Singing duo turns into a harmonizing friendship

After 26 years of singing together the members of Classy Chassy Country have naturally become good friends.

Classy Chassy Country was originally started by Becki McClelland while she was working at a bank in Cape Girardeau. She had already been singing at nursing homes, veterans homes and small festivals. During one of these festivals, she met her now longtime friend, Leroy Eftink.

Eftink was looking for entertainment for an Old Fashion Day festival in Oran and had asked McClelland to take a spot. Between the time of booking her to the festival Eftink asked if the two could sing a song together sometime.

"She said, 'Sure. Just come up, and we'll practice singing a song together for the festival.'" Eftink said. "We practiced, and I had never heard the song before, but she said it was a really good duet song. So we tried, and it was as if we had been singing together all along."

Starting in September 1997, they became the duo they are today. Over the years, they have performed mostly in the older country music genre as they usually sing to older individuals. However, they do get requests for other songs as well, including a song called "She'd Be 18 Today", which was written by McClelland's mother in 1929 about her own sister who had passed away at a young age.

During their years of singing together, McClelland and Eftink have traveled to many places to perform. One weekend they wanted to go somewhere nobody would know them to see how others would react to their singing, Nashville, Tennessee. They walked into a venue where people were singing rock and more popular songs, but they still decided to sing.

"We're kind of just looking at each other like, 'This is not gonna be a good experience,' but it turns out that they did enjoy it. So that was kind of neat," Eftink said

The next day the duo was able to fulfill a dream -- sing on the Grand Ole Opry stage. On an Opry tour, a family member with them told the guide how they were singers and the story behind McClelland's mother's song. They were able to sing for a crown of about thirty-five on the coveted stage.

"I said, Boy if my momma would know her song was being sung on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium.' She'd already been gone many years," McClelland said.

While this may have been a favorite memory for the duo, they have made many memories and friends while doing festivals and parades. McCelland said her favorite place to perform is at Stuckmeyer's Farm in Fenton.

"We have been singing up there for 20-some-odd years. We have made friends, people who come up just to hear us sing because they know we will be there. So that would be my favorite place to perform." McClelland said.

Singing in many places has allowed Classy Chassy Country to make closer friendships as well as meet other artists. Among these they have met include the Oak Ridge Boys, Brad Paisley and Sara Evans.

As the two have a history together in singing they have learned from each other over the years. They have learned to harmonize together and lean on each other while performing. They consider themselves best friends and have developed a relationship that is rare to find.

Nowadays, the duo sings together each Saturday in Chaffee at Main Street Entertainment, which they opened in April 2023 to bring family entertainment to the town, in addition to performing at a few festivals and in parades.