The New Christy Minstrels®, Still Under the Direction of Randy Sparks

In 2007, when I was about to lead my restored group, The New Christy Minstrels (still under the direction of Randy Sparks) in a hugely important concert at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, I was worried about filling all the seats, so I got in touch with an old friend, a former waitress from my nightclub (rehearsal hall with an audience) Ledbetter’s on Westwood Blvd. in Los Angeles.  She had by then morphed into a very successful flack, a Hollywood publicity agent, and I wanted to hire her for a few weeks to help the people, our audience, remember us fondly.  She told me as tactfully as she could that I couldn’t afford her services, and when she mentioned how much her well-healed clients paid to get their familiar names in the paper, I agreed; I couldn’t afford her.  But she did give me some sage advice.  For free.   “Instead of offering your readers the same-old boring bio that they always get from an act or an entertainment personality, give them something different.  Make a list of your accomplishments or things that have happened in your life that set you aside from all the other people in Tinsel Town.  Sit down and think of those things that others have not done.  You ought to be able to come up with at least a dozen.”   I am beholden to her for that bit of guidance, and what fun it was to think about my various merit badges.   The Bible says in Proverbs 27:2, ‘Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips,’ and I fully realize that some of these items shall be seen as violations of my life-long personal pledge of humility, but I’m simply following orders.  And, by the way, these aren’t necessarily in any order of importance…  I’m not going to mention ALL of the items on my personal list of bragging rights, nor have I been able to accurately place them in order of importance, but here are some…     Discovered and named John Denver (against his will, and his daughter recently thanked me that her name wasn’t Deutschendorf).  He lived rent-free with my family his first year in showbiz.  Recorded him for Capitol Records long before he recorded for RCA. Steve Martin became a stand-up comic on my stage (I had hired him as a […]

Randy Sparks wrote this song for his mom and sang it to her on Mother’s Day.  ‘Take Your Mother To Brunch’ is on The New Christy Minstrels’ CD titled ‘NICE TIME TO BE ALIVE’ and is for sale at all the live concerts.  This CD was recorded, and mixed by The NCM Sound Engineer, Becky Jo Benson, and Mastered by Fab Dupont of Pure Mix Studio, New York, New York.

The New Christy Minstrels Foundation is presenting a precious collection of Burl Ives memorabilia in this moving museum to celebrate the life of singer, performer, actor, and dear friend of Randy Sparks, the late Burl Ives.  First stop for viewing will be Burl Ives birthplace of Newton, Illinois in Jasper County, June 14th (which would have been Burl’s birthday).  For details, please click on UPCOMING EVENTS and scroll down to June 14, 2018.  Then the moving museum will travel to be parked next to the River Inn, Brownville, Nebraska during The New Christy Minstrels’ concerts there on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 17th and Monday, June 18th for the 2:00 PM concert in the Brownville Concert Hall, Brownville, Nebraska.

April 26, 2018, Steve (Slim) E. asked:  Who wrote Mighty Mississippi?  I searched the web and didn’t find its author. RANDY SPARKS wrote Mighty Mississippi while on board the airplane that was bringing The New Christy Minstrels back from their concert at Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York.  The Captain of the airplane announced that they were flying over the Mighty Mississippi and folks could see it if they looked out the window.  This view inspired Randy Sparks to start writing and singing the song, Mighty Mississippi, which he completed before they landed the airplane.  Then he started teaching the song to the group, and they recorded Mighty Mississippi shortly after.

Randy Sparks writes: One of the advantages of folk music happens to be that so many of the beloved stories told in song belong to all of us, that is, they are in the public domain, free of copyright protection, and every folksinger worth his keep is allowed, even expected, to make improvements in the retelling the tale.  One of my goals in life is to keep old-fashioned music alive and entertaining.  ‘The Land of Giants’ album was a favorite project of mine, and I wanted to celebrate the American spirit through some of its heroes.  The John Henry song had been sung to death by nearly everybody, and I simply wanted to create a better vehicle to carry the message.  Columbia Records wanted no part of my entertaining ‘painless history’ lesson, but I ran my own group, and didn’t take direction very well.  History teachers over the past 54 years have thanked me for the effort, and that’s much better than money.    Question from C. Jones, about the John Henry song in The Land of Giants: Hi! I am working on an empathetic research paper centered on an American folk song, and  I chose your version of “John Henry and the Steam Drill” for it. However, I can’t find any information on WHY you guys wrote and recorded the John Henry song or why you made the Land of Giants album. Could you tell me what inspired you guys to make the song? Thank you! Comment from John H. Hi, I just wandered through your Web site here thinking of how much I used to love listening to the group’s Columbia LPs back in the 1960s. I discovered a lot of Americana and the joy of harmony in those records. I loved “Land of Giants.” I always hoped the group could have its own movie, something about the backstage personalities and how they all came together on stage. Just wanted to say thank you to Mr. Sparks for giving me that. God bless you for keeping this music alive.  

