Brown to headline Saturday’s Lew Childre Day

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Folks from miles around will be in Opp this weekend for the ninth annual Lew Childre Steel Guitar Concert.

The event will feature Grammy-nominated T. Graham Brown performing along with other artists.

T. Graham Brown will be the lead act at Saturday’s Lew Childre Day. | Courtesy photo

T. Graham Brown will be the lead act at Saturday’s Lew Childre Day. | Courtesy photo

“We talked to T. Graham Brown this morning and he’s really excited,” organizer Joe Moulton said Tuesday. “We have a fantastic line-up. Brenda Lynn Allen will do a Loretta Lynn tribute. Joe Wright’s comedy is always popular with the crowd.”

Brown is famous for songs such as “Drowning in Memories,” “I Tell It Like It Used to Be,” “I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again,” “Hell and High Water” and “Don’t Go to Strangers.”

He received a Grammy nomination for 2015 following his latest album, “Forever Changed.”

The new album features the likes of Vince Gill, Jason Crabb, Leon Russell, Jeff and Sheri Easter, The Oak Ridge Boys, Steve Cropper, The Booth Brothers, Three Bridges, Sonya Isaacs and Jimmy Fortune.

The concert is held each year in memory of Opp’s own music legend, Lew Childre.

“We are really excited about this year’s event,” Moulton said. “This is all about the man who has been forgotten – Lew Childre. He put Opp on the map. The Chamber of Commerce gave him a new station wagon to promote Opp.”

Moulton started the event nine years ago because he said people had forgotten about Childre.

“I was his neighbor,” he said. “He was a one-man walking chamber of commerce.”

Each year the concert brings country, folk, gospel and world-renowned steel guitar players to Opp to celebrate the city’s legend.

The doors will open at the LBWCC conference center in Opp at noon on Saturday and Brown will hit the stage at 7 p.m.

General admission is $15 and limited reserved seating is $40.

Children under 6 get in free.