Review: REMNANTS OF ROCK at Rialto Community Theatre

The Rialto Community Theatre in Morrilton is my home theatre, so I love it when we have local talent on our stage that can rival other touring acts. In June, the Morrilton High School Golden Reunion Committee brought in crowd favorite THE REMNANTS OF ROCK to finish out their weekend-long celebration, and it was a near packed house for the show. Generations of fans were dancing and singing together to the music that changed the landscape of an era, embracing the artists that ushered in Rock-n-Roll. It was a fun night had by all, and we didn’t want it to end.  

To get the party started, they opened with Sam and Dave’s Hold On I’m Coming, followed by Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock N’ Roll and Four Top’s Baby I Need Your Lovin’. Hit after hit they crooned through the music that brought back many memories for the audience. Not only did they play and sing good music, they also connected by talking about what was going on during that time as well as what was going on in Morrilton.  

I loved the whole concert. Some of my favorites in the first set included You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, the cluster of Beatles songs, and The Beach Boys medley. Some of my set two favorites had Pretty Woman, Last Date, and more Beatles. The only song I didn’t recognize was All These Things, and though I wish they would have had an encore, I feel the crowd was content with the show for the night. It was easy to see why they had success when they were the St. James Group.  

Making up this iconic group is guitarist and singer Rick Calhoun, who founded The St. James Group and continues the musical legacy with The Remnants. He also performs with Governor Mike Huckabee’s band “Capitol Offense,” and is a Nashville songwriter, arranger, and producer. His brother Mark Calhoun plays bass guitar and covers back-up vocals. Mark has toured with many famous artists and operates his own recording studio. www.WyeMountainRecordingStudios.com. Fun fact about Mark: He can fly airplanes. Johnny Bradley is their drummer and has been compared to Ringo Starr. Mike Mitchell is the original singer of The St. James Group and covers lead vocals and trumpet for The New Group. Outside of the group, Mike has been a featured vocalist with various church choirs and has performed solos. And to round out the group is newcomer Tommy France, who spent many years in Nashville and Branson as an arranger, piano player, and band leader for such artists as The Platters. Taking care of the sound for this amazingly talented group is Danny Smith, who grew up with the other members of The St. James Group and was part of the band’s heyday. As a professional audio engineer, he has traveled the country with such artists as Alice Cooper, Dolly Parton, and Steve Martin to name a few and is currently the head audio engineer at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock.  

Before the concert, Broadway World was able to speak with Rick about why he created The St. James Group.  

Broadway World: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I would like to start with the question-who are you? 

Rick Calhoun: You know, I'm just an Arkansas boy that grew up with a deep love and appreciation of music. I started out as a kid waking up every morning and smelling the coffee. The parents were in the kitchen and KVOM was on the radio. 

BWW: I am familiar with KVOM. It was my first radio station where I DJed. 

RC: I developed an appreciation for Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and a lot of those early artists that they played. I'm talking about the artist from the 50s that they played on the radio show. I fell in love with some of that. But then as I got so little older, I started listening to my sister's records. She had a pretty vast record collection, and I was just nine, ten, eleven years old, and I didn't have any records. So, I listened to hers and we would sit on the floor for hours. We listened to, you know, Elvis Presley, Gene Pitney, Buddy Holly, Gene McDaniels, you know, all of those old great artists from the late 50s, early 60s. Then on February the 9th, 1964, on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles hit the stage and they took this country by storm. I was 15 years old, and they changed the world in so many ways. After that, I wanted to learn how to make music, so I started struggling trying to learn how to play the guitar with some success.... not much but some, and you know by the time I was 16 or 17, I was fooling around and, you know, playing in pickup bands here...just whoever we could get to come make music. So, that's who I am. even though I'm a retired investment manager. I'm the father of three daughters which are the pride of my life, and five grandsons. You know, I'm still a musician at heart. I always have been and always will be. That is my first love.  

BWW: Music was my first love as well. Now, what do you want? 

RC: I want to continue to make music as long as I can until I'm too old and too feeble. You know, Sunny Burgess just passed away. He was like 81 or 82. Well, I’m a long ways from there, but I intend to do this as long as I can, because I'm still having a ball when we take the stage. I just have a ball. I feel like I'm alive. 

BWW: I’ve seen you perform before, and the audience seems to love you.  

RC: I love playing, because you connect with an audience, you connect through music, you connect emotionally to people that you can't do any other way. 

BWW: I agree. Music can bring people together who can’t even speak the same language. So, tell me more about what happened after you guys got out of school. 

RC: So after we got out of college, you know, we were still playing pretty, pretty strong. We picked up another guitar player, Danny Dozier, who is just incredible. Then the core group of about six of us went on to recording projects for both United Artists and Mercury Records. But you know, life on the road is hard. It's very hard. By this time I'm raising a family. I'm making enough money in my music to raise the family, but you know, the time comes, you gotta think about doing something else. So, we went our separate ways for a while, but then I've always kept my hand in, and we've kind of all pulled it back together now, and changed our name to The Remnant, because we lost our original keyboard player, Chuck Gordon to a heart attack. 

BWW: I’m sorry to hear that.  

RC: But this remaining group of four have been together for 56 years. Tommy has been on board since about 2017, and we've done well. We've had a lot of fun. 

BWW: It looks like a lot of fun. Tell me what we should expect for the concert.  

RC: We're doing all covers, but it really is a celebration of the 1960s. It really is the best music from Rocks Golden Era, and I don't know how you feel about it, but to me there is nothing that compares to the music of that era. Nothing. And, this stuff today, particularly hip-hop and some of the other artistic forms, for lack of a better term, just don't match up to that beautiful music of the 1960s. 

BWW: Well, I agree, and I can’t wait to hear you guys perform. Thank you for joining me. 

For more information about The Remnants of Rock, visit their website at https://www.theremnantsofrock.com. 

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