LISA DENTON: Barry, if you haven’t had a chance to rock your Daisy Dukes this summer, you’ll get your chance Saturday. John Schneider will join local band Smith & Wesley for Smith & Wesley and Friends at the Northwest Georgia Amphitheater. Lots of folks remember Schneider as Bo Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard,” but he’s also had success on the country music charts. I bet you won’t be the only one wearing short shorts for that show, but I daresay you’d be the most memorable. I’ll give you $5 if you’ll wear them.
BARRY COURTER: I bet I can get $10 from somebody to not wear them. Schneider isn’t the only performer with a background in both music and TV or film who will be playing that night. Actor/singer Cody McCarver, from over in Dunlap, and Randall Franks, a proud North Georgia resident, will also be performing.
I got to visit with Franks, who played Officer Randy Goode in the TV series “In the Heat of the Night,” and Shirley Smith at the beautiful amphitheater last week to talk about the event. The show is a fundraiser for the Wes & Shirley Smith Charitable Endowment, created in honor of her late husband to benefit Catoosa County residents.
Franks will be performing with some of the young musicians who recorded songs on the “Americana Youth of Southern Appalachia” CD he produced to benefit the Share America Foundation, which promotes the music of Appalachia in youth. It gives scholarships to young musicians who play traditional music via the Pearl and Floyd Franks (Randall’s parents) Scholarship.
LISA: Sounds like we could help two good causes – one by buying a ticket and one by buying a CD while we’re at the show, because I’m betting Franks will have a few copies on him.