COUNTRY CHRISTMAS BALL SLATED FOR PEARL HARBOR DAY, DEC. 7
remind music lovers and dancers that tickets are still available for the Tenth Annual Country Christmas Ball, coming up in Lockney Dec. 7, 2024.
And although the event benefits the firefighters of Floydada and Lockney, the fun-filled night is open to all. Tickets are $55 each or $500 for a reserved table for 8. The meal is included. BYOB cover charge is $15.
“Because this is Pearl Harbor Day,” said promoter Dustee Sollis, “veterans and military will be honored with a red, white, and blue Christmas.”
Doors will open at 5, and dinner will be served at 6 p.m. at the Floyd County Friends’ Unity Center, 990 FM786 in Lockney.
There will be a catered meal by RiverSmith’s of Lubbock, auctions, vendor shopping, a complimentary coffee bar, and great music. Portions of the proceeds will go to the Floyd County Volunteer Fire Departments.
The band, Wendell Sollis and the Sidekicks All Stars, has 14 members, including Lucy Dean Record and several more Hall of Fame musicians. Dancers and listeners both will enjoy classic country, big band, western swing, Cajun, and Christmas music.
This talented group of performers is made up of awardwinning hall of fame musicians. Participants may sit and listen or do some boot-scootin’ dancing as they deliver a full lineup of country classics, Cajun, western swing, and Christmas favorites.
Bandleader Wendell Sollis is a veteran banjo player, performing since the ’70s. His shows include Six Flags, the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso, and Quartz Mountain resort in Oklahoma. He has performed with The Texas Playboys and 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.
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 was honored with Band of the Year in 2021. He previously worked in the Ozark Jubilee in Branson, Missouri.
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 Las Vegas. Ginny has accompanied Grammy award winners Brave Combo and Riders in the Sky.
LucyDeanRecord, a100-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, Miss Southwest Oklahoma State University and a fiddler from Weatherford, Oklahoma, started playing and singing at age 5. She won Female Vocalist and Instrumentalist of the year in 2018. She was also part of the Oklahoma CMSA Youth Duo of the Year award and has appeared as a musical guest on the Penny Gilley Show.
Brady Rasco, a local fiddler and firefighter in Lubbock, has played since age 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.
Stacy Stephenson is a Lubbock native and a freelance musician who teaches high school English. She studied viola at Texas Tech and now plays violin and fiddle with several different local bands: Renegade, Mariachi, Mi Tierra, Disturbed, BoyzIIMen and Flatland Calvary. She performs with musical theater productions and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Chad Maines, drummer from Dickens, Texas, has been playing drums since he was 13 years old, with his father in the Maines Brothers Band. He has played at the Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso, New Mexico; the Cactus Theater in Lubbock; and the annual Bob Wills Day in Turkey, Texas for the last 5 years.
Emcee Cathy Jewell is general manager of KSSL 107.3 & 94.1 FM Radio, which received Radio Station of the Year in 2016, 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.
For more information on the event, call Dustee Sollis at (806) 983-6228. Tickets may also be bought at D&J Gin in Lockney or Payne Pharmacy in Floydada.
For more background and glimpses from previous years’ events, visit the Wendell Sollis and the Sidekicks All Star Band page on Facebook.
