ETSU’s popular male vocal ensemble TenBucsWorth and the ETSU Chorale will present the “Big Fall Show” on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2, at 8 p.m. in the Culp Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.
This annual concert is presented to raise funds to assist the members of the ETSU Chorale with their next European concert tour, which is planned for the spring of 2004.
TenBucsWorth, organized in 1989 by director Dr. Tom Jenrette, specializes in a cappella music for male voices, including ’50s doo-wop, traditional folk songs and current popular music. Invitations for performances have taken them to the national seminar of the Intercollegiate Male Choruses, the southern division convention of the American Choral Directors Association, conventions of the Tennessee Music Educators Association, and two performances at the White House in Washington, D.C.
In addition, they have performed on recent tours of Europe, South America and the Caribbean. They were also featured at the 1996 Canticum Novum Festival in Caracas, Venezuela.
All members of the group are undergraduate students at ETSU – about half are music majors, and the rest represent various other academic departments of the university.
Their recently completed first compact disc recording will be available at this year’s “Big Fall Show.”
TenBucsWorth will open each half of the concert with hit songs by the Beatles, the Nylons, Van Morrison and the Eagles, including “In My Life,” “Kiss Him Goodbye,” “Brown-Eyed Girl” and “Witchy Woman.”
The members of TenBucsWorth are Clay Bailey, Lane Blevins and Zach Marshall of Bristol; Brandon Bedingfield, Kingsport; Josh Doebler and Eddie Herbert, Johnson City; Ricky Hilton, Elizabethton; Tyler Jones, Greeneville; Drew Shockley, Knoxville; and Russell Thompson, Piney Flats. Their accompanist is Robert Jeter of Elizabethton.
Other featured performers and small ensembles consisting of members of the ETSU Chorale will appear during the concert, including the ETSU Chorale Bluegrass Ensemble, which has become an audience favorite over the past few years.
Playing several of their notable bluegrass numbers will be Daniel Boner of Bridgeton, N.J., on guitar and mandolin, Jess Helton of Rogersville on banjo and Hunter Graybeal of Bristol on upright bass.
Performing memorable songs from the hit Broadway musicals “Carousel,” “Funny Girl” and “A Chorus Line” will be Jones; Andrea Childress, Jacob Cook and Jennifer Pierce, Elizabethton; Sara Brimer, Greeneville; Mary Blair, Kathryn Carr and Candra Savage, Johnson City; and John Mark Woodard, Kingsport.
In concluding the concert, the ETSU Chorale and soloists will perform a selection of rousing spirituals, including “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord,” “Sinner Man” and “A City Called Heaven.”
The featured soloists will be LaTonya Bragg of Chattanooga and Marshall.
The accompanist for the Chorale is Ann Jones.
Admission is $10 per person. Tickets for both performances can be purchased from any member of the Chorale or by calling the department of music at 439-6949 or 439-4270.
Persons with disabilities who require special assistance may also call the department to make arrangements.

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