Evergreen Jubilee

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

When I was growing up in Alderwood Manor, Washington, there was a TV music show on channel 13 from Bellevue (I think...) called Evergreen Jubilee. Anyone know anything about it, who the players were? This was around the early-mid '60's.

Jim Phelps · From: Mexico City, Mexico

Guess not....!

BDBassett · From: Rimrock AZ

Hi Jim,
Glad you brought the post back to the top, I must have missed it earlier.

Jack Roberts and the Evergreen Drifters were the hosts of Evergreen Jubilee for about 8 years during the 60's. As I recall it was broadcast live from KOMO TV on Saturday nights. Early enough so that the band could make it to their various gigs.

Jack had a couple of excellent steel players including Jim Webb and Chubby Howard during the run of the show. He was also a successful concert and dance promoter so he often had the likes of Farin Young and Ferlin Husky as featured guests.

In the 70's, Jack focused on promotions and passed the Evergreen Drifter band to his nephew Pat. Pat Roberts then went on to a recording contract with DOT records. His first single, a remake of Rhythm Of The Rain did pretty well in 73 and the band began to tour as an opening act for the likes of Roy Clark, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens (among others). Chubby Howard played with Pat's 'Drifters until 1973 when he left for Ohio, I guess. Then came Paula Wolfe, a steel player in the mold of Barbara Mandrel. She was cute and played well and I had such a crush on her. Oh well. (Saddly, Paula passed away a few years ago).

Katz Kobiyashi replaced Paula in 1974, then when he left to work for Marty Robins, It was my turn. I was with The Evergreen Drifters from 1975 through 1978.

Now, back to the TV show thing...

In 76, Pat wanted to revive the old idea of Evergreen Jubilee. With the backing of a flambouant local car dealer/country singer named Gerry Andal, we produced a pilot with guest artist LeRoy VanDyke. It was great fun and actually aired in late 1976. We bagan production in the spring of 77 on Country Northwest. In the old familiar time slot, Saturday nights at 7:30 as I recall. We taped our shows in advance of course. We also had the advantage of being aired on KSTW which was shown on cable systems across the state of Washington. Country NW played every Sat night for almost 3 years. We did a couple of "live" shows from the RIverside Inn and even did a one hour Christmas special.

Note: Forumite Gary Lee Gimble was featured on one show playing (dare I say it,) banjo.

About 3 years ago I attended a reunion of Evergreen Drifters dating bake to Jack's original band from 1948.

There are still fans out there who remember the shows, both the original Jubilee and the latter day Country Northwest. Anyone else care to comment?

BD

Justin Watts · From: Washington, USA

I signed up for this forum because I found this conversation about the Evergreen Drifters. I'm the grandson of Floyd Thomas, the lead guitar player for the Evergreen Drifters who grew up with Marty Dahlgren and I remember watching my grandpa and Marty play since I was little. I really loved reading the post about the Evergreen Jubilee and was hoping to get in contact with someone about putting together the story for a couple friends of mine that are on 97.3 KIRO here in Seattle. Please contact me at water730@gmail.com or 253-680-9034.
Floyd was the 3rd child of 4 boys who grew up in the Thomas Family Band on Queen Anne. His eldest brother Harvey Thomas was a local luthier who made Thomas Guitars here in the valley. We have lots of odd stories about him and I'm working with my family to put together a story and possibly a short video to present to the local media. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Justin Watts

Justin Watts · From: Washington, USA

Also, do any of you know the timeframe that we would need to look for any footage from KOMO for the Evergreen Drifters? I'm going to attempt to get my hands on footage.

Jerry Hedge · From: Norwood Ohio U.S.A.

Hey Justin, You could call Chubby Howard. He could probably tell you some of the information you want. He has a radio show on WBZI radio on the weekends. I think he is on from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM eastern on Saturday and from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM eastern on Sunday. The show is available on line at http://myclassiccountry.com/ He plays some of the new things but mainly Classic Country and STEEL GUITAR INSTRUMENTALS!!! The station phone number is 888-740-9444 (ext. 4 direct to the studio). That is the request line. I think he would love to talk to you as he often talks about his time in the Northwest and how much he loved that time in his life. He's still an active player and still plays great!!! He could probability tell you a lot about your Grandfather.

Justin Watts · From: Washington, USA

Thank you Jerry, I'll contact Chubby as soon as possible. I appreciate the lead, let me know if any other ideas come up. We're hoping to put together photos, recordings, etc.

Janine Richards · From: Washington, USA

My dad's band played on the show, they were Dave Richards and the Nite Riders. I would love to find a copy of the recording of the show.
I cant tell you an exact date but I know that his recordings were all done in the mid 60's so it was most likely around the same time.
You can see the list of the 45's he cut on this site:
http://nwmusicarchives.com/artist/richards-dave/
I have no idea how to reach out to the person you mentioned but will search the site you listed to see if I can find any more info.
If anyone else has anything that can help I would love to hear about it, thanks!

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