Harry Ritchie Concert and Dance!
The Ray County Historical Society is hosting local legend Harry Ritchie to the Eagleton Civic Center in Richmond for a fundraiser concert and dance on Saturday March 12.
The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and the concert will start at 7:30 p.m.
Music will be provided by Harry Ritchie - Let It Swing. Tickets can be purchased at the Ray County Museum or the Eagleton Civic Center. The price is $7.50 a person or $13.00 for a couple.
Please call Linda Emley at the Museum if you have questions. 816-776-2305
Harry Ritchie is a native Ray Countian and his musical skills are well known in this area. Harry is retired, but for many years he was a brick layer by day and a guitar player by night. His musical career started in Ray County when he was 14 years old and he played in all the local places like the 210 Supper Club, south of Richmond, The Sunset, west of town, and the Blue Bonnet in Hardin. He also played the square dances in Lexington every Saturday night and Sundays were reserved for the Do Drop Inn, located in the Richmond Depot area. The Do Drop Inn was the Blues capital of Ray County. Harry traded his guitar for his dancing shoes when he 'dropped in' at the Do Drop Inn.
When we asked Harry about his favorite place to play, he got a gleam in his eyes and told about playing at the Frog Hop Ballroom in St Joseph, Missouri. It was a "hopping" place from 1928 till 1978. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lawrence Welk and Benny Goodman are a few of the bands that played at the Frog Hop Ballroom.
The band on Saturday night will feature Harry Ritchie on bass guitar, his brother, John Wayne Ritchie on the drums, Marty Guenther on the lead guitar, Bobby Demoss playing the steel guitar, Larry Hurst on vocals and Travis Inman playing the fiddle.
Ritchie brags on Inman, who is an award-winning fiddle player and has won the Missouri State Championship more times than anyone.
Harry wants to remind everyone that this is not just a concert. He wants to see people out on the dance floor, "dancing the night away". So Do Drop In to the Eagleton Center on Saturday night and Let It Swing.