Since 1961, forty-six years after the invention of 'the big folk group' by NCM founder, Randy Sparks, this classic ensemble has embarked on a mission to let their fans and the world know that The New Christy Minstrels®, Under the Direction of Randy Sparks, are back, still singing, playing, and bringing their unique brand of onstage excitement to concert halls and coffeehouses everywhere. With authenticity in abundance, Original Minstrels who still appear with the group include Randy Sparks, Clarence Treat, Jackie Miller Davidson, Art Podell, Dolan Ellis, and occasionally Larry Ramos and Gayle Caldwell. This distinguished group of entertainers is supported by members of more recent vintage, a Minstrels tradition, including Becky Jo Benson, Rick Hill, Chuck Cole, and Jennifer Lind Smith.
Randy Sparks admired, even envied Stephen Foster and his incredible contribution to earthy music in the 1800's. Sparks was already somewhat successful, having been discovered by Bob Hope and enjoying his own minor hits on record, but there was limited demand for the songs he was writing on a daily basis. He read in Stephen Foster's biography that Christy's Minstrels had proven be the solution for the earlier writer's similar dilemma, so why not use the same method more than a century later? Against all odds, this plan worked, and in the process, the word minstrel was rescued from the PC scrap heap. Following their appearances on The Andy Williams Show, the group went on to perform at Carnegie Hall, The Coconut Grove in LA and The Latin Quarter in New York City. It was during their New York appearance (working for Lou Walters, Barbara's father) that The NCM recorded their album, Ramblin', which became a folk music classic, and earned one of their gold records. Green Green was chosen as a single from that collection, and it quickly became a world-class hit.
The New Christy Minstrels® have recently re-recorded all of their old hits, in February 2007: Green Green, Denver, Mighty Mississippi, This Land is Your Land, Today, The Drinkin' Gourd (The Muddy Road To Freedom), and many others, in a collection titled The NCM's Greatest Hits Revisited, and their ability to actually improve upon previous work in the studio has amazed one and all. That recording is intended to reassure fans and promoters that the old magic is still there in abundance. They are already regularly proving this point on stage, in concert.
While Randy Sparks' original intent to field an armada of solo singers and players who would also function as a team, and never suffer changes in the personnel roster, evolution intervened, and the group has seen many members come and go over the years, including some who went on to greater fame and fortune: Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, and actress Karen Black. Barry McGuire had a huge solo hit, Eve of Destruction, after leaving the group, and Larry Ramos became a member of the folk/rock group, The Association, and Rick Hill toured with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
On March 23, 2006, The California State Legislature honored The New Christy Minstrels® with resolutions in both the Senate and Assembly. Randy Sparks was recognized for his fifty years in the recording industry, and the group was honored for their forty-five years in music. Randy's birth State of Kansas came up with similar honors a few weeks later. It ought to be noted that Dolan Ellis has served with distinction as The Official Balladeer of Arizona for four decades.
"There are great moments ahead," assures Randy Sparks. "We'll be performing our Burl Ives Musical, Sing For Your Supper, at Mountain Annie's Dinner Theater, Ruidoso, New Mexico, in the summer of 2008, and we'll also be headlining our second Official New Christy Minstrels Celebrity Cruise, this time to the Caribbean, in April of '08. If we weren't so old, I believe we'd have a promising future!"
Randy Sparks invented the group, wrote and still owns most of the music, hired all the performers (hired is perhaps a misnomer, as he readily admits to having had no money to hire anybody; ('invited to participate' is more accurate), served as the group's director, first manager and de facto producer. Jackie Miller Davidson, Dolan Ellis, Art Podell, and Clarence Treat, all Class of 1961-'62 NCM members, are the actual voices and instrumentalists heard on ALL of the hit recordings. Their reunion with Randy, along with two or three relative newcomers: Becky Jo Benson (Class of 1997), Chuck Cole (Class of 2003), and Rick Hill (Class of 2008), makes this theatrical offering uniquely valid, real, authentic. As one reviewer described it, it's as though the Beatles had gotten back together with replacement members for John and George.

Grammy winning group of folk singers.
10 Vocalists.
Theatre and Special Event presentations.
Together over 44 years.

"Thank you so much for the concert last week.  
Our audience just LOVED it."
Gail Bunker
Celebrity Concert Series

"What an honor and a privilege it was to be able to go the University Theater at the University of Montana, and, once again enter into an evening of music
that brought such smiles to our faces and warmed our hearts!"
Mardi Milligan, Speaker/Trainer, Nashville Songwriters Association International

"The New Christy Minstrels were overwhelming received and embraced by our audience."
Mike Sapp Director,
Odell Williamson Auditorium

Event Entertainment

The New Christy Minstrels

Folk Singing at it's best

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