Grand Re-Opening (July 6th)
The RedHead Express is pleased to announce their Grand Re-Opening at the Dutton Theater Complex on July, 6th. Come and Join Us on July 6th for a chance to win handmade jewelry by Precious Gem Garden. You can order tickets early by calling the Dutton Theater at:417-332-2772. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
The Duttons Welcome RedHead Express to their Theater
The Duttons are Pleased to Announce the Grand Re-opening of The Redhead Express at The Dutton Family Theater
Starting July 6 at 2pm, The Walker Family, also known as “The Redhead Express” will be bringing their award winning show to The Dutton Family Theater. “The Walkers are such an inspiration to us!” says Sheila Dutton. “They are wonderfully talented musicians that we have become very good friends with and we are so excited to add them to the lineup at our theater. Now we will have three great shows at the theater; The Duttons, Island Fire and now the Redhead Express.”
Due to scheduling issues in the Fall and the mid-year expiration of their performance contract, The Red Head Express and the Circle B were unable to negotiate a new contract.
Brett Walker of the Redhead Express stated, “The Circle B gave us a home and an opportunity to get started in Branson. We will always be grateful to the Horns for that start.”
Apryll Walker continued, “Many of our closest business associates strongly suggested that the matinee and morning show market would be ideal for our show. After investigating, we found that The Dutton Family Theater was the perfect fit for us. The Duttons have been very accommodating and good to work with, and we are so excited to be part of the The Dutton Family Theater Experience.”
The Walker Family also expressed their excitement about this new venture. “The Dutton Family Theater will be such a great location for us,” says Mr. Walker. “The larger stage, state of the art sound and lighting along with their location right on Highway 76 made this the ideal venue for our show, and we are thrilled with this opportunity.”
For more information about the Redhead Express, The Duttons, Island Fire or The Dutton Family Theater, please call 888-388-8661.
Watch for detailed Redhead Express Performance Schedule–coming soon!
Little Laura
She wasn’t singing on the Grand Ole’ Opry and she wasn’t wearing glittery costume. She was six years old on a “front porch” stage, but she was a star.
Little Laura sings every day, from the moment she wakes up until she has to go to bed. Even then, she has a song in her heart. Her mother said, “She’s always singing along to her I-Pod.” No matter what song, she knows it and she’ll sing it.
When she saw the RedHead Express girls jamming she clasped her hands together, eyes shining, and asked her mother if she could please sing with them. Who could say no? She began to walk towards the stage and turned back toward her mother.
“I’m kinda shy,” she admitted. Just when we thought she wouldn’t sing, she marched up to the mic and sang “Love Story” by Taylor Swift. I’ve never heard a more beautiful version with her crystal clear voice and a Broadway smile. Even though little Laura is not known around the world, music is her passion. Music is her life. She’s a star.
Paintin’ the Town Red
We are excited to announce that our new CD, “Paintin’ the Town Red” was released June 6th. Our CD release party at Hazel Kinder’s Lighthouse Theater in Columbia, Missouri was a great success.
You can listen to snippets of our new songs on our Store Page. You’ll love our bluegrassified version of the Linda Ronstadt song, “When Will I Be Loved”. One of my favorites is “Who Will Watch the Homeplace”. It’s a song that shows how moving silence can be and Mom, Alisa, and Kendra have a beautiful harmony blend. Also, remember to check out Kendra’s NEW song “Vacation to Heaven and her NEW version of “In Love With Love”. She styled it after a Bill Monroe tune, “Rocky Road Blues”. Another personal favorite of mine is an old tune, “Rough and Rocky”. Oh, and by the way, yours truly is singing lead!
Bluegrass and Barbecue
“If you like good music, you’ll play Bluegrass Music”, boasted a sticker on a guitar case. Rain or shine, bluegrassers line up for their favorite bands at Silver Dollar City’s “Bluegrass and Barbecue”. From now until the 31st of May ,you can see some of the best acts in the industry. We play from the 21st to the 23rd at several different TIMES and LOCATIONS. If you come earlier in the week, you might see us catching some of our favorite acts. We’ve seen Balsam Range, Audie Blaylock, and jammed with 2009 Band Competition Contestants, “The Men of the Week”. If you love Bluegrass and good Barbecue, come see us at Silver Dollar City this week!
