Country Music Legend Bobby Bare to perform at Country Tonite

Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Bare

Over the years country music hall of famer Bobby Bare has become something of an expert on the life of voodoo priestess Marie Laveau.

“Over the years people have sent me all kinds of stuff about her,” Bare said. “I have gotten photos of her, her tomb, you name it. She actually started out as a hairdresser for wealthy women.”

Bare’s expertise on the mysterious Laveau is due to the popular song he recorded in the 1970s entitled Marie Laveau. The song is the story of the voodoo queen that lives in the swamp in a hollow log and has a propensity to make people disappear. She has a run-in with a local man who tries to take advantage of her and he lives to regret it.

The song was one of many that recently earned Bare an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. “Oh, it’s a big deal! A big deal! It’s hard to get in there,” Bare said “I was inducted with Kenny Rogers and I thought he was already in there but apparently he wasn’t.

In a career that has spanned more than 50 years, Bare has recorded 38 albums and numerous singles that have reached the top ten. Along with “Marie Laveau”, Bare is best remembered for hits including “500 Miles away from home”, “the Winner”, “Red neck, white socks and blue ribbon beer” among others.

Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Connie Smith

Bare will be performing at Country Tonite in Pigeon Forge July 26 at 8 p.m. Country music fans will get a double dose of classic country that night. Joining Bare is Connie Smith, a fellow hall of famer who has received the ultimate praise from country music queen Dolly Parton who was once quoted as saying that there just three real female singers around, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, and Connie Smith. “The rest of us,” she said, “are only pretending.”

Smith is known for such hits as “Once a Day”, “Then and Only Then”, “Ain’t Had No Lovin'” and many others. She has earned 11 Grammy award nominations, 20 top ten Billboard country singles, and 31 charting albums, three of which have hit number one. On October 21, 2012, Smith became the 12th solo female vocalist and 19th woman to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Bare was occasionally joined by his wife and children in his recordings of such songs as “Singing in the kitchen.” It was his son, Bobby Jr., that performed with him on “Marie Laveau.”

“Bobby won’t be there in Pigeon Forge,” Bare said. “He is on the road. He has a music career of his own that is doing very well. I will have the grandkids with me though. We used to vacation in Gatlinburg a lot and I love that area. We would rent a cabin way up in the mountains of Gatlinburg. Some of those little roads up there in the mountains can be kind of scary. So we started staying in Pigeon Forge. I am looking forward to coming back there. I plan to take the boat out on Douglas Lake and get some fishing in while I am in town.”

Bare said he will be signing autographs and meeting with fans at the end of the show.

Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased by calling 1-800-792-4308 or 865-453-2003. Country Tonite is located on the Parkway.