Enjoy a night of country music by the real Ronnie Milsap on the Chesapeake Bay at our outdoor waterfront venue. A variety of tickets are available from the affordable standing room only tickets to reserved tables for you and your friends to enjoy dinner, drinks and live music on the Chesapeake Bay.
Milsap had been living music almost from the start. Born in Robbinsville, North Carolina, at the edge of the Smoky Mountains, he was enveloped in his early years by country – the region was crucial to such history-makers as Jimmie Rodgers, Chet Atkins and Dolly Parton. Milsap subsequently received classical training at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, though he notoriously frustrated his teachers by banging out Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard rock & roll on the keyboard when he was supposed to be practicing Mozart and Beethoven.
Milsap’s music continued to connect him with future Hall of Famers and key figures. He moved to Memphis, working frequently with producer Chips Moman (Neil Diamond, The Box Tops), who put him to work on several Elvis Presley sessions. Specific instructions from Elvis during recording on “Kentucky Rain” – “Hey, more thunder on the piano, Milsap!” – still ring in Ronnie’s ears.
During that time, he performed on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip, first with J.J. Cale, then on his own. One night his audience included future Country Hall of Famer Charley Pride, who encouraged Milsap to try his hand in Music City. Opportunity came when he was invited to become the house singer at Nashville’s King of the Road Motor Inn, owned by Hall of Famer Roger Miller. Within weeks, Milsap signed a management deal with Pride’s manager, Jack D. Johnson, and recorded his first hits for RCA.
That began a remarkable string in which Milsap nabbed at least one Top 10 single annually for 20 straight years. Those songs connected him to some of the most significant writers of his generation – Kris Kristofferson (“Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends”), Burt Bacharach (“Any Day Now”), Eddie Rabbitt (“Pure Love”), Don Gibson (“I’d Be A Legend In My Time”), Mike Reid (“Inside,” “Stranger In This House”), Archie Jordan (“It Was Almost Like A Song”) and Hank Cochran (“Don’t You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me”), to name just a handful.
Milsap earned a reputation for his meticulous recordings. He purchased a Music Row studio from Roy Orbison, renamed it Ground Star Laboratory, and experimented with elaborate keyboard parts, inventive guitar sounds and multi-layered vocals. It was a precursor to the modern recording era, where artists such as Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley and Steve Wariner have built their own recording facilities. Milsap’s former studio – which has been used by Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs and Pistol Annies – appropriately still operates today, lovingly re-branded Ronnie’s Place.
Website: http://www.ronniemilsap.com/
Doors will open at 5:30pm. Opening act will play at 6:30pm and the main act will go live at 8pm.
*If you choose to select a seating section from the drop down option instead of choosing your own seat, please note that you will be assigned best available seat.