Greene County News Report
XENIA — Country music will be on display at the Greene County Fairgrounds Saturday, May 21 as a non-profit tries to raise money for wounded veterans.
The Country From the Heart Concert Series features gold-record artist Wade Hayes and Waynesville’s Richard Lynch Band, which had a song hit No. 1 on the Hot Disc International air play charts last year. Proceeds benefit the Love Tattoo Foundation, a non-profit that honors and assists the American veterans who have mental or physical scars from serving in the military.
The foundation has partnered with The American Legion/Wilwin Lodge at Cygnet Cove in Mason County, Mich. to provide a place of hope and healing, recovery and renewal, education and inspiration and sharing and support. Love Tattoo sends veterans there free of charge for two weeks. The foundation, based in Waynesville, started when law enforcement officer Charles Brisbin heard about a soldier who came back from Afghanistan disfigured. Brisbin wrote a poem called “Love Tattoo” and then asked Lynch to turn it into a song.
Lynch then realized veterans needed more than a song. They needed help, which is what the foundation provides.
Hayes was in his early 20s when he began churning out such enduring songs as No. 1 hit “Old Enough to Know Better,” “I’m Still Dancing with You,” “On a Good Night” and “What I Meant to Say.” A second generation country singer from Bethel Acres, Okla., Hayes grew up watching his dad, Don, perform. The young guitarist’s dream was to be the next Don Rich, Buck Owens’ revered guitar player and one of country music’s most legendary sidemen.
In 2003, Hayes founded the duo McHayes with Alan Jackson’s fiddle player Mark McClurg. The duo charted one single on the country charts and recorded one unreleased album for the Universal South label, “Lessons in Lonely.” He joined the backing band for former Alabama lead singer Randy Owen in the late 2000s, and self-released “Place to Turn Around in 2009.”
Lynch’s “A Better Place” album was named the Academy of Western Artists 2015 Pure Country Album of the year. The Josie Show & Country Blast Radio named Richard Lynch their 2015 Humanitarian of The Year and the Traditional Country Band of The Year.
The concert is presented by Triple Crown Entertainment, owned and operated by Wayne E. Kingslover, better known as Eddie Krueger, a Jamestown native and Xenia resident.
Tickets for the concert are $20 in advance or $25 at the door and can be purchased at www.lovetattoofoundation.org or by calling 937-397-3581.
