Ramblin’ Rhodes: Circle network offers classic country shows

How many of you have been watching the new country music-themed Circle network being broadcast over WRDW (Channel 12-4) on antenna TV since it went on air New Year’s Day?

Let me hear from you and what you think by writing me at don.rhodes@morris.com.

The biggest drawback for most potential viewers is that you have to take your set off cable to watch. That means having to move the “rabbit ears” or other receiver antenna around to get the best reception.

On the positive side, the biggest reason to watch right now is that you get to see repeats of classic country shows like episodes of the Buck Owens/Roy Clark-hosted “Hee-Haw” and “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” and some original programming.

On the negative side, you will see almost nothing but white entertainers except in the network’s many commercials and with past-filmed appearances of Charley Pride, Linda Martell, O.B. McClinton or Big Al Downing.

Since the network is owned by Opry Entertainment Group working with Gray Television, you are going to see a lot of Grand Ole Opry show cast members. That includes their “Opry Docs” biographies with great stories of legendary Opry performers like Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff.

Viewer numbers should increase in February when the network begins live broadcasts of the Opry.

So, in other words, this new network basically seems to be another try at The Nashville Network satellite cable television offering which went on the air in March 1983 and lasted about 20 years.

During the Circle Network’s prime time morning hours, Opry announcer Bill Cody hosts the same “Coffee, Country & Cody” WSM radio studio show he has been doing from the Opryland Hotel for 24 years.

Vince Gill, married to Augusta native Amy Grant, was Cody’s first star guest on the first day’s Circle Network broadcast. He rehashed some road stories and told about being one of the first guests on the old Nashville Network.

The most aggravating drawback to watching Cody’s show is that network officials don’t seem to understand this is no longer just Cody’s radio program. Cody will play some country hit song and then for three minutes they put up an image of the star singing and the name of the song while it plays. Can you say “boring?” Why don’t they just run a video version of the song?

And Cody himself seemed a bit overwhelmed the first day in repeating himself with co-hosts in the studio; apparently not listening to what they were telling him. That was understandable with everything being new on the first day and with Cody trying to look sideways into the camera every now and then.

One of the best new shows in the afternoon is a sit-around, singing and story-telling jam hosted by singer-songwriter Phil Vassar, who has been to Augusta several times including at the A Day in the Country festival.

Natalie Stovall hosts a show featuring restaurants, museums and other attractions in the South, and Opry star Craig Morgan, another frequent Augusta visitor, hosts a quasi-reality show about his life at home and on the road.

Bluegrass duo Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent, also repeat Augusta favorites, host an entertaining bluegrass music-themed show.

And then there’s this so-far-boring series “Better Half” with entertainers and their spouses talking about how much they can’t do without each other and all the good things they do in their communities.

It would be much better having some of the wives and husbands talking about how they survived their spouses’ cheating scandals and what their lives have been like since they dropped off the charts and stopped being played on radio stations.

In time, the Circle Network probably will work out the kinks and improve on their broadcast offerings just as The Nashville Network did in eliminating some of their first original, less popular shows and substituting better ones.

Maybe the Circle Network top folks need to talk with Opry star Bill Anderson and former “Nashville Now” host Ralph Emery about what worked and didn’t work with TNN.

Meantime, keep adjusting those “rabbit ears” and give the new Circle Network a chance at offering some good ole’ country music.

WHERE ARE THE JAMS? Several amateur musicians have asked lately, “Where are any local jams that anyone of any musical level can take part around here?”

My American Legion post buddy Mike Milheim, who plays guitar and sings with Doug White on banjo and Frank Novotny on guitar and mandolin, lists:

· 10 a.m.-noon on first and third Saturdays at Aiken’s Visitor’s Center & Train Museum, 406 Park Ave. SE

· 1:30-4:30 p.m. on second Saturdays at the McCormick County Library, 201 Railroad Ave., in McCormick, S.C.

· 6-9 p.m. first Mondays in Edgefield, S.C., Park Row Market, 108 Courthouse Square

· 6–9 p.m. fourth Fridays at the Patriot’s Smokehouse, 2006½ Martintown Road at Sportsmen’s Corner.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

· Patrick Davis Album Release Show: 8:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 31, Enterprise Mill; Davis and his band Midnight Choir will perform songs from their new CD “Six String Dreams;” $25-$75; buy at patrickdavis.com

· Joe Collins Dulcimer Concert: Garden City Strummers are hosting a free mountain dulcimer concert by Joe Collins at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at the Kroc Center. Collins, 2007 National Mountain Dulcimer Champion, is a professor of religious studies at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.

· Rhonda Vincent & The Rage with Nu-Blue: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, Imperial Theater; last show in 2019-2020 series of Morris Museum of Art’s Budweiser True Music Southern Song & Soul Series; $15-$45; (706) 722-8341 or imperialtheatre.com; also 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, Newberry Opera House, $55-$65

· James Garner’s Tribute To Johnny Cash: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28, Hardin Auditorium in Evans public library, $39.95, (706) 726-0366 or online at augustaamusements.com.

Reach out to Ramblin’ Rhodes at don.rhodes@morris.com.