WILD BLUE COUNTRY TOUCHES ALL BASES (CONCERT REVIEW)

There's nothing terribly wild about the band Wild Blue Country. But like slugger Mark McGwire, they touch all the bases.

The U.S. Air Force band performed before an audience of about 700 Saturday night at the Cape Central High School Auditorium. The concert was sponsored by the Southeast Missourian, the Cape Central High School music department and radio station K103.

With the six men dressed in black leather vests and dark blue shirts and vocalist Senior Master Sgt. Marcelle Hureau in a long red dress, the band looked and sounded like a group you might encounter in Nashville.

From contemporary songs by Shania Twain and Martina McBride to the country and western standards of the Sons of the Pioneers, Wild Blue Country provided a kind of travelogue of where country music has been and where it is. The stops included bluegrass (Earl Scruggs' "Dear Old Dixie"), gospel ("Swing Low Sweet Chariot"), country rock ("Honey, I'm Home") and classic rock ("Wake Up Little Susie" and "Runaway").

Of course, it was "Runaway" with the twist of banjo and mandolin.

The band was nearly up to the minute with Tim McGraw's "Where the Green Grass Grows" and Grand Ole Opry as you wanna be with "Orange Blossom Special."

The musicians, all based with the Air Force Band of the Rockies in Colorado, are skilled instrumentalists who have formed a tight-knit unit over the years of playing together. Led by Senior Master Sgt. Don Taylor's comfortable shoe of a voice, the group gave a playful performance that included jokes and brought two teen-agers -- Ashley and Christina -- out of the audience to help sing John Michael Montgomery's "Be My Baby Tonight."

The band showed off their technological chops by adding a steel drum effect to Garth Brooks' "Margaritaville" cop, "Give Me Two Pina Coladas."

Technical Sgt. Edgar Price stood out on steel guitar and banjo, and guitarist-fiddler-mandolinist Jim Christian made his fiddle moan and is an endearing vocalist.

The talented Hureau sang a beautiful rendition of Lee Ann Womack's "Little Past Little Rock" and brought cheers on McBride's "Broken Wing."

Veterans in the audience were asked to stand up on the patriotic tune "Some Gave All." A good number had come to hear a military band that gave a standup performance.