SEASON

TEN

SEASON

NINE

SEASON

EIGHT

04/12/08

The Hay Country Jamboree

The Public Domain Tune Band, John & Susan McNeill, and Daniel Kilbride with Dalton Coffey

This high-energy country show, our first concert of Season 8, drew a packed house.

12/1/07

A Celebration of Merle Haggard

John and Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

Unfortunately, this show was cancelled due to the severe ice storm that hit the area Saturday afternoon. Our first cancelled show in seven seasons!

11/17/07

The Hay Country Jamboree

The duo Roma di Luna, Daniel Kilbride, James Kjelstrup, and John and Susan McNeill

Reflecting Gavyille's status as the "Hay Capital of the World," Gayville Hall launched this new show, which will feature at least three musical acts and non-stop country and western music.

10/20/07

The Hay Country Jamboree

Bob Bovee and Gail Heil, Daniel Kilbride, James Kjelstrup, and John and Susan McNeill

Reflecting Gavyille's status as the "Hay Capital of the World," Gayville Hall launched this new show, which will feature at least three musical acts and non-stop country and western music.

09/22/07

A Celebration of Elvis Presley

Howie Gamber and John and Susan McNeill

05/26/07

The Dakota Opry

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, Owen DeJong, and Bob & Sheila Everhart

05/05/07

A Tribute to Johnny Cash

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

Our seventh presentation of this show!

04/21/07

Clay County Breakdown

with John & Susan McNeill

04/14/07

Poker Alice

with Brenda George

03/31/07

A Celebration of Hank Williams

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

03/10/07

The Dakota Opry

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, and Daniel Kilbride

SEASON

SIX

12/31/06

New Year's Eve at Gayville Hall

John & Susan McNeill, Dave Napier, Justin Kaisor, and Daniel Kilbride

This was a wonderful performance with two great jazz players (Napier and Kaisor), a bluegrass wizard (Kilbride), and our own John & Susan.

11/18/06

A Celebration of Gospel Music

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

11/11/06

The Public Domain Tune Band

Nick Schwebach, Owen DeJong, Larry Rohrer and John & Susan McNeill

This evening featured vintage songs of the early and mid-20th Century, from the likes of Fats Waller and Gus Kahn to Hank Williams.

10/28/06

 A Celebration of Classic Country

Howie Gamber, Nick Schwebach, Owen DeJong, and John & Susan McNeill

10/21/06

A Celebration of the Music of the 1950s

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, Owen DeJong, and Dave Napier

10/07/06

Sara Grey & Kienon Means

with John and Susan McNeill  

Internationally acclaimed folk singer Sara Grey, an American who has lived in Scotland since 1970, appeared at Gayville Hall with her son, Kienon Means, a folk and blues artist.

09/30/06

The Poker Alice Band

with Brenda George

09/16/06

A Celebration of Bob Wills and Western Swing

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

John was born a stone's throw from Tulsa, one of the capitals of western swing, back when this music was all the rage, so he was very excited about this particular show.

09/09/06

Clay County Breakdown

with John and Susan McNeill  

07/22/06

Bob and Sheila Everhart   

Paul Peterson with John Clark, Beth Preheim, et al

The Everharts, old-time country legends, were wonderful as usual.  Peterson, whose superb landscape paintings were in the gallery, proved a very good singer and musician as well.  Friends and former students of his at the Freeman Academy sat in.

06/03/06

A Celebration of Elvis Presley 

Howie Gamber and the McNeills

This, Gayville Hall's first concert devoted to Elvis, was a big crowd pleaser.

05/20/06

Gayville Hall's 5th Anniversary concert 

The Public Domain Tune Band, John and Susan McNeill, and The Ginn Sisters  

Our first concert (with jazzman Preston Love) was on May 16, 2001.    Our two favorite local groups and a great, young country act, the Ginn Sisters, out of Austin, Texas, making their 2nd appearance at Gayville Hall, provided a memorable celebration.

05/06/06

Sparky and Rhonda Rucker

with John and Susan McNeill  

These great Tennessee artists and storytellers played old-time blues, spirituals, work songs, and Appalachiam music.

04/22/06

Chuck Suchy

with John and Susan McNeill  

The North Dakota troubadour Suchy is a Great Plains treasure.

