Tolley coming back to Ritz for fundraiser

Hometown boy Johnny Tolley will be at The Ritz Civic Center at 7 p.m. Saturday to host a fundraising event for The Arts Council of Mississippi County.

The program is called "The Johnny Tolley Ole Time Variety Show" and will include several family-friendly acts of song, dance and a comedy. There is no set admission cost, but donations for The Arts Council are encouraged.

Tolley, a former Blytheville teacher, has opened concerts for George Strait, Hank Williams Jr., George Jones, Marty Robbins, Jerry Reed and Jerry Clower. Clower's request for Tolley to be his opening act was a turning point in Tolley's career.

Tolley began working as comedian Jerry Clower's opening act, and this led to television appearances on "Country Clips," "Nashville Now," "Country Place," "The Porter Wagoner Show" and "The Wilburn Brothers Show" in Nashville. He appears weekly at The Loveless Cafe in Nashville, along with road dates at casinos, fairs and other locations around the United States. He has a new CD titled "The Tunesmith."

Joining Tolley for the Saturday show will be a variety of talented local performers. The lineup includes Donna Dunkin, David Lyttle, Charles Moody, Ken Jackson, Tim Stone, B.J. Wilkerson, Lora Anderson, Tonya Harris and Miss Lights of the Delta Somer Allen.

For more information, contact The Arts Council of Mississippi County at the Ritz at 870-762-1744, artsmissco@yahoo.com or www.artsmissco.org.

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com