Grand Country Music Hall News - February 11, 2025

Here's an article about the new Grand Jubilee from the January Northwest Arkansas Gazette. Author Becca Martin-Brown, Freelance Arts Writer for NW Arkansas Gazette

It might be said that Mike Patrick, the master of ceremonies at the Grand Country Music Hall, hands Michael Davis a menu for every new season. It’s up to Davis, the pianist and music director for the Grand Jubilee, to take the ingredients selected by Patrick and make a delicious musical meal.

The all-new show for 2026 was served up for the first time on New Year’s Eve, and Barry Arwood, lead singer for the headlining New South Gospel Quartet, repeatedly honored as Branson’s Best Quartet, says audiences and the musicians themselves are happily singing, dancing and playing their fill.

“We do the Grand Jubilee show 250 to 300 times, six nights a week, probably 49 weeks out of the year,” he says. “So no matter how fun the show is, it’s nice to have something fresh and mix things up a little bit. Plus musicians always enjoy the process and the challenge!”

Davis explains that he does read music, but it’s his ability to play by ear that helps create a new show. Patrick — who is the reigning emcee of the year in Branson and the heart that sets the beat for all the shows at the Grand Country Music Hall — brings him a smorgasbord of songs he’d like to perform, usually delivered as recordings he enjoys. It’s up to Davis to take the pieces that Patrick prefers and deliver them to the performers as sheet music, ready to learn.

“It’s a creative process,” Davis says. “I know a lot musically, and I know how to orchestrate everything, but I also like to incorporate everyone’s ideas; it makes you feel like you own part of the show.”

Like so many Branson performers, Davis has been making music as long as he can remember. Growing up in Camden, Ark., he started lessons in classical piano at age 4. Later, he joined the school band and choir, but he and his dad also played with legendary blues and soul guitarist, singer and songwriter Michael Burks.

“I’ve always been passionate about all different styles of music,” he says. “Classical just provides a deep foundation — and it gives you good piano technique as well!”

The road to Branson started with another friend of his dad’s, country Americana songwriter Steve Black, who was playing the Pump Boys & Dinettes Dinner Theater and offered him a job. Soon, Davis was on the road with Black, playing Branson and the Ozark Mountain Hoedown in Eureka Springs. A chance in 2001 to join the Down Home Country Show at the Grand Country Music Hall sounded magical.

Arwood and Patrick both grew up surrounded by music, too. 

Arwood went to Missouri Southern State University majoring in classical bassoon and minoring in opera vocal performance. But he also grew up going to Branson as a weekend getaway with his family and hanging out with his grandfather, a music minister, a recording studio owner and an occasional guest performer with the Foggy River Boys.

Patrick grew up down the road from Branson in Nixa, Mo., and attended church with the original Bald Knobbers, the Mabe family, who started the Branson family entertainment tradition in 1959.

“I was 5 before I knew not everybody did a show at night,” Patrick remembers with a laugh. “I was always in love with Branson. I always knew I wanted to be a part of that world.”

Arwood admits being part of the Grand Jubilee is still surreal to him.

“I remember being 5 or 6 years old and seeing all the performers at Silver Dollar City or going to see the different shows on the strip with my family and going back to the Branson Towers Hotel for their cobbler and ice cream after the shows were done,” he says. “I remember seeing the people up on stage and thinking that was the coolest thing on the planet. And now I’m on that stage.”

Arwood and Davis both perform almost every day at Grand Country, with rehearsals whenever the quartet and the band can find a minute to work together. The new repertoire becomes the focus of those rehearsals in the autumn, bringing together new songs, old songs and favorite songs. With New South and The Rhinestone Mafia centerstage, it’s the heart of the Grand Country lineup, with a list of awards including “Entertainers of the Year,” “Branson’s Best Show,” “Branson’s Best Variety Show,” “Quartet of the Year,” “Comedian of the Year,” “Emcee of the Year” and more.

As always, Davis says, audiences will hear Top 40, country & gospel classics, and rock ‘n’ roll hits from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, all seasoned with comedy by "Jim Dandy," also known as Jaime Haage.

Of course, fans who come back again and again want to know the performers, and Davis says this year’s “band song” — when they’re introduced — is Brad Paisley’s hit, “Cliffs of Rock City.” And they’ll get to see Davis come out from behind his piano to play the “keytar,” a keyboard instrument he can wear like a guitar.

“I’m kind of a shy guy on one hand, but I like people,” Davis says with a chuckle.

Grand Jubilee is on stage four nights a week through February — Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday — with bonus shows Feb. 15-16 for Valentine's Day. The full six-day-a-week schedule resumes in March.

Grand Country

Wild Bunch