Tau Phi’s Cowboy Show unites current, former members for night of entertainment

Lipscomb alumni made their way back to campus for Tau Phi’s 35th annual Cowboy Show on Saturday night. This year’s show was a reunion of current and former social club members to put on an entertaining performance. Tau Phi senior Jesse Taylor said they wanted to get everyone involved to create a fun atmosphere. “We wanted to bring back all the tradition and everything everybody has experienced in the past,” Taylor said. While members of Tau Phi headlined the show, many female social clubs participated in the show as well. Pi Delta senior Anna Claire Temple was pleased with the energy in Collins. “We had connections with the alumni and older people who were in the crowd, so I thought that helped a lot,” Temple said. The show featured a live band, choreographed dances, covers of popular country songs and original performances from students. Taylor was one of many who had the opportunity to perform original songs during the show. “When you sit in your room and you write a song, staring at the wall, and then you hear a band behind it, it’s a cool feeling,” Taylor said.”We were both very excited to play with the band” Photo credits to Sam Webb Created with Admarket’s...

Current, past members of Tau Phi come together for 35th Cowboy Show

A country twang is in the air at Lipscomb University, as the boys of Tau Phi come together to put on the 35th annual Cowboy Show. This year, Tau Phi alumni will join the stage with current club members for a reunion show. The host this year is McRae Benefield, a Tau Phi alumnus who was a part of the very first Cowboy Show held inside Collins Auditorium. “I pledged in the spring of ‘78” Benefield said. “They were doing Bison Day and we were all dressed up like cowboys. They did a little cowboy show out on the steps of alumni auditorium, and I thought that was kind of cool, so that’s the reason I decided to pledge to Tau Phi. We were the first ones to do it inside alumni, and it’s just pretty neat that it’s still hanging on.” The Cowboy Show started in 1974 when a few Tau Phi members got together and put on a small show on the front steps of Collins Auditorium. The popularity of this small gathering slowly grew over five years. Then, in 1979, the show moved inside to the Collins stage where it’s been held ever since. Clay Whitaker, the Cowboy Show director, admits that putting a show like this together is very hard work, but it also strengthens the friendships in Tau Phi year after year. “It’s a pretty big undertaking,” Whitaker said. “Hiring the band, the audio/visual technicians, building a set, organizing practice, making sure a bunch of college kids get their stuff together for a production. It’s hard to corral people together. But, it’s fun to...

Jimmy Eugene, “The Heartstrings” and quartet of students share country music with campus

Four Lipscomb students took the stage Friday night and followed the footsteps of artists like Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan as they performed with local country artist and oral surgeon Jimmy Eugene in Shamblin Theater. Eugene’s band members “The Heartstrings,” or the “E. String Band,” are local musicians who have played with some of the best in the business. Leading off the night, Eugene agreed to let a few of Lipscomb’s talented artists steal the show before “The Heartstrings” took the stage. Jesse Taylor, a junior singer-songwriter at Lipscomb, started the evening off, followed by senior Kelly Dean, freshman David Austin Lowry and senior Lacy Printz respectively. They all performed one of their own original songs. “This was the first time I’ve played this song in front of people that I know, so I was a little nervous,” senior Kelly Dean said after her performance. “I was glad to have people I knew in the audience, though.” Eugene and “The Heartstrings” played several songs throughout the night, including a song Eugene wrote titled “West Bound Plane” about a young lady with cancer he met on a flight from Memphis to New Orleans. “Tonight when you’re going to bed, say a little prayer for that lady,” Jimmy said after performing his hit “West Bound Plane.” “I think about her often.” The night continued with the feel-good music from the band. During intermission, the artists from Lipscomb took the stage once more, only this time, playing covers from their favorite artists in the business while Eugene passed out t-shirts and CD’s. “The Heartstring” band took the stage one last time, singing...

Jesse Taylor finds joy in songwriting and performing

Jesse Taylor didn’t learn how to play the guitar until he was a senior in high school. If you’re familiar with the sophomore Fairview, Tenn., native, you might find this a bit surprising. Taylor, a regular performer at Rooster’s Barbeque (located in Downtown Nashville), can’t exactly claim to have bitten by the country music bug at the same time his guitar skills came to fruition, but it’s easy to see where this aspiring country singer-songwriter gets his inspiration. A car ride to the hospital to see his newly born sister marked the first time any of his family got the idea that the two-year-old Taylor had country in his veins. “My aunt told me that when she took me to the hospital to see my sister, she put me in the car and I started crying about five minutes down the road, and she couldn’t figure out why,” Taylor said. “And I kept saying ‘Hoochee, Hoochee, Hoochee’.” The cause of young Taylor’s cries? A desire to listen to Alan Jackson’s 1993 hit “Chattahoochee.” “She put that Alan Jackson tape in there,” Taylor said. “And we listened to ‘Chattahoochee’ all the way [to the hospital], and all the way back home.” Taylor cites Jackson as one of his early inspirations as a singer/songwriter, along with George Jones, Johnny Cash and Sonny James. Taylor became personally familiar with James, a former country chart-topper, around his sixth grade year of school, as the two went to church together. From that point on, a big hug after the service wasn’t foreign for James, Taylor and Taylor’s little brother. “[James] is a fantastic singer,...