Country Superstars Tribute

For a city now dubbed the “entertainment capital of the world”, Las Vegas is surely lacking in one native genre, that continues to flood the billboard charts on an annual basis - country music.

Auburn angel Reba McEntire, with a career spanning four decades has enjoyed album sales in excess of 56 million worldwide. According to the official ratings board for the U.S (Nielsen Soundscan) Oklahoma-born country icon Garth Brooks tops that figure as of 2010, with a ground-breaking 68 million global album sales. So apart from the rotational Las Vegas cast revue that is “Legends in Concert”; where are the homage acts to these era-defying sell-outs?

The smörgåsbord of tribute acts in Vegas is clearly lacking that country vibe; a void that former hard-rocker Ron Keel decided could be filled, with a variety-style tribute show. This was in part fueled by the endless comparisons made between himself, and Robbie Dunn – of country duo “Brooks & Dunn” fame. The mustachioed metal-head does bear more than a passing resemblance to the star, and once he'd found a like-minded 'other half' to his act, in the shape of music producer Leonard Quenneville (“Kix Brooks”) – they were on the road to a recipe for entertainment, that Vegas sorely needed.

“Country Stars Tribute” now in residence at the Golden Nugget Hotel, Fremont Street, features a rotational cast of impeccable look and sound-a-likes. It is however, Reba McEntire double Corrie Sachs, whom has made headlines for her perfected dissimilation – right down to the unmistakable Kiowa, Oklahoma twang of Reba's accent. Formerly the face of “Miss Annie Oakley” for Los Angeles revue “Wild Bill's Wild West Show”, Sachs has a long affiliation with country music/ performance, and is even signed in her own right to Reve Records. The dynamic talent was award Las Vegas Journal's coveted “Las Vegas Singer Of The Year” in 2004, and is most noted for her “Country Superstars” duet with “Robbie Dunn”, covering the 1998 hit “If You See Him/ If You See Her”.

Roy Hammock - 2006 winner of the Reel Awards' “Country's Hottest Hitter”has been impressing audiences with his caricature of pint-sized country crooner Willie Nelson, for well over twenty years, and never fails to deliver when it comes to old favorites. His renditions of “All The Girls I've Loved Before” and “On The Road Again” transport audiences right back to the front row seats of the mid-1980's, when Nelson himself seemed to be touring on an almost permanent basis.

Tackling the “Indian Outlaw” vocals of Tim McGraw, is a man who once admitted to Country Interviews Online he keeps his hat on because “it keeps the lighting out of your eyes, and you don't have to look anyone IN the eyes” . Adam D. Tucker is the chisel-jawed, Stetson-wearing “Tim McGraw” impersonator, who brings more than a healthy dose of sex-appeal to the “Country Stars” revue – yet the former Fed-Ex employee is remarkably softly spoken off-stage. Just as well he can hide behind his brim when covering “I Like It, I Love It”, as most of the female audiences tend to 'like him, love him' too!

While “Country Superstars” operates a rotational schedule (and as such, you're never quite sure who you'll be boot-scootin to), the cast rarely alters. Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Johnny Potash as “Charlie Daniels” or Brian Pop as “Kenny Chesney” can be guaranteed that at least one such 'support' will be on the bill. Potash is renowned for enlivening audiences with his fast-fingered fiddling and ambiguous one-liners, while Brian Pop pitches perfectly for “She's Got It All”.

For those nonplussed about the plethora of Beatles and Elvis homage shows lining the Golden Mile, “Country Superstars” presents a refreshing escape from the norm, with a variegated offering of tribute acts. The attitude pertaining to Fremont Street is that the area has seen a considerable drought in recent years, however the arrival of “Country Superstars” in 2007 seems to have been the catalyst for a chain of revivals and reprisals in the area. That being said, the Golden Nugget is never one to do things on a subtle scale – evident by the $30 million shark tank recently installed within the pool. But stunning aesthetics are nothing without quality entertainment, and “Country Superstars Tribute” seems to have made itself a permanent home!