“We came on the idea of doing Motown and Memphis soul from the ‘60s that we grew up with and loved,” he continued. “It’s very danceable and entertaining and it appeals to a wide group of folks, age-wise. It really gets all demographics if you want to look at it that way.”
The group — rounded out by LaVon “J.R.” Ferguson (guitar), Chris Demmons (keyboards, vocals), Ken McCall (saxophone, vocals), and Ron Beavers (drums) — performs at Holiday at Home in Kettering at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 6.
“We have a lot of repeat jobs,” Ferguson said. “We work hard on that. When we first got this group together that’s what we decided we wanted to do. It’s not that we really didn’t want to play the clubs, but we knew there were probably more dollar opportunities in other venues. A lot of groups can’t play some of the other venues because they’re too loud or whatever, but it’s a good fit for us.”
“We play ’60s soul music — this is what we do,” Beyerlein said. “The material is really well known and good to dance to and to party to. These are the kind of songs where you start them off and people of a certain age generally know it right away.”
Soul Express has been performing live since early 2000, and the members are still fully committed to the group.
“The band is high priority in my life,” Ferguson said. “I don’t golf or bowl. I don’t do anything else. My priorities are family, work and music.”
“I hope this goes on for another 10 years,” Beyerlein said. “You know how it is with bands, you either end up wanting to kill each other or you become like brothers. We’ve been fortunate enough that we’ve really grown together and formed much deeper friendships.”
CONTACT contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.
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