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Gladstone Club, Northwich 2005

First time visitor to Gladstone Club, here's what was said....

The following week came, another first time visitor in WESTRIDE from Macclesfield.  A very lively duo with super guitarist and the irrepressible Vikki singing all the vocals.  They were saddened by the recent sudden death of their sound man, John who used to add some harmony vocals from his sound desk.  A very good mixture for both the dancer and the listener as we enjoyed Nancy Hays 'Come Dance with Me', Joni Harms 'Two steppin Texas Blue' and Gretchen Wilson's 'Redneck Woman'.  Good backing tracks with Rob's sharp guitar work filling the room.

 

CHRISTMAS EVE (2nd visit)

Christmas Eve was party night with Macclesfield's WESTRIDE adding to a great atmosphere.  A lively duo with super guitarist Rob and the irrepressible Vikki singing all the vocals.  A very good mixture for both the dancer and the listener as we enjoyed Nancy Hayes 'Come dance with me, Joni Harms 'Two steppin' Texas Blue' and Carl Perkin's 'That's all right Mama'.  Good combination of backing tracks and 'live' with Rob's sharp guitar work filling the room.  Three changes of authentic clothes for Vikki with a sudden change into an elf for the Bellamy Brothers 'If I said you had a beautiful body' getting assistance from for the song with a 'mug' from the audience, you've guessed it, ME.  A very good night, putting everyone in the right mood for the Christmas Festivities. 

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North & South Caravaners Country Weekend - Hamilton House Farm July 2005

Had to put this picture in - it was taken at The Hamilton House Farm Country Weekend - the weather was superb, the venue a barn, the audience brilliant and we stayed up way passed 4am - still playing!  Cracking night.  WestRide slept in the van in the barn while their sound guy John slept on the stage.  The following day WestRide chatted to their new found family, slept in the field and basically waste time before heading off to the gig at Hampton Road, Blackpool on Bank Holiday Monday.

 

Sadly, John passed away the following year.  This was probably one of the last photo's taken of him while he travelled with WestRide.

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Farmers Arms, Northwich

 

Some great nights were had at the Farmers Arms, sadly the venue is no longer a country venue but the crowd still gather at the ever popular Gladstone Club - any photo's for the WestRide 'Gladstone club' gigs would be appreciated for an additional 'Gallery'....Here's what Rick said 'WESTRIDE from Macclesfield were the final visitors for the month...A superb lead guitarist in Rob and the irrespressible vocalist in Vikki are a great combination for a good night of Country Music.  I last saw WestRide a couple of years ago (at Bidds -debut night) and what an improvement there has been.  Vikki wanders around the audience singing to each individual in turn whilst Rob produces some amazing, slick lead work for Suzy Bogguss's 'Somewhere Between', John Michael Montgomery's 'I swear' and Heather Myles's 'Who did you call darlin'.  An interesting addition was sound man John adding some of the harmonies .

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One Hoot Rebels, Chillington August 2005

August 26th 2005 we had our presentation to New Cross Neo Natal Unit. The entertainment for the evening was Westride Duo who gave a brilliant performance. A cheque for £1200 was presented by Sharon to Mark Edwards, Divisional Manager for Women and Childrens Services. This will go towards the purchase of a ventilator that will cost £17,500. The evening was a great success, we received positive feedback about the buffet and the entertainment.

 

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High Peak - What the club writer said...

On the Saturday, the 28th May, our duo was Westride. What an act! The male half of the duo played while the female sang. She was more a character from the old West than just a singer, and switched from demure cowgirl in a pink suit and boots and brown hat, to Native American complete with chopper, and finally to cowgirl cum saloon girl with black hat and waistcoat, and black skirt lined with blue.

Frosty looked pretty cheerful when she danced with him to Joni Harms 'I Wanna Sing for You' while later on Steve's eyes nearly popped out of his head when she sat on his knee to sing 'If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body.'

 

When dressed as a Native American our singer did a fantastic 'Harper Valley PTA' which she sang and acted out. In fact it was her whole facial expression and actions which really brought all the songs to life and kept the audience spell bound. She wasn't bound by the stage since her mike with the long lead allowed her to wander all over the floor.

The guitarist meanwhile went in for some good guitar picking. I noted this during Crystal Gayle's 'Wrong Road Again' when I must have managed to tear my eyes away from the singer.

Mind you, Westride did manage to make sure that our DJ Kalamitty didn't hog the limelight by building up the speakers so that we couldn't see him! Those dancers who like a hoedown had a great time dancing to Lorretta Lynn's 'Y'all Come,' complete with audience participation during the singing.

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WestRide Country Music Duo

Vikki Sands and Rob Kay had been working together as a middle of the road act for several years, successfully entertaining audiences across the North West, Wales, Lancashire and The Midlands but their hearts have always been in country music.  Rob picked up some fantastic country guitar licks and tricks while in Nashville some years ago enabling him to develop (and to continue to develop) his own unique style.  Vikki was a country singer when they first met, at that time they decided to work on the local MoR scene but Vikki never really lost that country edge and as a result it didn't matter what music they played, it still sounded country.  So they switched to country music and changed their name to 'WestRide'.  For a short while they worked on both the MoR and the C&W scene and are now totally committed to Country & Western Music.

They have spent time, thought and energy putting together a range of old and new country songs that real country & western music fans will appreciate.  They already had a lot of traditional country music in their original act anyway, songs by Crystal Gayle, Billie Jo Spears, Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, Loretta Lynn, Jeanie C. Riley, Donna Fargo, Willie Nelson, Carl Perkins, Boz Scaggs...so they added some newer material by Joni Harms, Trisha Yearwood, Suzy Bogguss, Heather Myles, The Judds, George Strait, Merle Haggard, John Michael Montgomery, Emmylou Harris...and so on, including one or two beautiful Irish songs, as well as some incredible country guitar instrumentals including (just for our American Indians) the ever popular 'Apache'.

Since their very promising debut at Bidds Country Music Club in Longton way back in October 2001 they have been in demand across Birmingham, Bristol, Cheshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Manchester, Norfolk, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Wales with pressure to venture further North and down South.

WestRide are currently working hard on their 'Long Awaited' CD.  The CD will be previewed on this site in the not too distant future so please keep checking back for news!! 

To include your photo's from WestRide gigs please click on the 'contact me' link.

Thanks for your visit

WestRide Duo

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