–“Patsy Meets Elvis at The Virginia Opry,” the first tribute show of its kind, will be held at The Historic Masonic Theatre on Sat., March 26, at 7:00 p.m.
World Champion Elvis Tribute Artist Michael Hoover and His Show Band will pay tribute to the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and Denise Glass, a Patsy Cline tribute artist from Jonesville, Va., will perform her tribute in the show that vocalist Glen Shelton will emcee.
All of the nine performers are members of The Virginia Opry, the official Opry of the Commonwealth of Virginia as of March 31, 2020, the date that Governor Ralph S. Northam signed “Senate Bill 283” to give The Virginia Opry its official status.
Glass who performed her tribute to Patsy Cline at the Historic Masonic Theatre prior to the COVID-19 pandemic revealed to her audience that the last photograph that Patsy Cline pasted inside her photo album was a photo of Elvis.
Both Elvis and Patsy became iconic recording artists before Patsy was killed in an airplane crash in 1963 at 30, more than a decade before Elvis passed away from the complications from his diet and prescription barbiturates that led to his heart attack at 42.
Hoover won the Elvis International Competition held in Memphis where he finished first out of 96 Elvis tribute artists, and he has taken his show on the road to foreign countries as far away as Japan and as close as Canada and Mexico.
He has performed at the U.S. Summer Olympics that were held in Atlanta, and he set a box office record for The Virginia Opry at $4,558 during his “Memories of Elvis” tribute at The Historic Masonic Theatre in 2018 with Congressman Morgan Griffith in the audience.
Appearing on many television shows across the nation, including a one-hour TV special that featured Hoover as a vocalist paying tribute to Elvis, Hoover performs annually in Memphis in Aug. when thousands of Elvis fans gather to remember Elvis who died inside his Graceland mansion on Aug. 16, 1977.
Glass grew up in Southwest Virginia as a Patsy Cline enthusiast, and she honed her skill as a vocalist with her father’s band during her teenage years. She is the lead singer for Band X when she is not performing her Patsy Cline tribute during which she makes costume changes between acts and communicates with her audience about the career of Patsy Cline and the way Patsy’s life has impacted her life.
Shelton has opened for more than 40 nationally prominent acts and shared the stage with such famous country music recording artists as Randy Travis. He recently recorded two songs in Nashville that will soon be released.
Tickets are $20 to $40 depending on seating locations in The Historic Masonic Theatre that seats 540 following a $6.9 million 2015-2016 restoration project that increased the seating capacity by 20.
As of March 10, 122 tickets have been sold, and tickets may be purchased online by visiting www.historicmasonictheatre.com, by visiting the box office at 510 Main Street or by telephone at (540) 862-5655.
M. Ray Allen, director of The Virginia Opry, remarked, “As far as I can tell, this will be a history-making show in that two professional tribute artists will team up with a Nashville recording artist to present “Patsy Meets Elvis at The Virginia Opry.”
The Virginia Opry’s Resort Performance Home is Natural Bridge Historic Hotel and Conference Center, and its Radio Home is WKEY Radio Station’s 103.5 Big Country in Covington. The Town of Clifton Forge’s Town Council recently voted 5-0 to designate the Town of Clifton Forge as Home of The Virginia Opry.
Appalfolks of America Association (AAA) restored The Historic Masonic Theatre that was operating at the time as the Historic Stonewall Theatre when AAA founded The Virginia Opry on Oct. 17, 1992. After 12 years of continued restoration work in the fully functioning theatre, AAA donated the theatre to the Town of Clifton Forge in Dec. of 2003.
The members of Bill Pinkney’s Original Drifters were inducted into The Virginia Opry prior to The Virginia Opry’s “Be My Valentine Show” on Feb. 5, and the group proceeded to set a new box office record for The Virginia Opry at $6,960.
With the omicron variant leveling off, patrons of live music performances are returning to fill seats, and AAA is hoping to sell out The Historic Masonic Theatre for the first time in its history since 20 new seats were added during its most recent restoration completed by the Masonic Theatre Preservation Foundation that leases the facility from the Town of Clifton Forge.