USAO Showband to ‘raise the barn’ in Waurika

The Jefferson County Fairgrounds are scheduled to come alive with the sounds of Western swing as the USAO Showband hosts a fundraising dance on March 12 from 7-10 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward the upkeep of the FFA Ag Barn in Waurika.

Since its inception in 2002, The USAO Showband has been committed to raising money and awareness for a host of worthy causes, noted Donna Settlemires, assistant director to the showband.

“We try to give back to the community,” Settlemires noted, “because that’s what we want the kids to learn how to do.”

The festivities will kick off at 5 p.m. with a barbeque dinner.

The dance will also serve as valuable training for the band as it prepares to play a similar event for a much larger audience of more than 2000 people at the 40th Annual Bob Wills Day Festival in Turkey, TX this coming April. More than 20,000 people are expected to attend the festival over the course of the weekend.

The band is directed by Joe Settlemires who is the youngest living member of Bob Wills band, The Texas Playboys.

Western swing music is a type of country music that got its start in the late 1920s. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat. Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys were the most famous practitioner of this style of music.

Joining the band will be Stacie McCracken, an alumna of USAO, who performed with the USAO Showband for the first five years of its existence. McCracken has rejoined the band for the year.

The current line-up of the USAO Showband is Brandon Calderon,
 Brandon Gibson,
 Jason Hobbs,
 Mac Stephenson,
 Colton Neighbors,
 Olen Cox,
 Robert Glass,
 Dr. Tom Wicks,
 Katrina Bennett and
 Lisa Fruit.

For more information about the dance, call (405) 574-1318.