Beech Tree News Network

Saturday night, June 16th, a large crowd of music and car enthusiasts gathered at Pizza Zone for the St. Jude Jam/Cruise-in featuring Southbound.  Among the many cars and trucks brought for show were: lime green Silverado truck, jet black Duster, light blue SS, red Stingray, black Monte Carlo SS, dark green 2001 Bullitt, red 340 Duster, baby blue 396 Turbo Jet, a red C-10 350 truck and a bright yellow Vega, along with several motorcycles.  There was some great pizza and live music as well.  It was pretty much all you could want.

The Beaver FM’s Myla Thomas was the emcee for the evening-the hostess with the mostess, if you will. Southbound began their set with “Good One Comin’ On.” They followed with “Southern Livin’”, “Southbound” and “Hell’s Breakin’ Loose” from their debut album Dry County Blues.  If you don’t have it, by all means go get it! They mixed in some classics and current covers as well, from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s "Down South Jukin’" and CCR’s “Bad Moon Risin’” to a Shooter Jennings track and Jake Owens’ “8 Second Ride.” 

There was a raffle, with all proceeds going to St. Jude.  In the raffle was an autographed UK basketball (won by Paul Fields), a basket from Confection Connection (won by Connie Barks), a certificate from Compton’s Auto (won by Deidra Mayfield), a Blackstone Cherry drumhead (won by Dale Tarrence), a Tennessee Titans mini-helmet autographed by Derrick Morgan and Jason Jones (won by me), hair care products (won by Lisa Pendley), and a Fender Stratocaster from Kentucky Music (won by Don Sullivan).

During the concert portion of the event, I was blessed with the good fortune of meeting Deidra Mayfield. Myla introduced us and told me she’s known Deidra for 15 years.  Deidra has bone cancer in one of her legs.  She is defying doctor’s odds every-day and living her life.  Talk about an inspiration!

This was my second St. Jude Jam and I see myself attending many more in the future.  This is a great event for a great cause! There were 100-120 people in attendance and about 25 cars, according to Pizza Zone owner Dale Willis.