Circle Bar Ranch Music Camp 2015
Each year guitar and fiddle enthusiasts gather in Knox County to meet up with old friends and increase their knowledge of the guitar and fiddle. This means one thing: Music Camp!
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| 2014 Group |
This year the camp will again be held in Truscott at the Circle Bar Ranch Lodge. It is expected to bring in 30 campers who will share in their love of music. Campers will learn many different genres to expand their skill level, but the main chord that will tie them together is western swing.
"The camp has always been based in Western Swing, but this year campers will also experience some big band music and more," said camp coordinator, Jimi Coplen.
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| The group practices together to blend the sounds of everything they have learned. |
Returning this year is the talented Elizabeth Terry on fiddle. She has trained in classical violin most of her life and in her teen years took up the fiddle. Elizabeth attended the camp as a student for many years, even learning under the great Bobby Boatright himself, and is now instructing the beginning and intermediate students. She is currently enrolled at Texas Tech University as a student in the College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences.
Another familiar face to the camp is Glenn McLaughlin. Students are always captured by his mad guitar skills. He knows his way around the neck of a guitar and enjoys teaching the beginning guitar students. Glenn spends his time playing with several groups around the Ft. Worth, Texas area.
New to the camp this year will be a class for horns. Whether you play the saxophone or the trombone, instructors will be able to help you expand your skill set. The instructor for this class will be taught by Larry Reid, an accomplished musician who has played saxophone for many years.
The Circle Bar Ranch is located in Truscott, a small community between Benjamin and Crowell in Knox County. The ranch is owned by Jerry Bob and Eugenie Daniel. The beautiful Circle Bar Lodge will be the heart of the activities for the music camp. Campers will get to experience the country life for four days. Truscott is also home to the Brine Lake, a unique lake operated by the Core of Engineers.
Camp applications can be downloaded here. For more information, please call Jimi Coplen with the Knox County Visioning Group at 940.459.4121. The camp was formally known as the Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp.
2014 Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp
The annual Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp held in
Knox County each summer is more than just a place to learn to drag a bow over
fiddle strings or make chords on a guitar. It is a place where the “State Music
of Texas” lives on from July 6-10, 2014. Students, young and old, gather to
sharpen their skills on guitar and fiddle and learn about this music that
shaped history.
Western swing music plays a rich history in the American
culture. From 1932-1944, no one was sure what to call this new sound. Some
called it hillbilly, hot string band, and even Texas swing. Billboard finally settled on “Western
Swing” after Spade Cooley released a songbook with that same title. This music
influenced genres known as honky-tonk, rockabilly and country rock. In 2011 the
Texas Legislature designated western swing as the official “State Music of
Texas”.
At the music camp, guitar and fiddle classes will be
available for beginning, intermediate and advanced students. “Regardless if you
have never picked up a fiddle or you are a novice, this camp always has
something for everyone,” said Jimi Coplen, Knox County Visioning Group Director
and camp coordinator.
Students will learn from quality instructors who are highly
skilled on their instrument. Joe Settlemire and Glenn McLaughlin will be
teaching guitar, and Coleman Smith and Elizabeth Terry will be instructing
fiddle. These instructors know their way around the top of a Texas guitar and a
fiddle. They have the ability to not only play but teach, passing on that
knowledge and passion to a new generation.
Mr. Settlemire is one of Oklahoma’s most prolific and
celebrated musicians. He has recorded two jazz albums. His album, Sugarfoot Rag, was nominated for two
Grammy awards in 2008 in the categories of “Best Jazz Instrumental Album” and
“Best Country Instrumental Performance”.
Mr. McLaughlin is from Fort Worth and has taught guitar at
the music camp for the past three years. His amazing talent is beyond advanced,
but his ability to teach and play always makes him a favorite with the beginner
and intermediate guitar students.
New to camp this year is Coleman Smith. He has been teaching
and performing with his own band in Fort Worth for the past several years. He
will bring some fresh talent and knowledge to the camp this year in the
advanced fiddle section.
Elizabeth Terry, a past student of the camp, will be working
with beginning fiddle students. Ms. Terry is a life-long study of the violin
and fiddle. She has studied with Bobby Boatright, Bobby Flores and Kalli Burk.
She currently attends Texas Tech University.
This year’s camp will be held in the rustic, nostalgic Knox
County community of Truscott, Texas. The community is home to the Circle Bar Ranch owned by Jerry and Eugenie Daniel. Campers will be staying at the Circle
Bar Ranch Lodge and classes will be held in the community center and the
renovated bank building. The quaint country atmosphere is the perfect backdrop
for this event.
