County music recorded live at the Christchurch Tele-Theatre featuring special guests from Canada and the USA plus New Zealand guest artists including The Canadian steel and pedal guitarist Ollie Strong, Sheb (“Purple People Eater”) Woolley, Buck Owens and the Buckaroos (nine of them), Susan Raye, Kenny Rogers
Teletheatre goes Nashville
The Press, 8 April 1976, by KEN COATES
Months of planning will come to fruition tomorrow for TV2 producer Bill Mackie and his team when recording of the new series, "A Touch of Country.” begins in the Christchurch Civic Television Theatre. An impressive line-up of guest artists from the United States and Canada are being flown in for 12 half-hour programmes in the first series, which will be recorded live.
Screening will start on Saturday, May 1. “We are aiming to create in the Civic a sound that is as close as possible to Nashville country sound." said Bill Mackie yesterday.
“It is quite exciting really, because we have the musicians capable of doing it. People will be performing their own music and songs. What has happened mostly, in New Zealand is that we have had someone playing and performing some-one else’s music.” An elaborate set has been constructed in the Teletheatre by TV2 staff: “We are starting to use the Civic to its fullest extent as a teletheatre,” said Bill Mackie.
The show has been the particular baby of TV2’s manager of light entertainment (Bryan Easte) since he went to Nashville last October. He went to organise artists from North America for the show, and the names of some of the performers' he has managed to .contract, indicate the success of the trip.
Ollie Strong, one of, Canada’s leading exponents of the pedal steel guitar, is in Christchurch already. He has backed such big names as Gary Buck and Gordon Lightfoot on stage and.record, and starred in one of the long running television variety shows with the C.B.C., the Tommy Hunter Show, for 14 years.
He and his singer-wife, Rae, who is also in Christchurch. have their own group which does occasional club work.
Ollie Strong will be featured in all the programmes and his job will be to act as co-ordinator with the band to produce true blue Nashville sound. According to Bryan Easte, anybody who is anybody in country music has had Strong backing him at some stage.
Gary Buck, top Canadian country music producer and also a performer of note, arrived in the city yesterday. Others to be featured on the programme include Buck Owens, Susan Rave. Audie Henry, Wanda Jackson. Kenny Rodgers, the Allen Sisters, Dallas Harmes. Lee Roy Anderson. David Frizzell and Tommy Collins.
Collins achieved major success in the United States when a song he wrote, “The Roots of My : Raising.” sung by Merle Haggard, went to the top of the charts.
Other artists engaged to appear in the series include Eddie Low and Suzanne Prentice. With Ollie Strong each' week will be leading New Zealand country artist Gray Bartlett and a Christchurch group. The Footsteps, led by Malcolm McNeill.
There will be no compere for the show, which will achieve continuity through the momentum of the music itself. Bill Mackie calls it “a visual L.P. of top artists” and says song titles will be superimposed on the picture. TV2 is looking to sell the programme in Canada and after production, it will be prepared in Canadian commercial format.
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