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Welcome to the past 1961 mixed with the present 2010/2011 concert season

when you see the Founder of The New Christy Minstrels®, Randy Sparks,

joined by seven other performers in concert! Relive the peaceful days as

well as the intense excitement of clapping and singing along with these

Grammy Award-winning seasoned professionals that make you feel like you

are in their living room for a home concert of the songs that your mother

played on the family record player, as well as the new songs that Randy

Sparks has written in the last couple of hours. He never stops working on

his craft of wonderful music writing and performing with some of the SAME

performers that joined him in the 1960s! Join them for this great

adventure through time and meet them in person at the autographs tables

right after the concert! Available in the lobby is their 2007 CD

recording of some of their greatest hits titled ‘RECYCLED’. Don’t miss

these Legends of Folk Music who were awarded their Star on The Palm

Springs Walk of Stars in 2009! (It might be a good idea to buy your

tickets early.) They usually sell out their concerts. The NCM is anxious

to see you there, and very happy to enjoy their concerts with you!

(or, if you have more room, bio below)

The Best Kept Secret In The Music Business

There's reason to celebrate these days if you're The New Christy

Minstrels . They are very quietly more popular than ever, and

their huge reservoir of graying faithful fans, old-timers and baby

boomers, easily translate to big business at the box office. The

problem is that many of the venues they work don't bother to

advertise; they don't have to. When the restored, 'sixties, world famous

folk group worked the Gallo Center for the Modesto

Community Concerts Association in November of 2007, their

tickets went on sale in April, and sold out completely in half an

hour. This meant there was no need to ballyhoo the program, as

all the seats were already bought and paid for. Nobody but the

organization's membership was aware that they were even in the

city. When The NCM returned there this past October, the results

were much the same: zero empty seats. "Success is a major

problem for us," says Randy Sparks, who founded the group in

1961. "We need to spread the word that we're still alive, still

active, still touring, still entertaining." They're also work horses,

keeping pace with touring bands more than half their average

age. At 77, Sparks is the old man of 'The Christies,' and he

describes their latest tour in glowing terms: "We began in

Montana, worked Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California,

then flew off to Virginia, drove to Pennsylvania and Maryland,

worked Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, flew to Maine, then to Arizona,

back to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Arkansas, 33

major concerts in 54 days, and nobody cared but the people in

the seats. Not one show did we do without receiving at least one

standing ovation, and it was a major thrill for us. We're not quite

The Rolling Stones, but darned close!"

The work of restoring the group to its former prominence began

in 1997, picked up steam with a PBS Special titled This Land Is

Your Land, in 2003, and made serious moves into the concert

halls some five years ago. In all that time, since the earliest

efforts, Sparks has regarded the project as a work-inprogress.

He felt obliged to include all of the Original Minstrels

who were still alive, the performers who had helped him reach

the top of the mountain in '62-'64, but some could no longer

function to a professional level, and a few actually felt that they

were icons. "Chemistry is vitally important," Sparks insists, "and

if we can't live together as a loving family, there's not much hope

for a sustainable relationship on stage." The ideal formula

seemed to be a few old-timers, a couple of skilled veterans, and

eager newcomers. The old-timers are Randy Sparks, Dolan Ellis

and Pete Henderson, Original Minstrels all. The seasoned

veterans are Becky Jo Benson, Eddie Boggs and Greg

O'Haver. Newcomers are Jennifer Lind and Dave Deutschendorf.

Dolan Ellis, The Official Balladeer of The State of Arizona (for 45

years under 12 Governors) and on The Andy Williams Show with

The NCM when they were the regular stars of the 1962/1963

season, is in the line up.

Dave Deutschendorf and Greg O'Haver are nearly old enough to

have been Original Minstrels, but Greg has run his own show in

and around Carmel, Indiana for many years, and Dave has been

hiding out for thirty-eight years in Newton, Kansas, working as a

high school teacher and counselor, singing only in church. He's

also John Denver's uncle. Pete Henderson, exactly half of the

famed comedy duo of Skiles & Henderson, was seen regularly on

Hollywood Squares, and he returns to The NCM after a brief (44-

year) hiatus. He served as the group's second bass-player, and

when he retired, he taught the bass-fiddle parts to NCM bassist

number three, none other than Kenny Rogers. Becky Jo and

Eddie are the unsung heroes. They do much of the heavy-lifting

to keep the group running smoothly, but each is also a gifted

performer. Eddie is the most popular musician in and around

Toledo, Ohio, People's Choice winner year after year, and Becky

Jo, Sutter Creek, California's most favorite solo performer, has co-managed

the comeback of the group. Jennifer is the Female

Vocalist Of The Year (2010), so says AWA, Academy of Western

Artists , and Randy Sparks has been there from the very

beginning (except for more than thirty years 'frittered away' as

Burl Ives' writer and opening act in concert). Please visit the

web site for more history

on these Folk Giants www.thenewchristyminstrels.com