Peaceful Easy Feeling

Fortune and The Believers complement grass roots country music with concert of their own at Bosque Arts Center after judging Texas Troubadour Country Music Songwriter Classic

CLIFTON – For the past 11 years, the Bosque Arts Center’s annual Texas Troubadour Country Music Songwriting Competition provides country music singer/songwriters an opportunity for recognition of their talent as they were put in the spotlight and celebrated.

The BAC welcomed singer/songwriter Jimmy Fortune of Statler Brothers fame to serve as judge for the 11th Annual Texas Troubadour Songwriter Classic Oct. 26. Fortune selected the winner from the five finalists performing at the live event, then followed with a concert of his own.

While some in the audience came specifically to hear Fortune and his band, they heard some grass roots country music by very talented singer/songwriters.

“I never won a contest in my life,” Fortune said. “But I got to sing and write for the Statler Brothers for 21 years, for which I am eternally grateful.”

Every single member of the audience agreed that they witnessed an incredible concert, in which Fortune played a compilation of Statler classics and favorites from his solo career; throwing in some Eagles, Michael Martin Murphy, Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash and Junior Brown to boot.

Fortune’s big break came when he – a little-known performer at the time – was asked to be a temporary replacement for tenor Lewis DeWitt in the legendary Statler Brothers band. When DeWitt’s health forced him to retire, Fortune went on to become a permanent member of the group in August of 1982; and for the next 21 years, Fortune toured, performed, sang and wrote songs with the Statler Brothers.

“I sing to everything good in life,” Fortune said at the beginning of the concert. “I want to change the world one song at a time.” The Eagles’ “Peaceful Easy Feeling” emphasized that good, gentle, positive groove.

There were a lot of songs about hope and faith in the future. The humble mustached tenor’s smooth, pure voice enthralled and captivated the listeners. And the astonishingly talented band delivered on the 16-song set list which included classics like “Too Much On My Heart” (from 1985’s Pardners in Rhyme) and “Elizabeth,” a song the band played for Dame Elizabeth Taylor on her 55th birthday when she was filming Poker Alice in Tucson, AZ in 1987.

“Most of these band members here tonight are better than the front men they’ve played with,” Fortune said before introducing the members of The Believers.

Hailing from Beaumont, the band’s fiddler and vocalist Jenifer Wrinkle toured nationwide and abroad with Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Joe Diffie, Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire, and worked with Tony Brown, Dann Huff and other hit producers on numerous country and gospel records.

“She’s a great musician, a great songwriter, a great talent and a great mom and wife,” Fortune said introducing her. “She makes me sound good.”

Her harmonies with Fortune, and her fiddling left the audience in awe. Knowing she wrote on her road trips, Fortune encouraged her to produce her own material, which culminated in her first album Get ‘Er Done. The band played the song she wrote for her mother, “Living My Dreams.”The band’s drummer, Jen’s husband Scott Thompson, had a gig with his regular band, and Herb Sugar filled in for him.

According to Fortune, the band’s lead guitarist Stuie French is one of the greatest guitar players. He too recently released a solo album called Axe To Swing, has a vintage feel and includes both country and jazz swing guitar. The album’s name is an ode to his dad who was a lumberjack.

With Tasmanian Devil French leading the charge, the band proceeded to jam to the up-tempo Junior Brown song “I Hung It Up.” You could see the band members were having a lot of fun performing together.

Bass player, Nashville producer and engineer Brad Benge completed the quintet, took the lead on “Blue Moon of Kentucky” for some good ol’ Bluegrass. He too has written his own songs. “These young ‘uns are wearing me out,” Fortune said after the up-tempo songs. “But it sure is fun.”

Number seven of nine children, Fortune started singing at church following his mother’s faith, and sang in his high school choir. “Daddy went broke making fortunes,” Fortune joked, as he recounted the beginnings of his love for music.

Fortune heard his first country song “came from the radio in his dad’s 1957 Plymouth. With Eddy Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away” the band transported the audience back to a simpler time of listening to music on the car radio.

His mother was a prayer warrior, and his father eventually turned to faith and was able to beat his alcoholism. Fortune’s latest projects God and Country and albums with Brothers of the Heart: Brotherly Love (2020), Listen To The Music (2023), and Will The Circle Be Unbroken (2023) all reflect his strong faith.

