Country singer Neal McCoy is making a pretty bold claim prior to his Oct. 17 show at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg.
“I challenge people who may not know much about me, or even heard of me before, to give us your time,” he said. “When the show’s over, you’ll walk out saying, ‘Wow, that was some of the most fun I ever had.’
“We feel we can live up to that challenge.”
Originally set for March 21, 2020, and rescheduled twice since then, the Greensburg concert will begin at 7 p.m.
McCoy, 63, has been honing his stage show for more than 40 years.
His breakthrough year came in 1993, with the back-to-back No. 1 singles, “No Doubt About It” and “Wink,” from his now platinum-certified album, “No Doubt About It.”
Through the late 1990s, he released two more platinum albums, a gold album and six more Top Ten hits. In 2005, he hit the Top Ten again, with “Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On.”
But it’s not just the hits that make for a good show, he said — it’s the “old school” way they’re presented.
“The audience will get whatever we come up with after that first song,” he said. “I never have worked with a playlist.
“I have a very good band, so I just turn around and yell at ‘em what the next song is gonna be,” he said. “I like the spontaneity, and it keeps the band in the game, also. If you keep looking down at a playlist, it gets kind of robotic.”
He said he knows that people come to hear the hits, and “we’ll play them, I just don’t know where in the show they’re gonna be. Sometimes I get carried away, and someone will say, ‘You forgot so-and-so,’ and I’ll say, ‘Sorry about that.’”
‘Get something to eat’
McCoy’s laid-back attitude extends to trusting the crew at the venues he plays. He travels with a four-piece band and “a very skeleton crew.”
“It goes back to the old-school days,” he said. “We go into a theater and let the lighting director do as he sees fit. I say, ‘Turn on all your lights, go get something to eat, take your time and, when you get back, we’ll be done.’”
Now based in Longview, Texas, McCoy said he didn’t start out to be a country singer while growing up in the small Texas town of Jacksonville.
“As the baby of the family in a small house, I was subject to whatever everybody else was listening to,” he said.
Easy listening predominated — artists like The Carpenters and Barry Manilow for his brother and sister, Perry Como and Tony Bennett for his parents. The family often gathered around the piano to sing together.
In 1981, he entered a country music contest in Dallas.
“I didn’t know a lot of country music, I just hoped maybe it would help launch my career,” he said.
When he won the contest, he said, “They dubbed me a country singer and I came to be one pretty quick.”
He had added incentive with an offer to tour with country legend, the late Charley Pride.
“Doggone it, I’m smart enough to know that if a superstar is gonna help me, I’m gonna take it,” he said. “It still took about 10 years for my career to really launch.”
Life-changing experience
Nowadays, McCoy is on the road about 180 days a year, performing more than 100 shows. He takes particular pride in having done a number of USO tours around the globe.
“There was nothing like being in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2000-2001, singing and sometimes not even singing, but just talking with the troops, shaking hands and hugging their necks,” he said. “They’re just so grateful — they say you just don’t know what this does for morale.
“But that works both ways,” he said. “Just to see what they go through, the daily routine, it’s life-changing.”
Gratitude for their sacrifices led him to start the practice of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance live every morning on his website.
“We started at the end of the Obama administration, then all through Trump and now with Biden,” he said.
Before an Oct. 8 show in Branson, Mo., he said, “We just did our 2,001st consecutive day without missing a day. I think it’s important, no matter what side of the aisle you’re on politically. It doesn’t have anything to do with politics, it’s about being grateful for your rights and freedom.”
He said he benefited from seeing the United States through the eyes of his mother, an immigrant from the Philippines.
“Sometimes it takes people not from this country to show people from this country what they have,” he said.
Because McCoy’s show at The Palace was rescheduled due to the pandemic, all tickets for the original date will be honored on Oct. 17.
Those with tickets for a previous date who have a conflict with the rescheduled date can learn about ticket options by calling 724-836-8000 or emailing boxoffice@wctrust.net.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley at 724-836-5750, smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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Country singer Neal McCoy promises Greensburg audience: 'Try us, you'll like us' - TribLIVE
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