During the summer months of the late 1960s, Sing-Out South traveled all over Middle Tennessee. That includes two years in a row (June 28, 1967 and June 29, 1968)coming to the town of Woodbury to perform to large crowds in front of the Cannon County Courthouse which is seen above.
Woodbury today includes some 1.7 square miles with a population of about 2,500 people according to the 2000 Census (perhaps it will be larger after the Census this year).
The town is located a bit south of Nashville and due east of Murfreesboro. There was no I-24 back when SOS traveled there, so we likely came down U.S. Highway 70s. What I can't remember is whether we traveled by bus or did a car caravan. But I do remember the Woodbury shows.
In someways it would appear the town looks much the same today as it did over four decades ago. Not only does the Historic Courthouse look the same so does much of the surrounding square....
Each time we came to Woodbury we did two shows, one in the late afternoon, then after a dinner break, we peformed again beginning at dusk. In an earlier post on this blog site (August 9, 2009),I told the story of how in 1967, I took a tumble on stage while performing YOU CAN'T LIVE CROOKED AND THINK STRAIGHT, because some cast members forgot to catch me when I was supposed to fall backwards during the song.
Another story that also occurred during one of the Woodbury shows comes from drummer Rick Jolly who was supposed to throw up his drum sticks at one point. He did, but they wound up flying backwards and broke out a window in the courthouse! Whoops!
During those days, the stage crew, led by Henry Swider and Gene Nolan taped all our shows. A recording from one of the 1968 Woodbury shows survives. While I have not been able to find a way to post any of it here on the blog, I have found a way to post a recording done by the national UP WITH PEOPLE (from the the album FRONTIERS OF TOMMORROW)singing the song we always began the second half of our shows in those days. It's entitled SING OUT and its always been one of my favorites.....
Here's the full run of the show we did at Woodbury on June 29, 1968
The Star Spangled Banner......Full Chorus
Sing-Out South................Robert Sharp & Chorus
Design for Dedication.........Trio & Chorus
(Robert Sharp, Pat Nolan, Mark Griffith)
Don't Stand Still.............Full Chorus
I Want To Be Strong...........Full Chorus
Gee I'm Looking Foward To
The Future....................Paula Thompson, Edna Vilars & Chorus
Keep Young At Heart...........Hazel Robinson & Chorus
Ft. Riley.....................Pat Nolan & Chorus
New York City.................Hazel Robinson & Chorus
Volunteers of Tennessee.......Trio & Chorus
What Color Is God's Skin......Robert Sharp & Chorus
Edna' Poem....................Edna Vilars
Up With People................Full Chorus
INTERMISSION
Sing Out......................Trio & Chorus
A New Tomorrow................Trio & Chorus
There is Something Going......Paula Thompson, Robert Sharp & Chorus
Paul Revere...................Trio & Chorus
The World Is Your Hometown....Leanna Whitehead & Chorus
We Volunteer..................Trio & Chorus
Speak Outs....................June Salazar, Kim Sato, Robert Sharp
Which Way, America?...........Hazel Robison & Chorus
REPRISES
While I don't have a recording or a run of the show listing from our 1967 Woodbury performances, from what I can remember we had almost completely redone the show, dropping some songs, but adding lots of new material to go with our constant standards such as WHAT COLOR IS GOD'S SKIN?, WE VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEERS OF TENNESSE, SING-OUT SOUTH, WHICH WAY, AMERICA?, DESIGN FOR DEDICATION, DON'T STAND STILL, and, of course UP WITH PEOPLE.
If you have any memories or stories to tell from our shows in Woodbury, or anything else about your time with SOS or Up With People, please post it below. And thanks for readind this and visiting the blog!
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