Local talent set to sing Fridayto help battered women’s shelter

By JAMES CLARK / Editor for the Southern Standard

Naomi Morrison performs at Dollywood last summer with the band Naomi and the Wood Brothers. She is scheduled to perform at Songwriters Night with Jacky Jack White this Friday at the Civic Center. The show starts at 5 p.m.

If you want to treat your ears to some live entertainment and help Families in Crisis in the process, Songwriters Night with Jacky Jack White is this Friday at McMinnville Civic Center.

Admission is $12 at the door and $10 in advance and includes a BBQ dinner from Prater’s. The show starts at 5 p.m.

“We have several fund-raisers a year, but this is one of our top ones,” said Tammie Gribble, the director of Families in Crisis, a battered women’s shelter. “It usually generates a couple thousand dollars.”

Jacky Jack has written hit songs for Neal McCoy, Charley Pride, Ray Stevens and Steve Wariner. As a singer, he has several albums, including the critically acclaimed “Southern Songbook.”

On stage Friday night, Jacky Jack will be joined by local artists Barry Medley, Naomi Morrison, Fincher and Stone, Clark Williams, Kevin Greaves, and recent “Nashville Star” contenders Kevin Brown and Sara Thompson.

“It’s a night of good food and good, clean fun,” said Gribble. “We have a couple of new performers this year, the two from ‘Nashville Stars’ and Fincher and Stone, so we’re anxious to hear them. And of course everybody’s favorite is Naomi.”

Morrison is a popular local talent whose voice and singing style has been compared to Patsy Cline. She frequently sings at local functions, but her biggest gig to date has been a summer-long tenure at Dollywood, the popular country music theme park in Pigeon Forge.

At Dollywood, Morrison was part of Naomi and the Wood Brothers, a group which performed six days a week, several times a day at the park’s Back Porch Theater. She sang and played mandolin.

To purchase advance tickets for Songwriters Night, call 473-5188.