Columnist Joe Delaney: Morgan leads country entertainment lineup

Joe Delaney

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 9:23 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com

Singer Lorrie Morgan, at The Orleans this weekend, leads the first wave of country-western artists to appear in Las Vegas as our town sets up for the annual National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center today ... Morgan didn't have to travel far to make it in Nashville ... She was born in Hendersonville, next-door to Music City.

Her training came from touring with the legendary George Jones in the late 1970s and early 1980s ... When not on tour, she made her living recording demonstration records of new songs for top music publisher Acuff Rose ... Her earliest ambition was to be a performer on Nashville's "Grand Ole Opry" on WSM-AM radio, a station that covered most of the southeastern United States.

At age 18 she was working in shows at the Opryland USA theme park. This led to Morgan becoming one of the first young artists to appear on "Grand Ole Opry" without first having a hit record ... She shared this honor with Justin Tubb, Ernest Tubb's son ... She made her acting debut in cable network TNN's "Proudheart," which won a Cable Ace Award and led to a CBS development deal.

Morgan was the 1993 spokeswoman for the Marines' Toys for Tots campaign. Since then she has been featured on television, radio and print ads for Wrangler, Ebel Watches and Dr. Pepper ... She co-starred in an ABC movie of the week, "A Stranger Beside Me."

Along with Carlene Carter and Pam Tillis, she toured as part of the first female all-star country music package, "Kraft Women of Country" ... She has sung duets on records with pop-music giants such Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams ... She was also a featured vocalist on the Eagles tribute album, "Common Ground." She has transcended categories.

Her first three albums have been certified platinum; the next seven have all been certified gold ... Her 11th album, "To Get to You," includes "Another Lonely Song," a hit for her role model, the late Tammy Wynette ... She is and has always been very much her own person ... Morgan sings the truth, only those songs to which she can personally relate.

Weekend wrap-up

Sam Butera has an almost all-new edition of The Wildest with him this weekend at the Castaways ... Can it be 49 years ago that I featured Butera with the Woody Herman Orchestra in a New Orleans concert? ... In 1954 Butera recorded for me on RCA's Groove label which led to Sam and his group, the Witnesses, joining Louis Prima and Keely Smith at the Sahara.

Butera's torrid sax solos and brilliant arrangements were major contributors to the success of Prima and Smith in the Sahara Casbar, 1955-1960 ... "Old Black Magic," the "Just A Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" medley and "Jump, Jive and Wail" were all Butera arrangements, the latter two copied note for note by David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer, respectively, many years later.

Smith and Butera had a great run at the Desert Inn Lounge in the mid-1990s ... Smith is recording and performing solo, concert-style, these days while Butera continues, the flame still burning brightly, to be the complete entertainer, working elsewhere more than he does here at home.

Final weekend for "Endangered Species," in UNLV's Black Box Theatre ... UNLV's Chamber Chorale performs at 4 p.m. today, Doc Rando Recital Hall, UNLV's Beam Center, and at 8 p.m. Saturday, Green Valley Presbyterian Church ...The American Flamenco Theatre appears at 8 this evening (Winchester Community Center).

Rainbow Company's "The Emperor's New Clothes" plays this weekend and next (Charleston Heights Center) ... The LV All-Star High School Jazz Band is in concert, Saturday at 2 p.m. (Reed Whipple Center) ... The LV Gamble-Aires sing at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Summerlin Library Center).

Don't miss "The Colors of Christmas," 8 p.m. Tuesday featuring Peabo Bryson, Sheena Easton, Michael McDonald and Oleta Adams (Riviera Royale Pavilion) ... Enjoy your weekend ... See you next Thursday.