NASHVILLE, TN (IFCO) - Artists at the 39th annual IFCO (Top40-Charts/ International Fan Club Organization) Fun Fest Show held June 6 at the Ryman Auditorium alternately had the enthusiastic audience laughing, crying, on their feet, and singing along. The show, a benefit for Nashville's Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt featured The Oak Ridge Boys,
Little Big Town, Megan Mullins, Hot Apple Pie, Con Hunley, the Alvarado Road Show, Andy Griggs, Todd Fritsch, Chris Young, Rachel Proctor, Keni Thomas,
Karen Taylor-Good, Steve Azar, Joe Tinoco, and Rustie Blue.
Host Robert K. Oermann wiped tears from his face after Karen Taylor-Good's tribute song to her mother, "On Angel's Wings". Many members of the audience had their handkerchiefs out as well. Little Big Town had the crowd on their feet for much of their set, and Megan Mullins charmed the audience from the moment she stepped on stage. Show headliners The Oak Ridge Boys were met with enthusiastic applause and earned a standing ovation, as did several other performers.
During The Oak's set, IFCO awarded the IFCO Tex Ritter Award to the Oak's manager, Jim Halsey. This is the 31st year the award has been given to a person who has made significant contributions to country music, the music community and fans over the course of their career. Halsey has spent fifty years as an artist manager and agent, and thirty-one of those with The Oak Ridge Boys. He successfully expanded the horizons of country music into Europe and Asia, while maintaining one of the most skilled and motivated booking and management companies in the world. He is an acclaimed music publisher, consultant, lecturer, teacher, and creator of the award-winning Music and Entertainment Business Program at Oklahoma City University, and The Halsey Learning Center of Music & Entertainment Business online internet school.
A few of the many esteemed past winners of the Tex Ritter award include Judy Massa (Voice of America), Roy Clark, Charlie Daniels, Louise Scruggs (manager of Flatt & Scruggs and Earl Scruggs) and Robert K. Oermann.
A silent auction was also held during the IFCO show with the proceeds benefiting the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. A total of $2,547 was raised.
The IFCO Show is dedicated to the fans of country music, and backstage, media from around the world joined the artists and a host of managers, publicists and musicians in congratulating IFCO's co-presidents, Loudilla, Loretta, and Kay Johnson, on thirty-nine wonderful years of this public tribute to those who really keep country music alive: the fans.
IFCO is an international regulatory body, and is widely regarded as the foremost authority on setting-up and operating fan clubs. Founded in 1967 by Loudilla, Loretta and Kay Johnson, they have since established IFCO as a respected force in the entertainment industry, a clearing house for fan clubs, and consumer watchdog for the fans.
