Piano Stairs

For those of you who don’t know, Mammoth Spring is exactly that – a very large spring. They’ve built a state park down there complete with recreation areas, a lagoon, paddleboats, visitors’ center, and picnic grounds. You can also walk on a bridge that passes over, by inches, a large waterfall that thunders down into a river running alongside the highway for awhile.

However, we weren’t there for the park.  If you pass it and keep heading south, you’ll see a row of buildings on the left side of the highway, one of which houses Bogart’s Theater. We were there to see Sunny Bogart.  Dan worked the fair with him one year and got acquainted. He’s Country Discovery label’s newest recording artist, has worked in Branson, and appears in concert at the West Plains Civic Center on occasion.  He recently opened his theater, and invited us to a show.

Sunny sings country music in various artist’s styles, and does Elvis, too.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.  We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.  The production still had a few technical glitches to work out, but he sang very well.  If you’re in Mammoth Springs, drop in and listen to Marty Robbins, George Strait, and of course, Elvis, courtesy of Sunny Bogart.

I’ve listened (and re-listened) to it, and I feel that “This Is the Best Christmas” is destined to be a new holiday standard, with its wonderful melody that seems instantly familiar and its heartfelt message of gratitude for being together at Christmastime.

Kathi has also gathered some musician friends to render the song in different styles, so it’s almost like getting four different songs. You can buy the 4-track version at CDBaby. If you want your pick of styles, you can select it at iTunes.

How to decide? If you go here, you can hear a preview, and learn all about Kathi and her friends.

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