Riders in the Sky Bert and Peggy at the Tweetsie Railroad , Aug. 8, 1998 Photos here show #3,803 Riders in the Sky Concert Review: August 8 at Tweetsie Railroad, NC. We wheeled out of Greensboro, NC, around 8:30 am Saturday, August 8, for the drive to Tweetsie Railroad in the scenic mountains of western North Carolina, near the old resort town of Blowing Rock. What the heck is a Tweetsie, you may ask. Tweetsie Railroad, set in the side of a mountain, sports all sorts of amusements, but the centerpiece of the wild west theme park is steam engine No. 12, an historic steam locomotive of the area that now puffs its way around the hills with touring guests of the park. Interestingly, the engine was once owned by none other than singin' cowboy Gene Autry, who had plans to ship it to California for use in movies, but who decided to sell it to the local businessman who started the park back in the 50's. Mountain folks named the train Tweetsie back in its earlier incarnation as a passenger train running between Johnson City, Tennessee, and Boone, North Carolina, tooting it's shrill whistle. The place almost turned into the real Wild West last winter in the off season, when some person or persons came in and burned a section of Tweetsie track that runs through leased land. There's been a big ownership and control issue over the park, and some think the fire had to do with this. In any case, the theme park is the oldest in the state and a major tourist attraction--a nice spot for a RITS concert or two. We hadn't got the RITS date wrong, had we? Nope. The big sign at the park entrance told it all as we pulled in: 'Riders in the Sky, August 8 and 9.' Mayhh, whew! We wouldn't be able to stay for the Sunday shows, but we'd get in both the noon and 3:00 shows Saturday. We made a beeline for the big special events tent, perched on the hillside a short distance from the old-west town/train station and chair lift to Miner's Mountain. The stage was all set up, musical instruments were in place, and RITS Banners were flying, and a number of folks were already getting seated front and center by 11:30 or so. Too Slim's traveling mercantile was gearing up for action in the booth immediately adjoining the tent. We spied none other than the Fair (more than fair) Roberta getting things going at the merc before turning the bustling enterprise over to a couple of teen girls, whom we didn't recognize but who didn't miss a beat in continuing efficiently with sales. Roberta headed over to a spiffy burgandy Volvo with Tennessee tags, in the 'non-civilian' driveway near the tent. She leaned on it doing some paper work as if the car was in the family, as we think it was. We noted, though, that the car was not 'A TOYOTA.' As the seats filled, it became clear that most of these folks were not clueless visitors to the park who just sort of tumbled in. Riders fans were in evidence all around, in their Riders shirts and with their RITS conversation. One guy had driven 400 miles, he said, to hear Joey play the accordian. We had our cyberpal badges on and Peggy had on her Riders shirt and did get inquiries about cyberpals. The applause began as soon as the Riders pulled up in a Tweetsie RR Suburban at the appointed hour and within five or six minutes they had launched into song! Here are the song lists for the noon and 3:00 shows: noon: Texas Plains, That's How the Yodel Was Born, Wah-Hoo, Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Palindrome, Buffalo Gals, Autumn on the Trail, Sioux City Sue, Hoop-Dee-Doo, I'm Gonna Leave Old Texas Now (with kids from the audience), Rawhide (plus the bowling, bowling, bowling version), Cool Water, Ghost Riders in the Sky, the Roy Rogers medley, and You Are My Sunshine 3:00: Back in the Saddle Again, Missy Molly, La Malaquena, Farr Away Stomp (A Tribute to our Four Legged Friends), Night Riding Song, Cherokee, Texas Sand (Joey in the lead) , Orange Blossom Special (see notes below), Andrew Lloyd Webber spoof, Clarinet Polka by Joey, Orange Blossom Special (again), Orange Blossom Special (again!), Amber Eyes, How Does He Yodel?, an accordian piece by Joey, Desert Serenade, Trail Tip Song, Orange Blossom Special (Yes, again. By this time Ranger Doug notes that 'You may have noticed that its getting faster and shorter.'), Orange Blossom Special (yep, still again), Roy Rogers medley, Orange Blossom Special, (# 6), Orange Blossom Special (#7), Looney Tunes, He Walks with the Wild and Lonely About those seven--yes, count 'em, seven--renderings of Orange Blossom Special: In the noon performance Dr. Woody Paul finally--in the middle of Cool Water-- summoned the formidable power of his fiddle to counter the loud and intrusive nearby Tweetsie train whistle with several of his own train whistles. It was hilarious and provided a whole new and unexpectected slant on Cool Water: All the thirsty miner had to do, after all, was follow the tracks to the next railroad station and water tower. In the 3:00 show, the Riders got even tougher and summoned their total instrumental power to counter the Tweetsie whistle with blazing and powerful renditions of Orange Blossom Special at every interruption--seven times! Quite a bonus actually. A pleasant surprise to us was the appearance of Roberta and Too Slim's Alice, age 6 or 7. Slim introduced her as the 'spokesmodel' for Too Slimºs traveling merc. All decked out in one of the kid's Cowboy ABC's t-shirt and a kid's embroidered cowboy hat, and armed with a Woody Paul Trick Rope, she proceeded to please the audience with some downright nifty rope work. In the 3:00 show Woody Paul did a running commentary on her performance. Not likely to have hurt sales at the merc! Notes from the patented Riders question-and-answer segment: As you know, the Riders rarely cut any slack on questions from the audience. If you flub a question, you are horse hay. One poor soul asked if the Riders all had 'ranges,' meaning to say ranches. Ranger Doug, Joey, and Slim pretended befuddlement, but Woody Paul was pleased to report that yes, he has a range, and 'it has four eyes.' Another asked if the Riders were cowboys. Ranger Doug, faking annoyance, said 'Why, no, of course not. Weºre truckers. Why else would anybody be dressed like we are.' The flubbed questions were more amusing than the 8-track winners: 'Are you cool?' and 'Why don't you wear short-sleeve shirts?' By the way, with intermittent showers, the temperature in the mountains was in the 70's. No need this day for the Riders to switch over to 'snappy little straw hats' for better ventilation. Well, that's about it, and probably a lot more than you felt you needed to know! What you already knew was that Riders in the Sky are consummate performers, and we can report that they were at their peak Saturday. What talent and what musicianship. ......down the trail! Bert and Peggy