Special rates apply for registration received by May 15,
2014. For more information, check out the facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1pG9j1Y , or call the KCVG
at 940-459-4121. Sponsorships are available. Camp applications can be
downloaded and payment can be received online.
2014 camp applications can be downloaded here. If you would like to pay via credit card, you can do that here.
Music Camp 2013
Campers, it is time to get your application submitted for the 2013 guitar and fiddle camp. Applications can be found by clicking here. We are looking forward to seeing you again this year.
Music Camp 2013 Registration is Open!
Fiddle and guitar
teachers and students will gather July 7-11, 2013 for the 13th
annual Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp.
The Knox Prairie
Event Center in Goree, Texas, a converted school complex, will provide both
classrooms and dormitory space for the camp and the venue for the closing
concert. Students age 10 and up will learn by day and jam by night.
Margaret “Maggie”
Scales is a qualified teacher of Fiddle and Violin and brings to the Music Camp
her experience of knowledge with the fiddle. She has many years of experience
of playing with and opening shows with many legends such as Bobby Bare, Hank
Williams, Jr., Ray Price, Ronnie Milsap and the list goes on.
Maggie has played
with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra, 23 years with the Amarillo Little Theater,
she has played drums with jazz choir, mandolin and sings.
She will team with
Ronny Dale Schultz, a person that has taught many years at the Music Camp known
for his ability to perform and teach many different instruments.
Fort Worth musician
Glenn McLaughlin will teach beginning guitar, working his magic as an
instructor with patience and knowledge and a knack for coaxing the best from
his students. It's McLaughlin’s fourth year to teach at the Bobby Boatright
Music Camp.
Both Settlemires and
McLaughlin play Western Swing and related music.
The camp honors the
memory of the late Bobby Boatright, renowned and beloved Western Swing Fiddle
player. Grammy award winner Tommy Allsup and
Bobby Boatright
taught at the camps for years and organized the curriculum. The camp was named in memory of Bobby
Boatright.
Sollis stated that
“we are loaded” with talent for the Camp in Goree.
A fee of $450 covers
tuition, housing and meals. For registration and information contact J W Sollis
at 940-839-7870 or jwsollis@yahoo.com.
Music Camp 2012
A Western Swing music camp for fiddle and guitar students that has been produced for eleven years is opening for the third year in Goree, Texas.
The Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp is set for July 8-12 in Goree at the Knox Prairie Events Center.
The camp honors the memory of musician Bobby Boatright, a renowned Western Swing fiddle player who died in 2008. When Boatright was chief fiddle instructor at the camp, the name of the camp was simply Western Swing Music Camp. In 2010, the camp was dedicated to Boatright, and this will be the third year the four-day event has carried his name.
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| Photo by Vikki Gunter |
Among this year's instructors will include a group of guitar and fiddle players that are well known and have high marks from their peers..
The camp will be held at the Knox Prairie Event's Center. This facility has great space for classes, lodging, and a highly rated cafeteria, group jam sessions and the final end-of-camp concert at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 12. RV sites are also available close by.
Camp director is J. W. Sollis, a former school superintendent with an interest in preserving the legacy of Western Swing music, a genre popularized by the late bandleader Bob Wills (1905-1975).
"We have a good selection of instructors," Sollis said. "They're professional, they've studied with some of the best Western Swing performers, and they have been trained to teach."
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| Photo by Vikki Gunter |
Lead fiddle instructor is Grammy award winning Bobby Flores. Bobby is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, arranger, producer, composer, and first call session musician. He plays and sings with his band The Yellow Rose Band. When he is not touring, he works in his studio in San Antonio.
Returning lead guitar instructor is Ronny Dale Shultz. His degree in music is from Texas Christian University. Shultz owns World Records Recording Studio in Crowell, Texas. His ability to play several styles of music and several instruments, guitar to trumpet, keep him working as a session player and performer. He's also a vocalist. Shultz has played with Bob Will's Texas Playboys, David "Fathead" Newman, Claude Gray, Red Stegall, Leroy Van Dyke, Lynn Anderson, Johnny Bush, Frenchie Burke, Johnny Gimble, Hank Thompson and many other name musicians.
Other instructors will include Jess Meador from the Jake Hooker Band and Linda Steen on fiddle, and Glenn McLaughlin on guitar. All of these instructors have taught at the camp in the past and have received rave reviews from past students.
"I've got a good bunch of teachers," Sollis said. "All of them know how to instruct. They're qualified teachers."
For more information about the camp, contact Sollis at jwsollis@yahoo.com or (940) 663-6900. www.sollisproductions.com
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