04/01/06

Howie Gamber

with John & Susan McNeill

South Dakota pop-and-country singer Howie Gamber, in his first appearance at Gayville Hall, presented a night of classic country and pop.

03/25/06

The Poker Alice Band

with Brenda George

If you missed it, you missed a memorable show.  A great vocalist and a great band "knocked 'em dead."

03/18/06

A Celebration of Johnny Cash

John and Susan McNeill , Nick Schwebach , and Owen DeJong

Our fifth presentation of our Johnny Cash tribute attracted another full house.

03/11/06

A Celebration of Hank Williams

John and Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach , and Owen DeJong

For our sixth season, we started off with three surefire shows, commencing with John's great tribute to Hank Williams with Owen, Nick and Susan.

SEASON

 FIVE

12/31/05

New Year's Eve at Gayville Hall

John & Susan McNeill, Marie Gray, Sharon Gray, Erin Conlon, Nikki Abourezk & Brenda George

Popular American song was the theme of the night's music from Cole Porter to Bill Hailey.

11/19/05

A Celebration of Classic Country

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

11/05/05

The Poker Alice Band (Nick Schwebach, Owen DeJong, Larry Rohre, Al Remund & Dennis Jensen)

with Brenda George

A "classic country" singer and one of the swingingest bands around rocked the hall for two hours.

10/22/05

John & Susan McNeill

10/8/05

Bill Lauf

with John and Susan McNeill

This was the Connecticut tenor guitarist and singer-songwriter’s 4 th appearance at Gayville Hall.

09/24/05

Ben Suchy

with Nick Ehrhardt on lead guitar, John and Susan McNeill

The son of Chuck Suchy played original folk songs with a pop edge to them and some funky blues on slide lap guitar.

09/17/05

Barb Ryman

with John and Susan McNeill

The singer-songwriter from Minneapolis also appeared at Gayville Hall in 2003.

07/30/05

“The Dakota Opry” at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill; Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach & the Poker Alice Band; and Bob & Sheila Everhart

This was Gayville Hall’s seventh presentation at the Lakes Art Center.

07/16/05

Bob & Sheila Everhart

with John and Susan McNeill

Bob Everhart recorded six albums on the legendary Folkways record label and founded the National Old Time Country and Bluegrass Festival in southwest Iowa.

07/03/05

“A Celebration of Classic Country” at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, and Brenda George

The Iowa crowd loved Lakes area native Brenda George and so do we.

06/25/05

A Celebration of Country Classics

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, and Brenda George

Owen’s fiddle, Nick’s lead and steel guitars, and three great singers helped make this concert a crowd pleaser.

06/04/05

Cowboy Johnson

with Owen DeJong and Nick Schwebach

This was Austin singer Cowboy Johnson’s third appearance at Gayville Hall.

05/07/05

The Ginn Sisters

with John & Susan McNeill

It was nice to have some great younger performers like these twenty-something sisters from Texas on the Gayville Hall stage. The audience loved them.

04/30/05

A Celebration of Chester Olsen (and the fiddle music he loved!)

Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, John Everist, Dwight “Red” Lamb, Bill Peterson, Larry Rohrer, Tom Schaefer, and John McNeill as emcee

This show was taped by South Dakota Public Television and first aired on the TV network on June 2, 2005.

Chet Olsen was a Wakonda, South Dakota, singer, musician, and instrument maker who died in 2002 at the age of 92. He was a mentor to many area musicians, including most of the players in this concert.

04/16/05

Minor Fifth (Anthony Burbach, B.J. Benson, Kirk Hackemer, Jesse Jensen, Steve Miller)

with John & Susan McNeill

This was the debut performance of the a cappella quintet Minor Fifth from Vermillion.

03/26/05

Oh, Baby, won’t it be grand!

Joe Curry, Sharon Gray, Marie Gray, Matthew Williams, and guests

This show celebrated the unveiling of Gayville Hall’s 1926 Cable baby grand piano.

03/05/05

Ken Waldman

 with John & Susan McNeill

Ken Waldman is a fiddling poet who spent most of the last twenty years in Alaska.

SEASON

  FOUR

12/04/04

A Celebration of the Country Legends

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

We decided to celebrate some of the other classic country songs and legendary performers (other than Williams and Cash) in a new show.

