The Midnight Cowboy and The Round Up Night Clubs, The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

The Midnight Cowboy and The Round Up

Both clubs were in Wilkes County North Carolina. The Midnight Cowboy was in Roaring River NC on the Red White and Blue Road right where a big cement slab is now and a huge Propane Storage tank sits. The Round Up was several miles south of US 421 Highway down NC Hwy 115 on the top of a big hill. There was competition in the county so if a band performed at one club they weren't allowed to perform at the other. 

We started performing at The Midnight Cowboy first and had very large crowds for several years. The club was managed by The Mathis Brothers. We performed at The Midnight Cowboy until the crowds began to dwindle down and then we started performing at The Round Up. It was managed by the Curry Brothers. We always held the main spot of the first weekend of each month and we always had a very large crowd. The Round Up was a money maker for us. We got the wages we ask for, it was local, and the crowds were always large which means a lot to a Band. It is hard to perform to an empty room. This went on several years. The owner said he would pay us what we ask as long as we had the crowd. After a few years the crowds began to go down but he paid us a little less but by then we had went down to a three piece band and basically made the same amount of money. 

Here is a  couple of quotes by a few people on a local forum about Wilkes County Night Clubs.

"THE ROUNDUP , ESPECIALLY WHEN SHOTGUN BAND WAS THERE , USED TO HAVE PARK HALFWAY DOWN THE HILL AND IT WAS STANDING ROOM ONLY . THE ROUNDUP USED TO GET A BAD RAP , ALWAYS HAD A GREAT TIME AND NEVER HAD ANY TROUBLE "

Here is another quote:

I remember it and the midnight cowboy, ShotGun was the best back in the day too."

It makes you feel good to know someone enjoyed your music and what you were doing and is written about

                             Shotgun setting up at The Roundup

 25-30 years later.

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) Places we Performed

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) Places we Performed:
Allen's Country, Kernersville and Greensboro NC
SRO Country, Winston Salem NC
Benton Convention Center, Winston Salem NC for NC Dump Truck Association
Grandfathers, Galax Va opened up for a well known country group called The Whites. Ricky Skagg's wife was in that group.
Sparta Jaycees Pig Pickin Event, on Una's River bottom Sparta NC
Sparta Jaycees Snowflake Dance,Trojan Village Skate Rink Sparta NC
Elkin Foothills Festival, Downtown Elkin NC 1985
Tobacco Road, Ronda NC
Sacketts, Radford Va opened for Ozark Mountain Daredevils 
Eli's, State Road NC before it was Eli's it was called Sportmans Lounge 
Midnight Cowboy, Roaring River NC
The Roundup, Wilkesboro NC
The Traffic Light, North Wilkesboro NC
Donovan's, North Wilkesboro NC
Dundee's, North Wilkesboro NC
Buckwheat's, North Wilkesboro NC
Broncos, Sparta NC
Pop's, Mt Airy NC
Country Music Palace, King NC 1985
Dundee's, North Wilkesboro NC

Antlers, Blowing Rock NC
The Red Door Lounge, Galax NC
Key Largo, Clemmons NC 1984
Willie's Tavern, Roaring River NC
Star lite Lounge, Main Street Independence Va
Grayson County High School, opened for
The Charlie Daniels Band 1989
Marlboro Country Music Championship, Greensboro NC 1986
Richard Petty's Home, at Level Cross NC
Statesville Moose Lodge, for New Years Eve Dance 
Dk's Westwood Lounge, Clemmons NC 1985
Riders Roost, Ferguson NC 1992
Charlotte Motor Speedway before the Race

This is a list of places that we performed at while the Shotgun Band was together. The places were listed just one time on the list but the Clubs and Lounges we performed at multiple times during our tenure.