Dance Till the Cows Come Home
Leona Williams

Boot dust fiddle playing, panhandle opera and finger licking good music is what the Fall Creek Opry is all about. Leona Williams has always been associated with Merle Haggard, she was his third wife and, in her own right, is an accomplished musician, songwriter and singer that few, male or female can touch. Leona headlines the show and well she should, because she has a history in country music that would fill volumes.

Leona and her late husband, Dave Kirby, also a musician and songwriter, were in Kansas for one reason or another and stumbled upon a guy who could sing country opera and play anything with strings attached. The big boys would not take a chance on him because he was blind, not realizing that he could see more than they could. Leona and Dave knew they had something in this man. They brought him to Branson for the rest of us to enjoy; the Bishop of Branson, Bill Jordan.

Folks, you gotta hear Bill to believe it. Matter of fact, you gotta hear Bill and Leona together to believe it. Well, let’s throw in the band too. Two fiddles, drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, steel guitar, keyboard and Leona throws in her string playing now and then. This is a band coupled with two of the greatest singers in countrydom. With this show, you will literally “Dance Till the Cows Come Home.”

Incidentally, that is an actual song written by Leona Williams with her son Ron and late husband, Dave Kirby.

What they play is, in my determination, Texas country roadhouse music with Bill Jordan and his rich baritone-bass voice adding the country opera flavor to it. When Leona and Bill sing together, you will literally be stunned.

I know, when the show was over, I simply sat in my seat, totally amazed at what I had just heard. You will too.

Leona sings, as most of you know, calico dress, sunbonnet and at the same time, Texas boot stomping music. She can be sweet as clover or crusty as a dried creek bed, she can be nostalgic and funny but always, she puts out her very best for the world to listen to. Leona, a native Missourian and an official Honorary Texan, has been and still is a visionary in the music world. Remember when she went to prison to record “San Quentin’s First Lady?” She was the first woman to ever visit a prison and record a “live” album. That came a year after she began her association with Merle Haggard in 1975. Haggard had spent three years, of a 15-year sentence for robbery in Quentin, in the 50s.

Now I have to tell you that if you were not reading this article, you would have no idea where this group could be heard. They are at the Nova 4 Theater, just across the street from Music City Center and next door to Applebees. They are buried in too small a space with a big music sound. Their sound is as big as a morning Texas sky and twice as bright. They need to be in a larger and more well equipped theater. They need to be where you, the music fan, can find them. Why? Because they are great and you are definitely missing something in life if you do not catch them while in Branson.