Route 66 Band
The Route 66 Band started out to be the Sunday host band at Cortland's Country Music Park. The musicians and singers were all from other bands. Marie Petry from "Destiny" band; Bruce Huggins from "Slick Nickel Band"; and Merle Matts from the "New York Country Band". Jay Crapo joined the band in the fall of 2002, Wade Jacobson in October of 2005, and Howie O'Dell , the newest member joined in April of 2006. Merle and Marie have both been inducted in the New York State Country Music Hall of Fame in Cortland, N.Y. After practicing together and working together for several months they decided that they had something special and decided to try and take in on further.
They recorded a CD titled "Most Requested Songs of Route 66" which has 19 songs on the CD. They then went on to showcase at the New York and Pennsylvania Fair Conventions. The New York Convention was in Rochester, N.Y. and the Pennsylvania Convention was in Hershey, Pa. The response was very good. Last year at the Chenango Co. Fair in Norwich, N.Y. they did their own "Grand Ole Opry Show" under the tent to a packed crowd. They also did three nights at the GDS Fair in Newfoundland, Pa. Due to the band's versatility, new venues opened up for them. To promote this rare find, they created the Dinner Shows at Cortland's Country Music Park.
Last year they did "A Tribute to Hank Williams and Hank Williams Jr.", "A Tribute to Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty" , a "Tribute to the Grand Ole Opry III" and "A Tribute to the Best Duets in Country Music", along with all the pig roasts, fireman conventions, weddings, and regular playing jobs. May 11, 2006, they did a Tribute to "George Jones and Tammy Wynette" and will be doing a show called "Country Music Through The Decades", June 8th, which will be songs from the cowboy era all the way up to today's country music, and "A Tribute to Buck Owens and Patsy Cline"; July 13th and a "Tribute to The Grand Ole Opry IV" on September 14th. They have also have done 2 dances in which they played Classic 50's & 60's Rock & Roll and will be doing a Sock Hop, August 4th on Rt. 12 in Nimmonsburg, N.Y.
In June of 2003 they started a fan club which now has over 300 members from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont. On June 1, 2005 the fan club went International with our first two fan club members from Germany.
Their second CD "We're Still Country" was released on Jan. 11, 2004, at their CD coming out party at Cortland's Country Music Park. This CD also includes 19 songs.
If you'd like to learn more about the band you can go to their website, www.route66band.homestead.com. You can actually hear 30 sec. of each song on the CD.
