THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501210017
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
IT'S THE MIDDLE of the week and a Hampton Roads club brings in a name entertainer.
Only a faithful few will show up. It's revenue loss time.
That's the usual scenario, but the story was different Thursday at Country Legends in Virginia Beach. Jesse Hunter packed the place - standing room only - thanks in large part to his hit ``Long Legged Hannah From Butte, Montana.''
The song fared fairly well on radio but was one of the hottest properties on Country Music Television and as a dance number.
When Hunter told her tale Thursday, the customers went to it - dancing and singing along.
Singing, songwriting, playing the guitar and harmonica are the Tennessee performer's stock in trade.
Hunter has been penning songs for some of the major stars and is now on his own. It's about time.
The tall, personable performer has a crisp, deep, knockout voice that reaches down lower than low.
Hunter's strong, robust voice holds those notes, and his delivery is as convincing as a child telling his mom, ``I love you.''
A showcase for Hunter's unique talent, ``Long Steady Rain,'' was a rainy Thursday night favorite.
It is one of several offerings from his album, ``A Man Like Me.'' He wrote or co-wrote seven of the album's nine songs, including ``By the Way She's Lookin','' which succeeds thanks to a clever play on words.
The Country Legends concert was a mix of honky-tonk uptempo and hold-your-partner-tight ballads - of singing, jamming by a fine band, and very exciting harmonica playing by Hunter.
And there were recitations. That works for Hunter, as it always has for George Jones, because he has a golden-voice-of-radio delivery.
Remember ``Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys''? That was one of the standards offered Thursday, as well as the driving Allman Brothers piece ``Midnight Rider.''
Midnight Ryder - no relation - opened the show, another example of the fine local talent around Hampton Roads. by CNB