Piper Leigh with Tim Durham and Danl Blackwood Tumbleweed Festival, Garden City KS Aug 26-27, 2006 photos by Danl Blackwood and Don Shorock
Piper, her step son, and infant son arrive at the Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City to begin preparing for a weekend festival fun!
Tim Durham (right) joins the photo ops.
This is one of only a couple photos I ever snapped of Don Shorock (R.I.P.). See the album info panel for more info on Don. (To access the album infp page, click the circled "i" in the upper right hand corner of main index page.)
Lots to do at this kid-friendly event.
We headed over to the stage where we would perform just in time to see the Turpin Tyme Ragsters (pictured here), and also enjoyed the Mariachi Los Reyes band before our set.
Back at the main stage (where we would perform the following morning for Sunday Worship time), we were treated to the Afinke Machine band and their awesome caribbean music.
More of the Afinke Machine band, I really enjoyed the steel drums.
We heard a rumor of a Tyrannosaurus Rex roaming the festival attacking people.
This very cool monster puppet was expertly brought to life by the puppeteer (whom you can see in this pic dressed in black inside the T-Rex). Here the T-Rex continues to go from person to person trying to eat their heads! You can also see the sheet terror in Tim Durham's eyes. :-)
Yet another victim of the brutal attack by this prehistoric monster! :-)
Piper and band take the stage. This and the remainder of the photos were taken by Don Shorock.
Piper in a pensive moment.
Yours truly, Danl Blackwood, in the groove.
Tim Durham, master of many instruments, was also a long time judge at Winfield Mandolin Competitions.
The golden vocals of Piper Leigh.
Piper is very comfortable while engaging and entertaining the audience.
Piper Leigh Band
Danl Blackwood offers background vocals.
This is the next day, Sunday morning, as we wait for our turn to take the stage.
Piper Leigh Band performing on Sunday morning.
Piper still performs with her group "Piper Leigh & The Smokin' Section," who I noticed just performed the 2016 Tumbleweed Festival a few days ago (see album info panel for their web page).
It's no surprise that Piper, an incredible blues singer, powerfully belts out gospel tunes with ease.
We had a great time! I keep my eye on Piper's schedule in hopes we can work out another last minute musical get together.
The Tumbleweed Festival started 25 years ago in Garden City, Kansas, and has grown into a major 3-day event. The Piper Leigh Band played both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I took the first dozen photos, but the rest of the photos starting with us performing on Saturday, were taken by Don Shorock (pictured in the third photo). Don was a major presence for years in many midwest events and festivals, taking photos, and maintaining or contributing to many web pages. His most prominent contributions were both the official and unofficial web pages for annual Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, which was how I first discovered him. Sadly, Don passed away in December 2010. Don's son Tom Shorock took over the official Walnut Valley web page.
I first met Piper Leigh on St Patrick's Day 2005 through a mutual singer friend. Less than a month later, Piper called to ask if I'd be interested in joining her band. Of course I said, YES! While traveling to Ark City from Wichita to rehearse, we were able to pull it off for a little over a year. A few months before this Tumbleweed Festival engagement, I moved back to Topeka from Wichita, making it difficult to get together for rehearsal. This ended up being our last official gig, though I was lucky enough to join her for one set at the Artichoke in Wichita in April 2010.