11/20/04

A Celebration of Johnny Cash at the Vermillion High School Theatre sponsored by the United Way of Vermillion

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

The National Music Museum’s Andre Larson brought the guitar that Johnny Cash played at home for 30 years for a special acoustic number by John McNeill.

10/30/04

The South Dakota Jazz Quintet

C.J. Kocher, saxes; Dave Olson, piano; Rolf Olson, trumpet; Steve Peterson, drums; Mike Andersen, bass, and Sue Ann Stutheit, vocalist

The quintet was making its fourth appearance at Gayville Hall.

10/16/04

A Celebration of Johnny Cash at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

A large crowd proved once again the enduring appeal of both the Man in Black and our wonderful musicians.

07/31/04

The Dakota Opry at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill; Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, and the Poker Alice Band; and Bob & Sheila Everhart

07/17/04

Cowboy Johnson

with a fabulous Texas guitarist whose name is on the tip of someone’s tongue

07/03/04

A Celebration of Hank Williams at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This was the third presentation of our Hank Williams tribute at Okoboji to a very respectable crowd.

06/12/04

The Dakota Opry

John & Susan McNeill, Elaine Peacock, Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, and the Poker Alice Band

This was the premiere of a new show at Gayville Hall which would next be presented in July at Okoboji.

05/22/04

Joe West

Joe West Band

05/01/04

Laurie McClain

with John & Susan McNeill

The crowd really loved singer-songwriter McClain.

04/24/04

A Celebration of Johnny Cash

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

04/02/04 and 04/03/04

Go Moan for Man – movie showing

A documentary motion picture about Jack Kerouac by Wakonda, South Dakota, filmmakers (and Gayville Hall proprietors) Doug & Judi Sharples

This two-hour film explores the life and literature of On the Road author Jack Kerouac (1922-1969). The filmmakers retraced Kerouac’s books and travels for nearly two decades, filming the real-life characters from his books and the places where the legends of his life and works actually happened. Called the “definitive Kerouac documentary” by scholar Dave Moore and others, but mostly unknown. An “underground classic,” Doug Sharples deadpans it.

03/20/04

A Celebration of Hank Williams

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This was our 10 th presentation of the show.

SEASON

THREE

12/03/03

Jerry Ostensoe and John & Susan McNeill

11/29/03

Mike Craver

with John & Susan McNeill

11/15/03

A Celebration of Johnny Cash

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This was the largest crowd ever at Gayville Hall, about 270 patrons, who were stuffed into the gallery and every nook and cranny.

10/25/03

Coffey & Company

with John McNeill

10/11/03

Curtis & Loretta

with John & Susan McNeill

09/20/03

A Celebration of Hank Williams at the Brandon Valley Performing Arts Center in Brandon, SD

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This was our ninth presentation of the show.

09/20/03

A Celebration of the Great Songs of the Beatles

Bill Lauf and Jim Groth

09/13/03

Chuck Suchy

with John & Susan McNeill

09/06/03

Poker Alice

with singer Brenda George

This concert was recorded.

08/01/03

Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group

At this concert, an optional supper buffet was served before the show.

07/26/03

East of Westreville

Kaija Bonde, Boyd Bristow, Brian Bonde, and Al Slaathaug

07/19/03

Dave Moore

with John & Susan McNeill

This Dave Moore is the Iowa City folk and blues artist.

07/05/03

The Dixie Daddys

Sioux City band makes it 2nd appearance of Gayville Hall.

07/05/03

A Celebration of Hank Williams at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This was our eighth presentation of this show and its first repeat in Okoboji

06/28/03

Bill Lauf

with John & Susan McNeill

06/21/03

The South Dakota Jazz Quintet

with Jim Clark, host of SDPB’s “Jazz Nightly,” as emcee

This concert was recorded for a possible CD, not yet released.

06/07/03

Cowboy Johnson, Marley Forman, Fred Evans, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

with John & Susan McNeill

05/17/03

Gordy Pratt

with Paul Peterson

05/03/03

The Poker Alice Band

with John & Susan McNeill

Nick Schwebach and Owen DeJong have performed at Gayville Hall more than any other musicians, but this was the first time they performed with their whole band.

