Radio Stars return to Sibyl Hall
STANLEY – The Radio Stars, a perennial favorite at the Sibyl Center in Stanley, will make a return performance visit Sunday at 3 p.m. The band features Stanley native, now of Fargo, Merrill Piepkorn and his longtime friends.
Combine a lot of energy with a distinctive take on modern and traditional western-style tunes and you’ve got The Radio Stars. The band consists of four members with Merrill “Magic” Piepkorn on harmonica and guitar, Gregg “Smokey” Temple on electric, acoustic and pedal steel guitars, Bill Law on bass guitar, and Loy Larson on the fiddle showcasing his champion fiddler skills and mandolin. All members add to their western-style performance by singing.
In addition to the western and cowboy music, The Radio Stars can keep a dance floor packed with a variety of two-steps, waltzes and a polka or two, along with an occasional truck driving song.
The band’s roots reach back to 1972 when Temple and Piepkorn began playing coffee houses and local bars while attending Concordia College in Moorhead. Following graduation in 1974, they formed the regionally popular band Skunk Hollow. When Piepkorn quit the band to move back to Fargo, he began playing with Law and eventually Larson. In 2008, Temple, living in St. Paul, Minn., at the time, missed playing country music with the boys, began traveling regularly to North Dakota to play music and the Radio Stars band was formed. The four of them play numerous regional shows, concerts and festivals each year.
There is a suggested $10 donation at the door.
For a full schedule of events at the Sibyl Center, go to www.sibylcenter.org.