In an interview with Today’s Nashville Terry Squires, Fortune shares how he found his unshakable faith in a depressing hotel room in Little Rock, AR during a very difficult time of his life in 1993 – his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he was going through a depressing divorce. He felt Jesus at his side as he moved on with his life dealing with these painful losses. This defining moment in his life lead him singing more gospel songs to lift God up in today’s troubled world, and encouraging people to move towards God, not away from him.

Today, God continues taking him down new paths, helping him survive quintuple bypass surgery in 2023 with post-operative complications.

Fortune dedicated his gospel song “I Believe” to the memory of his parents who instilled in him to believe. After The Statler Brothers retired on 2002, the much younger Fortune seized the opportunity to launch a solo career to share new music with his fans. Fortune considers the song the pinnacle of his solo career.

At the BAC concert, Fortune shared that he was leaning heavily on his faith dealing with the death of his first-born son the previous week. He believed Little Jimmy was at the concert in spirit that evening. “Just get back on your horse and ride again after it throws you,” Fortune said.” And I sure got thrown las week. I couldn’t do it without my faith.”

And the band continued the concert by performing “Far side banks of Jordan,” made famous by Johnny Cash himself. Fortune also dedicated “Life’s Railway to Heaven” to his dearest friend and fellow musician Joe Bonsall from the Oakridge Boys who died this summer. Both songs and “I Believe” can be found on his album Hits and Hymns

But not all was serious -- band had the audience singing along with the infectious 1964 song “Flowers on the Wall” written by DeWitt, and laughing at the lyrics of the song “Good Thing,” he dedicated to anybody married longer than two weeks: “Yeah, I know I forgot to put the toilet seat down. I gotta little motor oil on your bathroom towels.”

The next song, the 1986 slow waltz “My Only Love,” he dedicated to Wally and Punky Penberthy who are married 67 years this year. Fortune explained how the song came to being: the night before his wedding, his brother Tony asked Fortune to sing a Lionel Richie song at the ceremony. Not familiar with the song, he suggested writing a song especially for the couple to be. It became a hit for the Statler Brothers in 1986. Stuie French, the band’s lead guitarist imitated a mandolin on his guitar. After the song he blew the Penberthy’s a kiss.

“Crazy Arms” had a couple dancing the two-step. His newest album, in collaboration with Bill Gaither God and Country from 2020 is a mix of gospel inspired and country songs. “In God We Trust” being the red thread, and pay tribute to the country’s veterans and the basis on which the country was built.

After paying tribute to all veterans with the song “More Than a Name on a Wall,” Fortune came full circle, expressing hope and faith in the future, ending the concert with the patriotic “God Bless America,” and “America the Beautiful,” encouraging the audience to stand and sing along.

One of the special elements of a concert at the BAC, is that the musicians usually set up in the facility’s atrium to meet and greet their fans. Fortune took a lot of time talking to those wanting a photo or a handshake, signing T-shirts, CD’s and programs. He signed Linda Lowrance’s guitar on which she collects signatures from Texas Troubadour judges. Fortune joins a long list of illustrious past judges for the Troubadour contest like country music stars Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hal Ketchum, Red Steagall, Michael Martin Murphey, Marty Haggard, Moe Bandy and Suzy Bogguss with Doug Crider.

Fortune and The Statler Brothers were inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame on October 29, 2007, and inducted into the Country Music Association Hall of Fame on June 29, 2008. Jimmy, as a solo artist, was inducted into the Virginia Musical Hall of Fame in 2018.

Fortune currently lives in Tennessee, writing, touring, and recording music. On July 8, 2023, Fortune was honored with the unveiling of a larger-than-life bronze statue at the Nelson County’s Historical Society’s Oakland Museum.

Fortune has a fun, official YouTube channel called My Life, My songs on which he speaks to fellow iconic country music artists like T. Graham Brown and T.G. Shepperd to talk about their songs, songwriting and performing. Both these artists have graced the Tin Building Stage, giving stellar performances.

Photos by SIMONE WICHERS-VOSS