Guess who’s in the park on Friday

If the accompanying picture doesn’t answer the question of who will be in Fountain Park this Friday, then maybe the following songs will help: “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” “Annie’s Song,” “Calypso,” “Rocky Mountain High,” and about another 50 or so songs that topped the billboards for nearly three decades!

We can’t bring John Denver to Fountain Park, for obvious reasons, but we can bring the next best thing and that would be Ted Vigil and his new sidekick, Steve Weisberg.  Ted lives in the state of Oregon and this will be his second trip to Van Wert.  Everyone enjoyed him so much; I just knew we had to bring him back.

Since Ted was with us in the park back in 2009, he has teamed with Steve Weisberg, one of John Denver’s former guitar, dobro, and slide guitar players, as well as music arranger.  If you check out some of Steve’s website or even some of John Denver’s recordings, you will see that Steve was an integral band member who experienced great success with John Denver.

I caught up with Ted and Steve in New York this past January and he fondly remembered his experience in Van Wert in 2009.  It wasn’t long before I realized it was time to bring him and Steve back to Fountain Park this year.

Many tribute bands try to emulate the sound of the music, but rarely can someone do it so well, both musically and visually.  As you can see from the picture, Ted is a near spittin’ image of John Denver.  Now that alone wouldn’t make much of a concert, but when you can sing and sound so much like the actual artist that an actual band member wants to team up with you, that says quite a bit.

Ted Vigil actually got the tribute act started after winning a “celebrity look-alike” contest on a TV show.  After nearly startling a studio audience with his likeness to Denver, his tribute act was off and running.  He had already been writing, recording and performing his original compositions, but after this 2007 appearance, it became obvious that his future was as a tribute to John Denver.

It’s a sad ending that finished the life prematurely of one of our most loved singers of his time, but his music lives forever.  And now with Ted Vigil and Steve Weisberg, we can re-live those magical musical moments when sunshine was on our shoulders and made us happy.  I’ll just bet you will be singing along with nearly every song you hear!   Don’t miss this musical opportunity in Fountain Park Friday night as we pay tribute to one of America’s finest in Ted Vigil’s Rocky Mountain High Tribute!

FINÉ.