Boogie, Bluegrass and Barbershop to Beneft Brough Family

By Roger Schlueter, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.

Jan. 4–BELLEVILLE — Union United Methodist Church will be pulling out all the stops Sunday to help the family of Belleville Police Sgt. John Brough.

At least, they will now with the addition of metro-east organist Bob Heil to a benefit concert that also will boast three of music’s most important three B’s: boogie, bluegrass and barbershop.

Admission to the 3 p.m. shindig is by freewill offering. In addition, Heil will sell his CDs and donate all proceeds to the Brough family. The church is at 721 E. Main St.

The Rev. Holly Wood is hoping for a large turnout because people who come are bound to have a good time even as they honor a police officer gravely wounded in the line of duty.

“I think they will,” said Wood, the church’s pastor. “I mean, there are a lot of characters on this program, let me tell you. And, Bob Heil being willing to do this just really rounded it out. We were just thrilled he agreed to play for us. So, I’m really looking forward to it.”

A high-tech wiz and musical showman, Heil will have the sanctuary reverberating when he kicks off the afternoon with some of his patented show pieces.

“We have a beautiful pipe organ — just an incredible instrument — and he loves to play it,” Wood said.

Then, Dudley’s Rush, the church’s own bluegrass group, will kick it up a notch with its lively gospel bluegrass. Formed in 2005 to play a church talent show, the group quickly doubled in size and is fast becoming a Southern Illinois bluegrass staple.

“Everybody keeps going, ‘I really want to sing with you,’” Wood says of the response to the now nine-member group. “Now, we’re saying, ‘No, we’ve already become a choir! We’re not going to get any bigger!”

Next up will be the church’s vocal group Alive, which is equally at home singing a cappella or with instrumental backing as it performs its gospel/contemporary repertoire. The group is led by Sarah Lancaster, a Masterworks Chorale staple who has been singing around the metro area for years.

Even the offertory will keep you jumping when the church’s pianist-organist Gail Long sits down at the keyboard to serve up a boogie-woogie version of “Go Tell It On the Mountain.”

“And, she really rips it up on the piano on that, let me tell you,” Wood said.

Then, to wrap up the tune-filled afternoon, the Southwestern Illinois Sounds of Harmony barbershop chorus will show off its many talents.

“They’ll do some quartet work, they’ll do some patriotic stuff and they’ll do some just fun barbershop type stuff,” Wood said. “And they are, of course, very good. So we’ll have a little bit of everything. It will just be fun, and we want people to come.”

Before the afternoon is over, the church will tally the money from the offering and CD sales and present a check to Belleville Police Officer Dan Cook. Brough, who suffered critical injuries when he was shot in the face Nov. 10, left St. Louis University Hospital again last Thursday to continue his recovery at an undisclosed St. Louis rehabilitation center.

“We’re real excited about this,” Wood said. “We really hope that people will come out and just have a good time and support this good cause.”

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Copyright (c) 2007, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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