04/19/03

Kirkland, Johnson, & Martin

with John & Susan McNeill

04/05/03

A Celebration of Chester Olsen

Tom Schaefer, Owen DeJong, Nick Schwebach, Larry Rohrer, Richard Muller, Bill Peterson

Chet Olsen was a Wakonda, South Dakota, singer, musician, and instrument maker who died in 2002 at the age of 92. He was a friend of Gayville Hall proprietors Doug and Judi Sharples and a friend and mentor of the musicians who starred in this show, which was first suggested by Owen DeJong.

03/22/03

A Celebration of Hank Williams

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

This was our seventh presentation of this show.

SEASON

  TWO

12/31/02

New Year’s Eve at Gayville Hall

The Public Domain Tune Band, John & Susan McNeill, and Matthew Williams

12/07/02

A Texas Christmas

Danny Santos, with John & Susan McNeill

11/30/02

Mike Craver

with Bill & Libby Hicks

No greater songwriter or performer has graced the Gayville Hall stage than pianist and composer Mike Craver. The Hickses were also wonderful.

11/30/02

A Celebration of Hank Williams at the Lakes Arts Center in Okoboji, Iowa

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This was our first presentation at the wonderful new 288-seat Lauridsen Performing Arts Theatre at the Lakes Art Center, 2201 Highway 71, Okoboji. The love of Hank Williams (and a couple hundred posters) brought in a nice crowd from the Iowa Great Lakes region to appreciate a talented quartet of South Dakota musicians. .It was Gayville Hall’s sixth presentation of the show.

11/09/02

Barb Ryman

with Mary Green Vickrey and John & Susan McNeill

10/19/02

Matthew Simonson’s “Poverty Kayak Traverse”

Matthew Simonson is a modern-day “mountain man.” This Minnesota native, along with his partner, traveled more than 20,000 miles, primarily by kayak, while hunting, fishing, and living on $1,000 a year for 5 ½ years.

10/12/02

Joe West and the Lamp Sessions Band of Santa Fe, N.M.

featuring Derek Zelenka, a Yankton native, on bass. John and Susan McNeill opened.

This was the third concert at Gayville Hall in seven days, a record that would be duplicated in early December. West, who earned a theatre degree from USD in the early 1990s, was delightful.

10/11/02

Chuck Suchy and Tom Schaefer

with John & Susan McNeill

North Dakota troubadour Suchy and made his Gayville Hall debut at this concert with Wakonda-native Tom Schaefer, of St. Paul, Minn., on fiddle.

10/05/02

Bob Bovee & Gail Heil

with John & Susan McNeill

09/21/02

A Celebration of Gospel Music

John & Susan McNeill, Boyd Bristow, Bruce Preheim, Christopher Hoover, and Bruce Gray

09/07/02

A Celebration of Hank Williams at the Grand Opera House, Dell Rapids, S.D.

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This second road presentation of A Celebration of Hank Williams, a year after the first, attracted a large crowd in the restored opera house and boosted Doug Sharples’ confidence that the show could successfully attract a crowd on the road.

08/17/02

Bob & Sheila Everhart

with John & Susan McNeill and George Kralicek

08/16/02

Bob & Sheila Everhart at Newton Hills State Park in Canton, SD

with John & Susan McNeill and Czech fiddler George Kralicek

This concert was co-sponsored by the South Dakota Friends of Old Time Music

08/03/02

The South Dakota Jazz Quintet

with Jim Clark of SDPR’s “Jazz Nightly,” as emcee

This concert was recorded for possible use in a “ South Dakota Jazz Quintet: Live at Gayville Hall” CD, not yet released.

07/20/02

Bill Lauf

with John & Susan McNeill

This Connecticut tenor guitarist and songwriter first came to South Dakota to back Susan Osborn at the Washington Pavilion.

07/13/02

Gordy Pratt

with John & Susan McNeill

Gordy Pratt is either the busiest professional singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist in South Dakota or has the best publicist, or both!

06/29/02

The Good Old Songs

Gary Lewis, John & Susan McNeill, and Dave Napier

06/15/02

A Celebration of Hank Williams

John & Susan McNeill, Nick Schwebach, and Owen DeJong

This was our fourth presentation of this tribute.

06/01/02

Harvey Reid & Joyce Andersen

with John & Susan McNeill

Harvey Reid of Maine is one of the great guitar players, a player’s player. He literally wrote the book on folk guitar. Andersen can knock your socks off on fiddle and does.

