Dick Barrie's
Country Music Website

Top Ten of the Nicest Performers I've Met

In preface to this list, I have to admit to being pleased and proud to have had the privilege of meeting - socially and in interview situations - a fair number of country-music performers, past and present.

I list below - in no particular order - the ten people (real ladies or perfect gentlemen, every one) I have most enjoyed meeting, and/or who have been exceptionally nice (above & beyond the call of professionalism) when we met.

This list has no relation to my enjoyment of a person's on-stage or recorded performance - there are a couple of people I can think of who entranced me hugely in concert, but who weren't just as nice in person!

This list therefore, is my personal "thank-you" to some very nice people.

1) BOXCAR WILLIE: What a nice man he was! When I had just started broadcasting, he was touring small halls in Scotland, not yet the celebrity he was to become. I was introduced to him at Deans in Livingston, but never thought that - on my first visit to Nashville a couple of years later - he would call me, out of the blue, and invite me to a full-blown Music City recording session! I was thrilled to the core, but absolutely mortified when my jet-lag kicked in and I fell asleep, amid all these famous pickers! When we lost old Boxie, we lost a true country character.

2) BARBARA MANDRELL: When she was at the absolute pinnacle of her career, starring in her network TV programme, voted "Entertainer of the Year" by the CMA and everything else - when the US media was in a feeding-frenzy over her successes -- I approached Barbara backstage at the Music City News Awards Show at the Opry House in Nashville, to ask for "a wee spoken bit" to help boost my radio programming. Right there and then, amid a flurry of celebrities, music industry movers and shakers and two television crews making documentaries about her lifestyle, she sat me down, did the thirty seconds of speech I'd asked for, and then chatted away about this and that for fifteen minutes and more! Unasked, when I mentioned how much my daughter (then about 10) liked her TV show, Barbara then demanded that I set up my equipment again, and recorded a special message for her! What a super lady!

3) ROY DRUSKY: Having met this courteous Georgian gentleman a few times during UK tours, and acted as MC for some of his shows, I was honoured to have Roy and his wife drive over to "do breakfast" during a Nashville visit I made some time later. Only afterwards did I discover he lived nearly 100 miles away, and had to rise at 6.15am to fulfil my casually-suggested time of nine o'clock for the rendezvous! Later that day the Druskys were in no hurry to get away, and took a lot of time and trouble to show us around the Opryland Hotel and other tourist spots. He and I also found much in common through a love of motorcycling! A lovely man, with such a warm voice - and a beautifully-dry sense of humour.

4) REBA McENTIRE: Where do I start? She came on my radio show for an interview on a trip so short that many other (London-based) stations were disappointed. She took time out to say hello and have photographs taken (by her own assistant, later sending me a personalised print unasked) after her first Scottish date in Glasgow. On the next trip, she found time to meet up for another interview, and more photographs, prior to the Easter 2000 show at the SECC. Her call to me on-air during my 1,000th programme - not just to congratulate me on such longevity, but to shock me with the CMA Award - is well-documented, but she also sends seasonal greetings, cheery e-mails, and even an incredible invitation to drop in on her Broadway show and "come visit" backstage afterwards!

5) GEORGE HAMILTON IV: So polite. So nice. So organised. First time we met was at Radio Forth many years ago, when Bill Torrance and I interviewed him. Two weeks later, we each received a hard-written note of thanks. At Christmas, we got his personally-written cards. A year later, in Nashville I was backstage at the Opry and George - from the other side of the room - saw me, came straight over and remembered my name! He took me to dinner after that show, and has been a very-welcome guest on my programmes any time he could make it. I have the warmest memories of one mid-summer night, celebrating his 60th birthday in Haddington, and capturing his stories and songs for Radio Forth. Twenty years on, his cards and letters, always hand-written, still arrive. One of the finest gentlemen, in any form of life, I have ever met, anywhere.

6) GEORGE STRAIT: It was backstage on a Friday night at the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville, and his career was getting underway. We fell into conversation, and I was amazed to find him so shy! He called me "sir" until I begged him to say "Dick" - even then, he treated me with the utmost respect when it should have been the other way around! After a lengthy chat - he was just in from Texas, and didn't seem to know anyone else - he went on stage and blew the place apart. Next morning, we met again at the airport, and enjoyed a briefer, still warm, chat - and he still wanted to call me "sir". I have been so glad to see George do so well, ever since - not many superstars call me "sir" all the time!

7) VICTORIA SHAW: She was in Dublin for a Garth Brooks show, and we met in the bar of Garth's hotel. Witty and intelligent (as might be expected for a superb songsmith). In short, a lovely lady to talk to - and the next day I called her up from Scotland and conducted a lively interview session. Since then, we've exchanged many e-mails on many a subject, and I look forward to meeting this brilliant song-writer again.

8) ROBERT REYNOLDS: The bass-player in The Mavericks, Robert was in the same bar as Victoria Shaw (see above) in Dublin, and joined our group. Funny man - makes me grin, just thinking about him! A few years later, touring with Kevin Montgomery, he came to Edinburgh for a few days and we talked at length at Forth-AM, and again the same weekend at the "Summer Nights" event at Hopetoun House. Lovely, cheery, guy.

9) GRETCHEN PETERS: Despite being one of America's most-respected songwriters, this lady is very down-to-earth and can chatter about any subject you bring up. Her interview with me at Forth-AM was like meeting a new friend, and her e-mails since that time have been as warm-hearted as Gretchen herself.

10) CHARLIE LANDSBOROUGH: He took a long time coming to stardom, and is as chatty and friendly today as when he was combing singing and song-writing with several more-mundane ways of earning his living! A regular and very welcome visitor to Forth-AM several times, and a chap I can resume a conversation with after a year or more, and neither of us find it in any way strange! Perhaps because we come from similar cities, and are of the same generation, we seem to find so much in common to discuss, on and off air. Needs a good haircut, I suppose - but I've nothing else on earth to criticise Charlie for!

The above list - more than any of my other "Top Tens" - caused me heart-searching of the deepest order. Who to leave out? If they aren't there, it is probably only because we only met briefly in a professional capacity (especially PHIL EVERLY, GARTH BROOKS and DENIS LOCORRIERE - all of whom gave me much more time and cheerful camaradie in interview situations than my position deserved) - but that's the hard bit about making up lists, isn't it?

DICK BARRIE - 7.3.01