Names: Ralna English and Guy Hovis
Stars of the Lawrence Welk Show who will be performing at the Capitol Center for the Arts on May 12 in a benefit show for the Granite State Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are available at ccanh.com, and the show begins at 3 p.m.
How has the music world changed since you made your Lawrence Welk Show debut back in 1969?
Ralna: It’s a completely different ballgame now than it was when we started out. It used to be you got with a record company; now you can have your own record company, put it on YouTube and be an instant star. And with all the TV shows they have now, you can go on The Voice or American Idol. It’s changed tremendously. There’s so much more information because of the internet that you can acquire, there’s so much you can learn quickly. Things move faster now.
Guy: When we started on the Lawrence Welk Show, the music that was being played on the show was mostly music from maybe up through the ’50s, maybe some ’60s. We got them to let us do some of the current songs from the ’70s. But since the 1980s, everything in music started changing. It’s a totally different world now. I’ve told people many times, if I had to get into the music business right now, I wouldn’t even know which way to go. Everything, from technology to digital recording has just progressively changed so fast every year.
If the Lawrence Welk Show was still around, which musicians of today would be a good fit to perform on it?
Ralna: To tell you the truth, our show is still very popular. It wasn’t just the musicians or just the singers; it was also the beauty of the show, the aesthetics of the show, the sets, the colors, the costumes. It really appeared to a very broad spectrum and all kinds of cultures. It appealed to and still appeals to those cultures. I think the show itself would stand today with some of the musicians. American Idol, they’ve used some of our musicians (trumpet player Warren Luening).
Guy: You’ve got people like Michael Buble, guys that do some of the old standards, but he’s had some hit records with his own stuff. A lot of country singers could probably fit in well with some of the stuff we did. It was hard to say what Lawrence Welk would have let on his show – he knew what his audience would like, and if he thought it was good for his audience, he’d put them on the show. But there’s so much talent out there now, so much music out there now, so much good stuff. You could listen to music 24 hours a day and not get close to hearing a fraction of what’s out there.
What is one of the proudest moment from your career?
Ralna: I don’t know about picking a proudest moment, but I can tell you, we love coming back East, and we love Concord. We’ve been there a couple of times, and Guy and I always say, in another life I think that’s probably where we were, on the East Coast. We used to play the circuit back here of the theaters in the round, and for 20 or 30 years we’d come back and play. We got used to that culture and your wonderful lobster rolls. That’s what I’m looking forward to more than anything is coming back for the lobster. But I think that’s probably our favorite part of the country. We’ve probably had more fun there than any other place we’ve played.
Guy: I think all of us have a memory of the time we played Madison Square Garden with the whole Welk show. It was thrilling for all of us. It was totally sold out, and it was the first time ever to play there for us. It was just incredible. That one always sticks out in my mind. And I’ll always remember the last one we did, up in Concord, Calif. It was the last road show, which was almost like a farewell tour, probably in the spring of 1982 or something like that.
What is the most difficult aspect of traveling all the time to perform? What is the best part?
Ralna: Travel has changed so much, tremendously since we first started. Everything was slower, it wasn’t so hurried. I remember when the flight attendant would come by – and she was called a stewardess back then, but they aren’t called that anymore – and she would say hello and give you a blanket, give you a pillow. Now it’s long lines and having to stand there forever and check every little thing. But we’ve seen everything. We’ve worked in every state in the country. We’ve seen all the sights, all there is to see in the United States – from Niagara Falls to Mount Rushmore, all the state parks, the Ozarks. We’ve seen all the beauty there is in this country.
Guy: The most difficult thing about travel these days is just trying to get there. Just traveling by air today if you don’t have your own plane is kind of a pain. But we love to go back to those places we’ve been. We’ve always had an affinity for New England. Our first gig we ever did as a public appearance with the Lawrence Welk Show was right out there at Lincoln Park outside of Providence, R.I. That area of the country is one of the most popular for us. We loved it up there, and getting back to the same places, you make old friends over all these years, and they are still coming out to see us.
Who are currently some of your favorite artists?
Ralna: I love Bruno Mars, I can’t get enough of him . . . in my car, on my iPod. I think he’s darling. And I love Justin Timberlake’s new CD. I am crazy about him. For female artists, I love a jazz singer named Jane Monheit, and I think Shakira is adorable. I’m really into jazz a lot, so I like a lot of different jazz artists. Ella Fitzgerald is my favorite singer of all-time.
Guy: I have to pull up my iPod to think of all the ones I listen to now. I grew up with gospel music, I love southern gospel music. But I like people like Zac Brown Band, I love the Lumineers. I listen to a little bit of everything. My iPod has Dilbert McClinton, Diana Krall, the Eagles, Edie Brickell, Gladys Knight, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion.
What are your secrets to having such a sustained run of success?
Ralna: I think one reason is because we’ve been on television every week for the last 43 years, and people still gather in the living room as a family to watch the show, and they have from Day One. When their children grow up, maybe they go away from it for awhile, but when they have children, they come back and sit together and watch it. Little children are drawn to the show, and when they grow up, they remember it. It brings back that warm feeling of family, and generation after generation have continued watching because of that.
Guy: The main key to our success is that we have kind of followed what Lawrence Welk taught us about music and the audience. He always said, sing the songs that they want to hear. We’ve worked at it, at trying to keep our act current. We do songs from the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Of course, Ralna would probaly say one of the keys to our success is that we aren’t married anymore.
What do folks have in store for them if they come out to the May 12 show?
Ralna: We’re going to do a lot of the songs people have heard us sing on the show over the years. I’m doing my signature song, How Great Thou Art – I always have to include that. We’ll do some new things, too; we’ll sit on stools and sing some songs maybe they haven’t heard us do before. We’ll do some gospel, a little country, a little jazz – a little of this, a little of that.
Guy: Well, it’s Mother’s Day, so we’re going to have to do something for all the mothers. I’m going to do Let the Eagles Soar, which is the song I sang at the presidential inauguration (in 2005). There’s some gospel in there, and everything from Tangerine from the ’40s to Lean on Me from the ’70s to You Light Up My Life. I do some impressions, so I’ll do a little of that. And then we have our patriotic music that we close out with. There’s a little bit of something for everybody, we hope.
Do you ever forget which one of you is Guy and which one is Ralna?
Ralna: I’ll tell you a funny story about that. One of the very first shows we ever did was at Lincoln Park, and when we got there they had this huge banner across the outdoor stage that said “Welcome Guy Hovers and Alna English.” We went out to rehearse and there was nobody there, but then we started the show and there must have been 5,000 people.
Guy: No, with a name like Ralna, that sort of gets your attention. So we don’t ever get confused very much. But I had a partner named David that I sang with before this duo. We went by Guy and David, and back in the late ’60s, this one guy couldn’t remember how to introduce us, so he introduced us as David and Goliath. But Ralna and I don’t have any cases of mistaken identity.
If you were going to sing a song about how awesome Concord is, how would it go?
Ralna: It would probably be something like, joy in the morning, joy in the evening, joy at suppertime, because I’m going to have lobster morning, noon and night.
Guy: I’d have to sing a memory song, something expressing the love we have for that part of the country. I guess I wouldn’t want to sing Moonlight in Vermont, though, since we’re going to be in New Hampshire.
