ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Those looking to have a musically spooktacular time will soon have that opportunity Halloween night.
The AmeriCoustic duo of Dan Miller and Wendy Corr will be performing Friday, Oct. 31 in Maskus Auditorium at LHS as part of this year's Community Concerts of Liberal series. The show will start at 7:30 p.m., and tickets will be available at the door that evening.
As Miller tells it, the pair has been performing for quite a while.
“We've been doing our show in Cody, Wy. – we do a summer show for the tourism buses – and we've been doing that for 21 years. However, both of us have been performing for most of our lives, with me originally hailing from Indiana and Wendy originally hailing from Wisconsin, but we've been in Wyoming for the past 30 years,” Miller said. “When you're little and grow up around music, you discover it's such a connecting force, whether it's at church or at school or wherever. I can remember when I was in kindergarten, my teacher sent a note home to my mother that said 'Danny REALLY seems to like music,' so it was sparked for me at a really young age. Music has always been what we do, and we've done about 50 Community Concerts performances throughout the U.S. in that time, and we're really looking forward to getting to Liberal.”
“We actually work with an agency that books these particular tours for us, so we were very fortunate to be picked for this year's lineup,” Corr said. “I believe we'd started talking about the Liberal stop last year, so it's been in the plans for quite a while for us already. When I was in school, I took part in school theatre and show choir and all of that, so it was always something I felt good doing. And when you feel good as a performer, the audience picks up on that and connects to what you're performing. I know Dan went on to be a professional musician and tour the U.S. in his 20s, and I was mostly performing at funerals and weddings until he heard me singing at a talent contest and asked me to be part of his group, and that ended up changing my life.”
Miller and Corr agreed they are excited to bring their show to Liberal.
“For me, the best part of visiting Liberal –or any part of Kansas – is the people we meet. We're both from the Midwest region, so it's almost like coming home for us,” Miller said. “I was raised on a farm and in that type of environment, so I feel like Liberal will have a bunch of people I'll feel that kinship with.”
“And the music we play is great as far as bringing people back to a simpler time. The music we play is very nostalgic and we play music from Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and those types of artists, and we also play music from Crosby, Stills & Nash and Woody Guthrie,” Corr added. “That's the music that will bring a lot of people back to their childhood and revive some particularly good memories, and that's really valuable. It's also great when we see people singing along with us when we're playing.”
The duo said they hope to see a big audience for their show that evening.
“If you want to have a fun evening where you'll have a bunch of laughs and maybe even shed a tear or two, this will be a good show for them. We do music, some poetry, and some other things that beg for audience participation,” Miller said. “We want people to come with the attitude that they'll be part of the show as well, and we look forward to meeting everyone after the show and being part of it all. We really just want everyone to come out and share that evening with us. For us, it's all about having the music in common, and then that leaks into other parts of your life. We've entertained people from all throughout the world, and we've played in Cody, Wy. for nearly 300,000 people from 70 different counties. From that standpoint, it keeps getting better and better, and there's never been a point in time when I've thought 'I don't want to do this anymore,' because I'm still having just as much fun as I was at the beginning.”
“Audience participation is really a big part of our show, and the energy we get from the audience,” Corr added. “We all feed off each other in that regard, and everyone leaves the show feeling happier since we've spent that time together. That continued energy we get from the audience is amazing, and there's so much joy when you're singing and it clicks with every audience. I don't ever want to stop being in music.”
The duo has other shows before hitting Liberal, and they said they are excited for the chance to travel and learn.
“We're really excited with those stops, we love performing for all the different audiences and getting to know the towns where we're performing. We've even found some now-favorite restaurants, some of them discovered somewhat accidentally, so that's really fun,” Miller said.
“And I'm rather a history nerd, so I love learning as much as possible about the towns where we're performing and incorporating that knowledge in the show,” Corr added. “So many towns have wonderful downtown areas, and I love hearing and telling those stories to people, because we really, really care about everywhere we perform.”
Overall, Miller said, it should be a fun evening for everyone.
“We'd love for everyone to come out that evening and enjoy the music and everything else, and I can't wait to meet everyone I can,” Miller said. “We really want everyone to enjoy the evening, because it's going to be really, really fun.”
