Janice McIntyre
City Editor
The second Murphy USA’s Summer Concert Series of 2017 will feature country music artist, Lee Roy Parnell, when the celebration kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday with the award-winning “Showdown at Sunset” on the Union County Courthouse Square in downtown El Dorado. Blackstrap Molasses and The Burners are scheduled to take the stage at 7 p.m. Saturday, followed by Parnell at 8 p.m. The events are free and open to the public.
For the 2017 Summer Concert Series, the Showtime Stage will be at the corner of Oak and Jefferson streets.
Due to inclement weather in El Dorado during the first concert series of 2017 in June, which featured Jason D. Williams of El Dorado, musical performances were moved from outdoors on the courthouse square to the El Dorado Municipal Auditorium and Main Street El Dorado’s award-winning “Showdown at Sunset” was canceled.
Showdown was named one of the Top-100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association and received the Community Trademark Award by the Arkansas Festival & Event Association.
In 1902 in broad daylight on the courthouse square, city Marshal Guy Tucker confronted his bitter rivals, the Parnell Brothers. In a flurry of gunfire, three men were left dead and several others were wounded. The re-enactment of the Tucker-Parnell Feud, supports a cast of area actors and chronicles the events that led up to the historic event.
Characters include: City Marshal Guy Tucker, grandfather of former Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker; store owner Tom Parnell; brother Matt Parnell; photographer Bob Mullens; Sheriff Norris and others.
Celebrated vocalists, award-winning performers and prolific songwriters from the Memphis and Nashville music scenes are making their way to El Dorado for the 2017 Murphy USA Summer Concert Series, presented by Main Street El Dorado and El Dorado Festivals & Events, according to Beth Brumley, executive director of Main Street El Dorado.
“Main Street El Dorado has been entertaining crowds with ‘Showdown at Sunset’ for many years, joining that successful event with the Summer Concert Series six years ago. We’re very excited to team up with El Dorado Festivals and Events for this year’s Murphy USA Summer Concert Series,” said Brumley. “We’re bringing a huge lineup of Grammy-nominated stars to the Showtime Stage for three free, outdoor concerts and we can’t wait to share them with the whole region.”
Parnell is known for his “inimitable mix of searing electric slide guitar, distinctive vocals and songwriting prowess.” He grew up steeped in Texas roots music and has worked with some of the greats on the Nashville scene, creating a string of top 10 and top five hits. In 1995, his album, “We All Get Lucky Sometimes,” produced the number-one single, “A Little Bit of You” and the Grammy-nominated, “Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight.”
Active since 1990, Parnell has recorded eight studio albums and has charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. Parnell made a shift in the early 2000s back to the bluesier sounds of his early works, releasing two blues albums on Vanguard Records and Universal South. Besides his own work, Parnell has played slide guitar and national guitar on several other country and blues recordings.
For the final concert of the summer, set for Aug. 26, Grammy-nominated country hit-maker David Lee Murphy will perform a wide range of songs from his own records and those he’s written for other big-name Nashville stars, making his concert a veritable “greatest hits” performance.
Murphy’s “Dust on the Bottle” spent two weeks at number one and “Party Crowd” was the most played song on country radio in 1995. Recently, he’s concentrated on his songwriting and producing skills, writing instant classics like Kenny Chesney’s “Live a Little,” Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor” and Thompson Square’s number-one single, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” which was nominated for two Grammy Awards and six American Country Music Awards.
For more information, contact Brumley at 870-862-4747 or [email protected] or check out www.mainstreeteldorado.org.