the bright lights of bainbridge

A night at ‘Ohio’s oldest country music show’

Story by Seth Teter
Photos by Megan Nadolski 

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Paint Valley Jamboree.”

The white curtain goes up at the Paxton Theater, and Roger Bogard steps up to the microphone.
“From a Jack to a King,” he sings in a sturdy baritone, drawing cheers from the audience. “From loneliness to a wedding ring.”

Each Saturday night in the southern Ohio town of Bainbridge, a crowd gathers at this 100-year-old theater where a group of seasoned musicians offer a lesson on the roots of country music. Each performer brings a unique sound ranging from bluegrass to classic rock ‘n’ roll.

Take singer Clarence Claxton, who speaks with a Kentucky drawl. Dressed in a white jacket and tie, the tall, smiling Claxton is the picture of a southern gentleman. His Gospel style sends a vibrato bouncing off the plaster walls. He slides from note to note as smoothly as the steel guitar and sings with his eyes as much as his mouth.

Above the theater’s stage are four black and white portraits: Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Patsy Cline and Ernest Tubb. These are familiar faces to many in the aged audience.

“If I was to shut this place down, they’d go berserk,” said Jamboree owner Ralph Cooper of the show’s loyal fans.

Welcome to the Paxton

You can’t miss the Paxton Theater as you head down state Route 50 in Ross County. The glow of the illuminated marquis is rivaled only by the adjacent Dairy Queen in the town of about 1,000 people.

“It used to be a township hall, and they turned it into a theater and then later on it became a church,” Cooper said. It was again a theater before Cooper moved the Jamboree from nearby Chillicothe two decades ago. Running since 1965, the show bills itself as the state’s oldest country music show.

The building appears to have changed little over the years. The cushions on the theater seats are cracked and patched. The red fabric on the chair backs is worn thin. The atmosphere is so informal that names are written on strips of masking tape on the wooden armrests to reserve the seats of audience regulars.

Many performers tell Cooper the theater is reminiscent of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.

“It’s a happy spot for people that like country music,” Cooper said, adding, “It’s about the only place you can go without the smokin’ and the drinkin’.”

One hour until showtime

Band members begin to arrive shortly after 6 p.m. They huddle on stage in groups of two or three, strumming chords and reviewing lyrics.

“Why can’t you let bygones be bygones,” sings performer Lloyd Wright, trying to remember the song’s author.

“What practice they get, they get here from now until showtime, but they’re really a tight band,” said Cooper, who also performs at the show and manages the building.
Cooper is chatting with musicians when he is alerted that the ladies restroom is out of hand towels. Remembering there is also no butter for the popcorn machine, he heads off.

Around 7 p.m. the musicians take their place and the lights go down.

As the music starts, Cooper is on his knees replacing a blown stage light. He stands up just in time to hit his harmony on the opening song’s chorus.

“You made me King of your heart,” he sings.

And now, Mr. Luke McCoy and his Gretsch guitar

“The first song I played on the guitar, I was eight years old,” said Luke McCoy, the lead guitarist who is in his 70s.

He plays a hollow-bodied Gretsch, a style of guitar made popular in the 1950s by artists such as Chet Atkins and Bo Diddley. He strums warm jazz tones, steers the band with melodic runs up and down the fretboard and glides through a fingerpicking solo of the hymn “I’ll Fly Away.”

But the night’s most unique performance comes when Robert Sears enters from stage right.

“Spelled like Sears and Roebuck,” said the 79-year-old.

In a black western shirt and bolo tie, his white hair neatly combed back, he pauses to talk with the fiddle player. The small-framed Sears then steps on a piece of plywood as Cooper lays a microphone at his feet. The fiddle tears into “Raggedy Ann” and Sears begins stomping as if he were trying to put out a fire. His shoulders bounce up and down as he taps out the rhythm. Broadly swooping his arms, he claps his hands.

“I’ll keep dancing as long as I’m able,” said Sears, who performed three tap dances during the show.

‘A great thing’

For Cooper, who operates a glass business, the Jamboree makes little money. He said he keeps it going simply for the reward of giving people a place to go on Saturday nights. Like a preacher after church, he stands at the back of the theater following each performance to greet the fans.

“Every Saturday people will say ‘I don’t know how it happened, but this is better than it has ever been,’” he said.
Performers say the best part of the show is playing with their fellow musicians. Walt Cook, whose rendition of “Blueberry Hill” was one of the evening’s highlights, said he had high hopes when he first started playing music.

“I was going to make it big, man, travel around the world,” he said, adding he never thought he’d end up in Bainbridge. Asked if that was a bad thing, he conceded with a laugh, “No, it’s a great thing.”

The three-hour show concludes with emcee Kenny Baum inviting all of the performers back on stage.

Together they sing, “Will the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord, by and by....”

As the music continues, Baum bids farewell to the crowd.

“Thanks a lot folks, we’ve enjoyed putting on the show,” he said. “We’ll be back again next Saturday night.”

As fans get up to leave, a smiling Cooper waits for them by the exit. 

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