As part of FestivALL, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame is hosting a game show called “West Virginia Squares.” Based on the popular “Hollywood Squares” game show, “West Virginia Squares” will feature questions about West Virginia music and history.
The show will be hosted by Peter Marshall, the original host of the show and a proud West Virginia native. Shows will be taped at 7 and 8:30 p.m. on June 23 and again on June 24.
The show will be streamed live on West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Youtube page. It will also be available right here on wvpublic.org.
The celebrity squares will feature notable West Virginia natives including: Wheeling native Joyce DeWitt (Janet Wood on the TV show “Three’s Company”); 2008 WVMHoF inductees Charlie McCoy and Billy Edd Wheeler; “America’s Got Talent” winner Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.; Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris; Miss West Virginia Charisse Hailsop; Donnie Davisson (Davisson Brothers); “Chasing Nashville” star Autumn Blair; five-time winner of the WV Liar’s Contest Bil Lepp; Charleston Mayor Danny Jones; “Mountain Stage” host Larry Groce; and radio personality Steve Bishop.
West Virginia Squares contestants will include winners of the 2014 West Virginia Golden Horseshoe Award.
Longtime “Hollywood Squares” host Peter Marshall is returning to his home state for a West Virginia version of the TV game show.
The Huntington native will tape four episodes of “West Virginia Squares” at the Clay Center on Monday and Tuesday as part of Charleston’s FestivALL celebration.
The game show will feature questions about state music and history. West Virginia Public Broadcasting will film and distribute the shows to state schools.
FestivALL’s website says among the celebrity squares are Wheeling native Joyce DeWitt, “America’s Got Talent” winner Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., and Charleston Mayor Danny Jones.
The 2013 West Virginia Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place November 16 at Charleston’s Culture Center Theater. This 5th class of inductees included The Goins Brothers, Melvin and his late brother Ray. Melvin Goins sat down at the recent Hall of Fame induction ceremony and shared some thoughts…
Melvin Goins has been involved in the music since the mid-1950s when he joined the legendary Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, an outfit that helped launch the careers of other bluegrass notables like Paul Williams, Bobby Osborne, Charlie Cline and Curly Ray Cline. He worked for a time afterwards with The Stanley Brothers, but made his largest mark with his younger brother Ray as The Goins Brothers over 35 years. When a heart attack took Ray off the road in ’94, Melvin continued on as Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain, a show he fronts to this day.
Goins was born in 1933 on Sinai Mountain, close to the coal mining town of Goodwill in Mercer County. The WV Music Hall of Fame makes the third he’s been inducted into. He was recognized by the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2011 for his contributions as a resident of the Commonwealth, and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2000.
Homer Bailes plays at the WV Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Born in 1922 near Charleston, WV, Homer Bailes, the last surviving member of The Bailes Brothers, passed away December 3, in Ruston, LA.
Along with his brothers Johnnie, Walter and Kyle, the family group played an important role in the development of early country music and were among the most popular and influential country music acts during the 1940s and 1950s. Early in their careers, the brothers worked in various combinations on radio stations throughout WV. In 1944, The Bailes Brothers became the first WV act to become regular performers on the Grand Ole Opry.
After moving to Nashville, the brothers began recording for Columbia Records where they recorded their hits “Dust on the Bible” and “Give Mother My Crown” and “Searching for a Soldier’s Grave.”
After leaving the Opry in 1946, they relocated to KWKH in Shreveport, LA, where they became charter performers on the Louisiana Hayride alongside Hank Williams.
In late 1949, the act broke up but various Bailes Brother combinations continued to play together well into the late 1980s. Their songs have been recorded by Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, Flatt & Scruggs, Webb Pierce, and others. In l983, the Bailes Brothers were inducted into The Walkway of Stars of the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum, in Nashville. In 2002, Germany’s Bear Family Records reissued all of the group’s Columbia material. With Homer accepting the award, The Bailes Brothers were inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Homer, who worked as a preacher during the last decades of his life, will be buried in the Coulee Bethel Cemetery in Campti, LA. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Wounded Warriors Project.
