murder On Music Row', Willie's ' Seven Spanish Angels' and Kris Kristofferson's ' For The Good Times'. Brian took lead vocals on Garth's ' If Tomorrow Never Comes' which was well appreciated by the audience, and a song not often heard here ' Scuse - Moi My Heart' from Colin Raye's catalogue was delivered in fine style by Alan. The picks of the evening however were rousing versions of Stan Jones' ' Ghost Riders In The Sky' and Alan's own world wide hit 'The South Will Rise Again', which inspired the audience to rapturous applause. These two lads will always be welcome here. Cyril Insley
February 24th 2005 Alan Westwood Duo It was such a pity that the weather was so atrocious tonight for our audience, sadly, was very depleted and our absent members missed a wonderful show of solid country music. Alan Westwood, guitar and lead vocals was accompanied tonight by Stuart Dempsey- Robins Bass and harmony vocals, and what great sounds they produced all evening. Tonight we had a lovely mix of Story songs, Ballads, Up Tempo Numbers, Songs for Dancers and Sing along Medleys / all of which kept us more than content all evening. Alan is an admirer of Waylon Jennings and obliged us with several of his songs including ' Rose in Paradise ,' ' I've Always been Crazy' and ' Let's all Help the Cowboy sing the Blues' which was written for him by his record producer, ' Cowboy' Jack Clement. Alan also treated us to some of his own compositions / ' Arizona Flame', ' The South Will Rise Again' ' Lady Dressed in Black' and 'Montezuma's Castle' - all of which were popular with our members. He always likes to provide audience participation songs and what can be better than a Don Williams Medley? - His personal version of Stan Jones' epic country song ' Ghostriders in the Sky', which had us all singing our hearts out. Stuart more than played his part by taking lead vocal on ' Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your mind' and played excellent lead guitar on ' Crazy' and ' Not Counting You' and more. Alan is not averse to the occasional modern song and gave us Larry Cordle's critically acclaimed indictment of today's American country music ' Murder on Music Row'. We also had plenty of the more familiar country songs to contribute to this super concert, and we are all looking forward to this duo's return to our club. Cyril Insley June 3rd 2004
Tonight's guest singer / guitarist is one of the most respected on the country music scene. Alan Westwood has been performing for forty five years. Originally doing rock and roll and various forms of pop music but for the past 25 years his career has stuck with country music. A native of Brierly Hill, but now resident in Kinver. Alan's most memorable billing was supporting Johnny Cash in the mid -nineties. Brian Curran his partner for 15 years hails from Stourbridge and incidentally is know a 'Stan'. Alan takes lead on vocals and plays rhythm guitar. Stan does harmonies, the occasional lead and plays bass guitar. Their programme is predominantly made up of the older, traditional country music with the odd George Strait, Alan Jackson, Hal Ketchum and Colin Raye song thrown in for good measure. Alan admits to preferring stalwarts like Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristopherson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard etc. and refuses to compromise. Consequently we had an evening devoted to genuine country music. Such classics as 'The Gambler' ' You Win Again' 'Rose in Paradise' ' Sunday Morning Coming Down' ' Long Black Veil' etc. kept all factions of the audience satisfied all evening. Several sing along medleys were delivered but the most vociferous contribution from our members was the ' Yippie Ay O !' chorus of Alan's splendid version of ' Ghost Riders in the Sky.' The evening was brought to a close with a full dance floor shuffling to the fine ballad ' Loving her was Easier.' No doubt the Alan Westwood Duo will be back at our club again Cyril Insley Top
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