Helping others: Wes Potts and Bob Camp join forces to raise money for area's hungry

A Western swing band and a vintage rock 'n' roll group will unite Saturday to help keep people from going hungry for the holidays.

Wes Potts and Jackpot Country will open the show at the Arena Building in Cape Girardeau, followed by the Uncle Bob Camp Band. The bands will alternate playing, and an auction will be held during breaks.

Christmas Celebration '07 will be a BYOB affair from 7 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday. No admission will be charged, and the popcorn and soft drinks are free. Donations of money will be welcomed to benefit the Catholic Campus Ministry and the Red Star Food Bank. All the musicians are performing for free.

The event is the brainchild of Cape Girardeau resident Rick Irwin, a veteran of Southern gospel music crusades who now plays keyboards in both the Potts and Camp bands. In talking to people who operate food banks, Irwin discovered they are facing a problem. "Everybody comes in and gives green beans," he said. "You can't make a meal out of just green beans."

The fundraising celebration is an attempt to make people aware of the need to provide a variety of foods at food banks. "We want to help them raise the capital so they can get what they need," Irwin said.

Wes Potts sang while playing bass along with Roger Palmer, rear, and Rick Irwin, not shown, at Irwin's home on Wednesday, December 12, 2007, in preparation for their show on December 22 at the Arena Building. (Kit Doyle)

He said the goal is to form an organization that can help throughout the year. "There are a lot of hungry people, a lot of people caught in the cracks who don't have enough money to help themselves out," he said.

In Wes Potts the dance will present a country music veteran once associated with Glen Campbell and Ray Price. Potts and Campbell played in a band together at the Hitching Post in Albuquerque, N.M., before Campbell moved to the West Coast to play with the Beach Boys and eventually become famous on his own. Potts replaced Campbell with the late guitarist Dave Kirby, who would go on to write "Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone?" and more than 300 other songs.

Potts, a bassist, eventually became a sideman in country music legend Ray Price's band. He had a radio hit singing "Bigger Man Than Me" before George Strait covered the tune and claimed the glory.

Potts is a member of the Western Swing Society of the Southwest Hall of Fame. His band is a full-bore Western swing aggregation with a fiddle player from St. Louis and steel player from Marion, Ill.

Bob Camp is a longtime Cape Gir-ardeau musician who has fronted a number of bands. He founded and organizes the Christmas Hoot concert each holiday season to benefit the Cottonwood Treatment Center for adolescents.

Irwin was asked to put together a band when the Cape County Cowboy Church organized in Fruitland. "They wanted a band that sounded like they came out of a bar but they're full of Jesus," he said.

He played in the hot-picking band for a year and a half. Irwin met Camp a few months ago at a benefit to pay the burial expenses of a fellow musician and joined Camp's band after a recent Rude Dog date.

"I like that vintage stuff Bob does," he said.

Potts, now 71, grew up in Oklahoma. By his senior year in high school he was performing on a show syndicated to 18 radio stations throughout the state. Later he worked with Western swing icon Bob Wills and toured fair dates with Minnie Pearl.

A boating accident nearly ended his career in the 1970s, but he recovered after five operations and continued touring Oklahoma and playing dates in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Reno.

"I started playing when I was 7 years old. This is what I've done all my life," he said.

Potts and his wife, Bonnie, moved to Fredericktown 14 years ago to be near her elderly parents.

Also performing Saturday night will be singers Elizabeth Sykes and Ashley Irwin, two-thirds of the trio Afternoon Delight. Ashley is Rick Irwin's daughter. Irwin said he will present Camp with a certificate of appreciation Saturday for the encouragement he has given to young musicians through the years.