05/18/02

The Four Fiddlers (Tom Schaefer, Owen DeJong, Bill Peterson, and Joe Erickson)

with Nick Schwebach and John & Susan McNeill

This was another full house, thanks to four great fiddlers and a heck of a lot of Schaefers and their in-laws !

05/04/02

John & Susan McNeill

This concert featured John McNeill, the songwriter, and he is a great one, too, one of South Dakota’s best.

04/18/02

Robin & Linda Williams & Their Fine Group

with John & Susan McNeill

03/01/02 & 03/02/02

Go Moan for Man

Documentary motion picture about writer Jack Kerouac by Doug and Judi Sharples. Read 04/02/04 description.

SEASON

ONE

12/31/01

Two Big Shows, One Big Night New Year’s Eve Concert

John & Susan McNeill, Tim Duggan, Christopher Hoover, Matthew Williams, and the Schweitzer Toe Tappers

This show included two different concerts at 7:15 and 10 p.m. Some people came for both shows.

12/08/01

The Public Domain Tune Band and John & Susan McNeill

with Matthew Williams

12/01/01

A Celebration of Jazz

The South Dakota Jazz Quintet, with Sue Ann Stutheit, vocalist, and Jim Clark, emcee

This was the first of several great concerts by the quintet led by the talented saxophonist C.J. Kocher.

11/24/01

A Celebration of Folk Music

John & Susan McNeill, Tim Duggan, Michelle Martin, Ed Johnson, and Rocky Kirkland

11/17/01

Matt Simonson’s “Poverty Kayak Traverse”

Matt Simonson traveled 20,000 miles across North America by kayak and foot from 1981 through 1985, from his Austin, Minnesota, home north to the Arctic Circle, the Pacific Ocean and on south to Mexico.

10/27/01

A Celebration of Gospel Music

The Buckaroos, John & Susan McNeill, and the Schweitzer Toe Tappers

10/13/01

The Good Old Songs (II)

Bob Lee, Gary Lewis, Dave Napier, and Susan & John McNeill

09/29/01

A Celebration of the Blues

Mike Hilson’s Rejivenators, John McNeill, and Nikki Abourezk

09/21/01 and 09/22/01

A Celebration of Hank Williams at Belbas Theatre at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, SD

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

If Gayville Hall had to turn away patrons in Gayville, Doug Sharples reasoned that A Celebration of Hank Williams would really do well in a populated area like Sioux Falls. He booked the Washington Pavilion’s Belbas Theatre for two nights in September and started to promote the shows with hopes of a box office bonanza. What he didn’t figure on were the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. ten days before the concerts and “living legend” Merle Haggard’s surprise booking of a conflicting concert in Sioux Falls the night of the first show. Such is life.

09/15/01

Bob & Sheila Everhart

with John & Susan McNeill

08/18/01

A Celebration of Music and Song/3 or “Whatever happened to the good ole’ songs?”

John & Susan McNeill, Dave Napier, and Gary Lewis

07/28/01

A Celebration of Hank Williams

John & Susan McNeill, Owen DeJong, and Nick Schwebach

This is the show that saved Gayville Hall. Doug Sharples told John McNeill that Gayville Hall did not seem feasible, based upon the box office numbers of the first three concerts, which had drawn crowds of 100, 83 and 83 persons respectively. John said, “Well, let’s do a Hank Williams show.” More than 200 crowded into the hall and about 50 had to be turned away.

07/07/01

A Celebration of Music and Song/2

John & Susan McNeill and The Dixie Daddys of Sioux City

06/09/01

A Celebration of Music and Song

John & Susan McNeill, the Public Domain Tune Band, and Nikki Abourezk

05/16/01

Preston Love

Omaha jazz legend Preston Love, a former member of the Count Basie Band, the Ray Charles Band, the Lucky Millinder Band, et al, plus Portia Love, vocals, and the Preston Love Quartet

This was the concert that opened Gayville Hall. Proprietors Doug & Judi Sharples invited Preston Love and his band to play in the space that had been vacated after the closing of Gayville’s grocery store in March of 2001. They built a bandstand, promoted the event with posters and press releases, and filmed parts of the concert for a still unfinished film about Preston Love, who died in 2003.