The Woody Guthrie Festival continued their WoodyFest Concert Series fundraising performances this past Sunday evening at the Old Church in Perkins, OK as part of the Cimmaron Breeze Concert Series. The night’s show was the second of the three show warm-up for July’s Woody Guthrie Festival. The Old Church is short for the Methodist Episcopal Church, a building originally built in 1892, and now situated in the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza. It’s an intimate, special place to sit, socialize and listen to talented songwriters. It’s even more special when those songwriters are so integral to the Oklahoma music scene.
The line-up was an impressive one and the format was similar to the first show of the series. A song-swap format, allowed the artists to listen and be inspired by one another as well as complimenting one another. In the first round we had a tired new dad, Andy Adams, Carter Sampson, Nellie Clay and Erik Oftedahl. It was a fun, loose, collaborative performance that excelled in it’s simplicity. A short break followed, allowing another round of the potluck dinner and desserts, a few announcements and mention of the silent auction benefiting the Festival. Monica Taylor also showed us the true spirit present in the Old Church, as none other than Tom Skinner’s family bible was leveling one of the more uncooperative mike stands. A nice nod to the Red Dirt pioneer.
Next, Jared Tyler, Casey Van Beek and Seth Lee Jones kicked of the second portion, and later were joined by host, Monica Taylor and Travis Fite for several exceptional rounds of songs as well as news of an impending album release from Van Beek, and the announcement of the 2020 Cimarron Concert Series. With upcoming shows at the Old Church from incredible talent like Butch Hancock, BJ Barham, and Shawn Camp & Verlon Thompson and many more, a trip to central Oklahoma should be considered. The third performance of the WoodyFest Concert Series will be held at OKC’s iconic home of the song, the Blue Door on April 19th culminates with the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah on July 15th- 19th. Find out more information here: https://www.woodyfest.com