I want someone to explain to me exactly how these two living organisms came to resemble each other.

QUESTION from Konsultan Pajak Jakarta Slattern Hi! I know this is somewhat off-topic however I needed to ask. Does running a well-established blog such as yours require a lot of work? I am completely new to writing a blog however I do write in my diary on a daily basis. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my own experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Thank you! RESPONSE from Becky Jo Benson Hi!  We are happy that you visited our web site!  I truly believe that you can do anything in this world as long as there are YouTube instructional videos.  I am using WordPress to build this web site, and my theme is ‘Sydney’ because I like the way it looks, plus there are many YouTube instructional videos on line from which you can learn what the buttons are for.  You already write in your diary, so you are accustomed to writing down your thoughts.  You can DO THIS!  Never give up, and enjoy what you do. . . the rest will follow.  Wishing you all the best! Becky Jo

This is a photo of an OLD man returning to a former haunt. The Victorian building behind me once housed The Florentine Club in Shreveport.  While I was there, a new act was appearing less than a block away at the Civic Auditorium: Elvis Presley. There were times when my life seemed to be scripted, and this photo recalls one of the most meaningful couple of weeks I ever had.  The year was 1955, and I was working my very first job away from San Francisco home territory, namely Hollywood (actually West Los Angeles), John Walsh’s 881 Club, 881 La Cienega Blvd.  I was the youngest performer, so I opened the show, and the headliners were all ladies: Julie London, Kipp Hamilton and Pat Carroll, over a three week period.  I felt that I was doing well, as the audience liked me, but after one of my best shows, a man sitting alone at one of the front tables called me over as I was exiting the stage, and said I should go back to wherever I came from, as I didn’t have “what it takes,” and I’d be saving myself “a lot of heartache.”  He looked familiar, and Lucien the cook told me it was Gordon McRae.  The very next night, another man sitting alone, one table over from where Gordon McRae had sat, said to me, “That’s pretty good, kid, but your name isn’t Lloyd Sparks…I haven’t yet figured out what it is, but I will, and I’ll come back and tell you.”  “Who’s that, Lucien,” I asked.  “That’s Henry Willson, the biggest independent agent in Hollywood, and his thing is naming people…Rory Calhoun, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, all the actors at Universal…”  Wow!     The newest lady singer was very nice to me, and one day she said, “How would you like to go to Dallas with me?  We could have a good time.”  I didn’t know what to say.  She was at least five years my senior, and I was just about to turn a very young 22 by then.  She saw my uneasiness, then explained that her agent in Texas was in the process of booking her into one of two hotels, either the Baker or the Adolphus, and it would be her own show, so she got to pick her opening act, she said, and she wanted me to be there with her.  Wow!  She asked for my bio […]

Sunday, April 15, 2018 Dear Becky Jo: I just wanted to take a moment to send a note to say thank you again for the concert I attended. It was back in November (November 10) in Wisconsin Rapids, WI.  I was the gentleman with a bag full of lps and cds for Randy to sign. My wife and I drove two and half hours for the concert and I don’t regret a single moment.  I grew up listening to the New Christy Minstrels albums, over and over, and Randy Sparks and the New Christy Minstrels are probably the only group I would travel that distance to see. I’d like to explain that I am not a ‘typical’ fan.  I have spent my career working as a stage manager for live theatre.  I have worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at some of the premiere theatres around the country, such as The Kennedy Center and the Pasadena Playhouse.  My business has been working with big names and with stars and as such I am not usually prone to being awestruck by an individual. I was awestruck when I met Randy. I was meeting the man whose life’s work has inspired me and certainly in many ways, shaped me.  There aren’t many people about whom I can say that.  It was as much a thrill for me to talk with Randy after the concert as it was to listen to all of you playing such great music.  I can’t express how much I valued that Randy took the time out of his schedule to just chat with me and my wife. In our post-concert talk, Randy mentioned that he was working on a museum of/for Burl Ives.  If there is any sort of email list for updates on this, I would gladly sign on to it. Please feel free to convey my thanks to Randy and to all the members of The New Christy Minstrels for the great concert and for continuing the work of bringing great music to the world. Thank you and sincerely, Daniel M. RESPONSE FROM RANDY SPARKS Thanks much, Daniel.  YOU are, of course, the reason we make the effort to get here and there across the country.  We meet people like you at just about every show, and what a thrill that is for me.  You have to know that singing into a microphone to make a record or entertaining […]