And in support of the Bellamy Brothers concert at Whiskey Dicks - TONIGHT - Sheila spoke to Howard Bellamy this week from his ranch in Florida:SKK: Hi, Howard. The Bellamy Brothers are going to be in El Paso Friday night?
Howard Bellamy: Yes we are.
SKK: That’s just down the road from us here in Las Cruces, so we thought we’d talk to you and see what’s up. We haven’t gotten to talk to you since last year when you were up in Ruidoso.
HB: Yeah, it’s been a while. You guys all right?
SKK: Yeah, we’re doing pretty good here. You just keep skirting us a little bit. You’re up in Ruidoso; you’re down in El Paso, one of these days we’ll have to get you right here into the heart of Las Cruces.
HB: Yes, we’ll have to work on that.
SKK: Looking at your tour schedule, you and David have been around everywhere. Did you get to go to Europe this year?
HB: Well, we’ve been twice already, so yes, we’ve seen plenty of Europe this summer, and we have another tour in the winter. In February we go back; so a lot of overseas travel is still going on.
SKK: Do you ever get to rest very often? What do you and David enjoy doing in your downtime?
HB: Well, you know, you can’t do 50 albums in 30 years having a lot of downtime. So in our downtime we’re writing songs, or we’re working on the ranch, or you know … it’s kind of not like work when you’re doing something you like. That’s the great thing about having a career in something you love to do.
SKK: You mentioned 50 albums. Is this your Number One Hits? Tell me about that.
HB: Yes it is. We have a Number One Hits album out that is our number 50th, and it’s been out in the stores now a couple months. You can download it in any ITunes or on our website bellamybrothers.com. It’s a collection over the years. It’s twelve songs, of our number one songs of course. You know, it’s the first time we’ve had a total number one album out over the years.
SKK: You’ve had a lot of Greatest Hits, but all of your hits weren’t necessarily number ones then. Is that what you’re saying?
HB: Exactly. Yeah, we’ve had thirty-something hits, but I think we’ve had fifteen number ones. So this is twelve of ‘em; so you’re getting a lot of ‘em on this collection.
SKK: Now the Jesus Is Coming album, you had a lot of success off of that one, for being gospel. Do you plan on doing anymore gospel work, or do you plan on doing any more new country work?
HB: Well you know, there’s just no telling what we will do, Sheila. We enjoyed doing the gospel album for sure. It was a great thing to do. I know our mother was very happy with us. She’s 83; she finally thinks we did something worthwhile. We did a gospel album, and we got nominated for two Dove Awards. It was kind of going back to our roots to do that project. And I must say it was one of the more enjoyable projects we’ve ever done, and we most likely will do another one, you know. We’re not going totally in that direction, of course, but we’ve always liked to do various kinds of songs. You know, you can look back even on our number one hits and there’s a lot of variety on there. We’ve never been accused of not touching on different subject matters for sure.
SKK: What else does The Bellamy Brothers have in the works? RFD films did a bit about your ranch for an American Ranchers show, how was that?
HB: You know that was great. We’re big RFD fans. It’s a rural network for your ranchers, farmers, and agricultural people, of course, and we were raised on a ranch in Florida … still live here, and yeah, the RFD came out and did a story of our old ranch. It’s been in our family since 1870, so it’s a pretty interesting piece. We had a good time doing that. The rural network … they do different stories on different ranches around the country. They do cattle sales on there, and various things …stories of ranches. They do a lot of rodeo, bull riding, and that sort of thing. So it’s, you know; if you’re a real cowboy or cowgirl, you’ll like it.
SKK: You guys ought to write a book, you’ve had such an interesting life.
HB: Well we’re working on one, as a matter of fact. You know, we see these people who had a five year career … two year career, and they’ve already had a book out. We’ve been around thirty-three years; so we’re working on a book right now actually. We’ve toured and traveled in some sixty-five countries around the world over the years and have a lot of stories. Some of ‘em we can’t tell over the air, so we had to put ‘em in a book.
SKK: What about a movie? Who do you think should play Howard and David in a movie?
HB: Oh, Cheech and Chong, I guess. (laughs) I have no idea, but we have had a colorful career, you know … got to travel the world more than most acts, especially country acts, and been lucky enough to have a lot of big records overseas as well as the States. So we’ve gotten to see the world and a lot of different cultures, which is something we always wanted to do growing up.
SKK: The Bellamy Brothers have definitely had an excellent career, and you do travel a lot, and you do try to make it into our area. It seems to me to be at least once a year, if not every couple of years that your schedule brings you into the southwest. So we definitely look forward to seeing you Friday night.
HB: Yes, we love the southwest. We try to get there during green chile season. We love the food, of couse, in the southwest.
SKK: You’re coming during chile season. Are you going to be able to stick around? Because you’re playing Whiskey Dicks on Friday night, and then on Labor Day Weekend up in Hatch is where the big green chile festival takes place. So it’s all the chile you could possibly want.
HB: Oh we know all about Hatch, and we actually order from them during the season there every year. And we just got our big order in. We’re not going to be able to go to the festival, because we’re headed on to Arizona. But we will get our chiles for sure.
SKK: Have you ever been to Whiskey Dicks before?
HB: This is our first time there. We’ve played El Paso many times over the years, but definitely our first time there. So looking forward to it … heard some good things about it.
SKK: So it’s a 10:00 show with yourself, your brother, all of your hits that you do per tradition, and you’ll just have people dancing out there and just loving’ you all night long.
HB: Well that’s what we hope for. I tell everybody we’re always insulted when people don’t get up and dance. We’ve kind of been know for getting people on their feet over the years and dancing to our music. We enjoy that.
SKK: I appreciate your time, Howard; it’s been wonderful to talk to you.
HB: My pleasure, Sheila; and you go to that chile festival and eat some for us.
SKK: We’ve got a wine festival going on this weekend, too, so it’s chile one direction and wine in the other direction.
HB: Oh boy! It don’t get better than that!
Don’t miss The Bellamy Brothers, 10 PM at Whiskey Dicks on George Dieter in El Paso. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $20, available in advance at Corral West at Mesilla Valley Mall. $25 at the door.
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