1. Herald-Dispatch. All Rights Reserved. -
Friday, July 24, 2015
Craig's music projects on full
display Saturday at park and at
WV Hot Dog Fest
HUNTINGTON - If you're in Ashland for more than five minutes you
learn pretty quick that when it comes to having a good time downtown
Danny Craig usually has something to do with it.
The director of Ashland in Motion (formerly Ashland Main Street)
organized Ashland's first craft beer fest in June, the Firkin' Fest, they
organize the car show and music with First Friday Art Walk, and Craig, a
well-known singer and songwriter, can be heard at venues around
Eastern Kentucky.
Well, this weekend, Ashland shares its multi-talented man about town
with Huntington as Craig has got but two projects happening this
weekend in the city.
Craig's acoustic pop group The Butterfly Effect (with Angy Ross and
Jessica Baldridge) will be performing a free concert at 1 p.m. Saturday,
July 25 at Pullman Square as part of the 11th annual West Virginia Hot
Dog Festival.
And Craig's music will bring the hills of the Ritter Park Amphitheater
alive Friday through Sunday evenings as HART in the Park presents,
"Collis P," an original music with lyrics and book by Clint McElroy and
with music by Craig.
Showtimes for this last weekend of "Collis P," are 8:30 p.m. July 25-26.
Gates open at 7 p.m., a children's pre-show "Wonderland" begins at 7:30
p.m., there's an adult or community pre-show at 8 p.m., and the main
show begins at 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 for children, $15 adults, $20 for reserved seating. Group
rates available. Call 304-696-5954 for tickets.

2. For Craig, who is 62, both projects, and every gig is becoming more
special by the minute. Craig, who is newly married to Jody Collins, is
relocating in a few weeks to Dunedin, Florida.
For the WV Hot Dog Festival Craig and Baldridge will plow through fun
furrows of acoustic pop rock and such songs as Steve Winwood's
"Higher Love," some Aretha Franklin, Eagles and more.
Craig said it's already been emotional for the group as they sang some
Beatles, like Lennon's "This Boy" and "Here Comes the Sun" at the
recent funeral of Dirk Payne "Mr. Tomcat," who was a rabid fan of Craig
and Ross in their former group "Sister Redden Hair."
Craig said he and Angy Ross joined up musically about five years ago
when Ross was booked to play Poage Landing Days and Craig jumped
in on ryhthm guitar and vocals to flesh out the band's sound.
At that time, Craig and Ross had already been art partners, sharing a
space at Pendleton Art Center (now in its 10th year), a destination art co-
op on Winchester Avenue that Craig helped lure to the city in his work
with Main Street.
"She was putting together a band for Poage Landing Days and I kind of
honed in on it and I had played with Julie Reeves for years and I said
'hey let me come and play and I'll play rhythm guitar and sing' and I
rehearsed with them and we did it and she got offers to do some other
things and the band really just did that one show and that was it. She
said can you do this with me and we started getting booked and have had
a great adventure. I am going to miss that girl, she is one of my closest
friends. When you get in a band it's a situation where it seems like you
either hate the people or love 'em and she is someone I love. We added
Jessica about a year and a half ago and built those big, powerful three-
part harmonies and that has been so much fun."
While being in a pop band is right in the wheelhouse of Craig, who spent
time in the Navy as a touring drummer, his hook up with the legendary
radio and stage personality Clint McElroy to create "Collis P." a musical
about Huntington's famous railroad tycoon founder, was out of left field.
Although a regular songwriter and jingle writer (including his famous
"Summit RV - camping made easy" song that is still on the air after 30
years), Craig had never written music for the stage.

3. However, after McElroy had bounced around with other talent laden
songwriters such as Tony Ramey, and Mountain Stage host and charting
songwriter Larry Groce, who actually wrote three songs that were used
in the 2007 reading at the Marshall University New Works Festival, he
and Craig, long-time friends and acquaintances had a relationship that
they felt worked.
"I took it as a challenge and thought it would be interesting to see if I
could score something like this and come up with those kinds of
melodies," Craig said. "And plus the fact that Clint and I had worked
with each other in radio and he was my friend and I knew anything he
created was going to be top notch. I was taken back that he actually
wanted me to help him, I was flattered and also intrigued."
Craig said McElroy in the beginning, about five years ago, gave him
plenty of help such as stacks of CDs of soundtracks of Broadway shows,
and coupled with the fact that McElroy was writing lyrics that
consistently sparked Craig's creative juices made a team that ended up
writing about 30 tracks and then boiling that down to about 20 used in
the show and running the gamut from country and mountain music to
contemporary Broadway pop.
While the two were still working on honing a couple of pieces of music
just months ago, Craig said it was both a joy and a bit surreal to see the
finished musical last weekend, his first time seeing the actors and
musicians bringing their musical works to life.
"There's a couple of songs that are my favorite songs like "Go in Peace,"
and the very first song we created was the intro song, 'Story to Tell' and
it was very Broadway-ish and when we captured that I figured I could
probably do what he wanted or was up for the challenge of trying,"
Craig said. "Clint wrote all of the lyrics and he is such a clever writer
that it made it easy for me."
Craig said seeing it for the first time he and his wife were swept away by
the story and how it puts such a personal stamp on Huntington's life
through his relationships with his wives (Bet or Elizabeth) with whom
he was married to for 39 years before she passed away and his second
wife later in life, Annabelle, who gave Collis P. a real sense of giving
back to people and communities around the U.S., including Huntington.

4. "My wife closed the story and how it is so cleverly written," Craig said.
"To me there is no one with a more creative mind than Clint McElroy,
the guy is off the charts. I am not even in his league but for him to have
asked me to do this a few years ago was an honor to help him."
While the first couple weekends have been hampered by some rain,
"Collis P" is looking at some glorious weather for the final weekend.
Craig said he hopes they really finish with a flourish and that there will
be long-term support in the city to make the production a mainstay.
"I didn't know exactly what to expect when they put it together but I
thought it told the story and that is what they wanted to do is tell the
story about how Huntington became Huntington," Craig said. "If I was
Huntington I would own this and make this play like our 'Tecumseh.'
If You Go:
WHAT: HART in the Park and The Greater Huntington Park and
Recreation District present "Collis P: The Musical."
WHERE: Ritter Park Amphitheater.
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. July 25-26. Gates open at 7 p.m., a children's pre-
show "Wonderland" begins at 7:30 p.m., there's an adult or community
pre-show at 8 p.m., and the main show begins at 8:30 p.m.
WHAT TO BRING: Bring a chair or blanket to sit on. Bring a picnic
basket dinner if you'd like with any legal beverages. There are also full
concessions nightly
GET TICKETS: $10 for children, $15 adults, $20 for reserved seating.
Group rates available. Call 304-696-5954 for tickets or more info, or
visit www.GHPRD.org.
ABOUT THE SHOW: "Collis P" is an original musical about the
founder of Huntington written by Clint McElroy with music by Danny
Craig. "Collis P" will be performed at 8:30 p.m. July 24-26 at the Ritter
Park Amphitheater.
CRAIG @ THE HOT DOG FEST: Danny Craig and Jessica Baldridge
of The Butterfly Effect play at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 25 at the WV Hot
Dog Fest. The concert is free and open to the public.
MORE BUTTERFLY GIGS: Craig has one more gig with The Butterfly
Effect at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11 at the Ironton Summer Concert
Series at the Ironton Farmers Market.