Los Angeles Country Scene 1987 Largest concert ever in L. A.



Los Angeles Country Scene 1987 was the largest ever Country Music Concert held in Los Angeles, drawing over 125,000 attendees during the two day event. My partner Wil Davee and I were blessed to have a world class act such as Ralph May and The Ohio River Band to manage through our company, Five Star Productions. The musicians were “the crème of the crop.” Lead guitar playing, Greg Smith (aka Smitty Lyle) came all the way from Ohio to anchor this stellar band. We recruited Nick Raymond on drums, John Sleeger on Bass and vocals John currently plays in two very popular L.A. based originals bands and he is often seen in large venues with national acts. I believe they brought Mike Cross on keyboards along with them, Tina May did an awesome job singing all of the background harmonies. Mike Cross has recently been invited to play in our nation’s White House. Wil and I were out with bands virtually every night at large and small venues and there were none in the entire L. A. Basin that could stack up to the Ohio River Band. The artists on the roster for the two day evet were the biggest in the business, at the time. Reba Mcintire, Mel Tillis, Johnny Paycheck, Randy Travis, Pam Tillis, Charlie Pride, and many others. Some of Ralph’s single releases were edging up the BillBoard Top Country Charts. Calls were coming in from all over the country requesting dates and record labels were showing interest, radio stations wanting interviews. I could not tell you how many trips we made to Nashville to meet new people interested in helping us to move things forward. Wil and I booked several of the large acts for Country Scene because of our contacts in Nashville. Artists like Ralph May who has virtually given his entire life and wellbeing to the business of Country Music will have many peaks and valleys during their careers. This show was certainly one of the Pinnacles in Ralph May’s career. It is a full set of music. I encourage you to watch it through to the end and soak it all in because you will feel the magic, you will see the crowd start out small and quickly become very large within minutes. The end result will be that Ralph May exists the stage with the audience in the palm of his hand.

Comments

  1. One other thing I forgot to mention earlier is that you can see this event briefly on Steve Wariner's official "The Weekend" video. The scene near the beginning of the video pans across the crowd at Country Scene.
  2. I was somewhere in that crowd!

    Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Freddy Fender, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, Exile, The Desert Rose Band, Southern Pacific...

    Just a few of the many acts that performed that weekend. This was a fantastic event where I first saw many of my favorite country acts of that era, or any era, for that matter.

    A friend and I were talking about this event the other day and recalling that Reba McEntire was supposed to show, but didn't. I believe it was Patty Loveless that performed instead, and put on a great show. She's been a favorite of mine ever since.

    Anyone else remember this event and who performed?


Additional Information:

Visibility: 389

Duration: 29m 16s

Rating: 3