Mom’s Babysitter
Every show we pay tribute to our grandmother, LaRae Mills Branham, my name sake. She had ten kids and always dreamed of having a family band. They all learned to sing, play piano and several other instruments. They were good, but she could never get them cohesive enough to be a family band.
She passed away about two weeks before Dad met Mom, but I think the dream lived on. About two years ago Dad asked Mom, “What would you do if you had all the money in the world and nothing was stopping you?” She said, “Are you kidding me? I’d take this family on the road and go study this music we call bluegrass.”
We did just that. “We sold everything we owned, rented out our brand new house we’d just built, bought a 38 ft bus, a 27 ft trailer, and a dog,” Dad related at our show tonight. On the subject of shows, recently we had a couple from Wisconsin, Roberta and Gordon.
“Wisconsin? That’s where my wife’s from,” said Dad, “Yep, Eagle River Wisconsin.”
“Get outa’ here!” Roberta shouted. “What’s her maiden name?”
“Apryll Branham” my Dad said.
A surprised Roberta shouted, “I used to baby sit her!”
It turns out that LaRae Branham had also cured Roberta of cancer. The doctors were going to give her 12 skin transplants and there was still no full cure guarantee. Roberta told Gordon,
“I want to go see LaRae.” They did, and LaRae healed her. What a blessing LaRae Branham was in Roberta’s life and what a legacy she has passed down.
ROAD SHOWS Update
I just wanted to remind everyone that our schedule is constantly changing. We’ve added several different shows in the past few months and removed some. We’d love to have ya’ll come to our shows as we travel so keep an eye on our ROAD SHOWS page and check for updates!
2009 Nominations
Mr. Wackerly (a Branson Shows critic) watched the RedHead Express show on March, 26th. He came up to me after the show and said, “I ranked you a 9 out of 10. … Be sure to check my website for an article and award nominations!”
You can read the article he wrote about our show (Click the link and scroll down to the title: RedHead Express). He Nominated us for several different awards. Kendra was nominated for Best Female Entertainer and Most Versatile Performer. Meghan was nominated for Best Bass Fiddle Artist and I (LaRae) for the Best Banjo Artist of 2009. The RedHead Express band was nominated as #1 for Best Comedy Performance.
Just before he left, Mr. Wackerly said, “I want to come back because, you know, it’s hard to enjoy the show completely when you’ve got your head in your notes the whole time. I just want to watch the show.“
Back To Branson
The RedHead Express is back in Branson. We are at the Circle B Theatre from Monday to Thursday at 8PM and Tuesday and Thursday at 10AM. This schedule helps us to keep Branson our homebase and still be able to travel on the weekends. Even so, we’ve been up and going almost 18 hours every day, leaving us happily exhausted. We truly are fulfilling our dream and we are doing it as a family.
You will love our new show as we journey through America’s traditional music. New bluegrass songs and comedy skits, and we even put our clogging shoes on this year! One person who recently saw our show described it as, “feel-good music- it just makes you happy and you come away feeling good inside.”
Raining Money/ Motorhome Malfunctions
The Audience at the Hollonville Opry House loved my little brothers and began throwing money on stage at our show, last year. The poor boys were not prepared and nearly forgot their lines. As I said last year, “We could hardly keep our composure when Ammon realized he could take the money they were throwing on stage. He stuffed his pockets full… As Brett said, ‘Daddy didn’t raise no fool!’”
The audience remembered this year and, as the boys sang “Old Joe Clark”, money flew on stage from all directions- even from the ceiling! Little did we know that a certain someone had tied a bucket behind the curtains and released money onto our heads. It took Ammon a song and a half to collect his treasure. With pockets bulging, he ran back stage and Joseph helped him count it. “Look, you missed some more in your back pocket, Ammon!” I heard someone shout. This wild night more than made up for the next day’s misfortunes.
We left rather early to rehearse for the gospel sing at the Towaliga Baptist Church. Half an hour down the road, our motor home broke down… again. I don’t think motor homes are built to carry nine people, a chocolate lab, and a leopard gecko (our newest edition to the family). Despite transportation issues, however, the RedHead Express has always arrived to our destinations and played at every scheduled event.
It’s at times like these I know we’re watched over. We weren’t in the middle of nowhere when we broke down, our cousins were able to reach us quickly, and we arrived at our destination with 30 minutes to spare. I felt a great love from our Creator that Sunday through the people we met at the church service and the peaceful feeling that comforted me. I knew all would go well if I trusted in Him.