Some classic musical entertainment is on its way to the Energy City later this month. The Louisiana Hayride Fall Tour Spectacular is making Estevan one of the many stops on its itinerary in western Canada, for the first time on Oct. 23. The show is in its eighth year of being onstage, and will have plenty of people tapping their feet.
“Some people are a bit confused by the name. They think they’re going on an actual hayride,” said Lori Risling, creator and producer of the show. “The Louisiana Hayride was a live radio show back in the day, sort of like Grand Ole Opry. The Louisiana Hayride show is the same idea, but it was broadcast from Shreveport, Louisiana. They had a big studio audience come in and watch performers.”
Risling said the live radio show, which ran from 1948 to 1960, was where many famous musicians began their careers as relatively unknown artists getting exposure featured on the 50,000 watt radio station. Musicians featured on the Louisiana Hayride radio program included Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and even Elvis Presley.
The Louisiana Hayride that’s coming to Estevan Comprehensive School, is a live concert that recaptures the spirit of the old radio show in Shreveport, recreating the original Hayride’s classic sounds. A number of musicians take to the stage to play covers of classic songs, imitating the original singers.
“In the show, we’ve moved forward a little bit, so that, not only are there tributes to the artists who were once on the Louisiana Hayride, we pay tribute to the artists who influenced them,” said Risling. “We feature characters based on artists like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Roy Orbison. We have a lot of fun with these characters.
“Something new this year that’s getting great reviews is that we’ve got a young man singing a couple of Garth Brooks songs. We’re also doing a couple of Shania Twain songs, and people are loving the new content, as well as the older classic country.”
Risling lauded the performers in the show as incredibly talented musicians, getting well into character, and accompanied by sound equipment that’s set up go do the classic songs the most justice.
She said the audience for the Louisiana Hayride show includes the whole family, from grandchildren to grandparents.
“We also get a lot of younger people who know the music from listening to it when their grandparents or parents played it,” said Risling. “You just don’t hear it that much anymore, and it’s almost a forgotten music. People love it and they come to our show over and over to hear it again. We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to keep this alive, with people coming out and supporting our show. It helps us keep this great music out there.”
