Come celebrate the season with us at the Ninth Annual Country Christmas Ball on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, at the Floyd County Friends Unity Center, halfway between Lockney and Floydada.
If you enjoy big band or country music, you’ll be delighted with the fourteen-piece band of Wendell Sollis and the Sidekicks All Stars. There will be a catered meal by RiverSmith’s, auctions, drawings, raffles and plenty of vendor shopping.
Other features of the night include a complimentary specialty coffee bar and a photo op in front of a “barn.” This festive evening starts at 5 p.m., and tickets are $55 each or a table of eight for $500. Call Dustee Sollis at (806) 983-6228 for more information.
Portions of the proceeds will benefit the Lockney and Floydada Volunteer Fire departments, non-profit organizations that are vital to the panhandle area.
This talented group of performers is made up of awardwinning hall of fame musicians. You may sit and listen or do some “boot scootin” dancing as they deliver a full line up of country classics, Cajun, western swing, and Christmas favorites.
Wendell Sollis, bandleader, is a veteran banjo player, performing since the ’70s. His shows include Six Flags, Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium, Ruidoso, and Quartz Mountain resort in Oklahoma. He has performed with The Texas Playboys, Texas Sand, and now leads the Sidekicks.
“This band is packed full of talent and will be ready to deliver a night of your favorite oldies,” said Sollis. “It will be great music, bringing back memories of days gone by. We have so many award-winning musicians, that it’s appropriate to call the group ‘all stars.’” There will be a horn section with Hall of Fame winner, Steve
“Hambone” Ham playing trombone. He currently plays with the Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys and the Tulsa Playboys.
A trumpeter, Mike Bennett, is a performer with the Texas Playboys, Johnnie Lee Wills, John T. Wills and now the Tulsa Playboys, recording with all four groups as well as The Tractors. In 2006 he was inducted into the Northwest Western Swing Music Society Hall of Fame and the Southwest Western Swing Society Hall of Fame in 2012.
With 40-plus years of experience as a musician, Bob Baker will play steel guitar. He started at age 13 studying with Eldon Shamblin and is a two-time Hall of Fame inductee.
Ronnie Dale Shultz, lead guitarist, has played all over the globe with well-known artists such as Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, Leroy Van Dyke, Lynn Anderson, and Hank Thompson. He’s highly in demand as a session player and performer, as he has mastered 5 different types of musical instruments.
Veteran Lubbock musician Kelly Hastey is a two-time Country Music Association award winner. He had the song of the year, “That’s What I Like About Texas,” in 2020 and the band of the year in 2021. He previously worked in the Ozark Jubilee in Branson, Mo.
On the accordion, Ginny Mac, from Fort Worth, will astound the audience with her magical voice and charisma. She’s performed at the Grand Ole Opry, and MGM in Vegas. Ginny has accompanied Grammy award winners Brave Combo and Riders in the Sky.
Lucy Dean Record, a 97-yearold keyboard player, is in several Halls of Fame and was awarded Instrumentalist of the Year at the Will Rogers Awards in 2014. She even has a commemorative welcome wall built in her honor at Lockney, Texas.
Mackynsie McKedy, fiddler from Weatherford, Oklahoma, started playing the fiddle and singing at age 5. She won female vocalist and instrumentalist of the year in 2018. She also won the Oklahoma CMSA youth duo of the year award and was a musical guest on the TV show “Nashville Spotlight.”
Brady Rasco, a local fiddler and firefighter in Lubbock, has played since the age of 8. At Tarleton, he was a house band member for the Cross Timbers Opry. He’s played with the Sidekicks, Will Banister, and local bands for the past 10 years.
Another hall of fame fiddler, Greg Gibbs, began playing in 1984. He’s performed with Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, Kelly Spinks, and the Sidekicks. Greg received the Hero award by the Cowtown Society of Western Swing Music Award in 2015.
Rodney Lay, on bass, was on “Hee Haw” for 12 years as bandleader and bass player for Roy Clark. Hank Thompson and Waylon Jennings had top 20 songs that Rodney composed. Today he plays for the Tulsa Playboys.
Chad Maines, drummer from Dickens, Texas, has been playing drums since he was 13 years old, with his dad of the Maines Brothers Band. He has played at the Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso, New Mexico, the Cactus Theater in Lubbock, and the annual Bob
FOR INFORMATION AND TICKET PURCHASES:
Dustee Sollis, (806) 983-6228, D&J Gin Lockney, or Payne’s Pharmacy Floydada. Tickets: Individual, $55, Table for 8, $500. Meal is included, serving at 6:00pm.
See our Facebook page: Wendell Sollis and the Sidekicks All Star Band
Will’s Day in Turkey, Texas for the last 5 years.
Emcee Cathy Jewell is general manager of KSSL 107.3 & 94.1 FM Radio. The station received Radio Station of the Year in 2016 and 2017 and 2019. She is 2019 Female Vocalist of the Year-in the Academy of Western Artists Pure Country, and 2020 CMA of Texas Artist of the Year.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
