On Thursday, September 30th, country music singer and guitarist, Dennis Perry played two gigs in The Mayflower Community—one in the Beebe Circle and one in the Health Center Courtyard. The event is sponsored by Mayflower’ Community Life department.
A Marshalltown area native, Dennis took residents on a musical stroll down memory lane while playing guitar and singing songs from the 1930s through the ‘40s. Residents sang along while toe tapping.
He learned to play guitar while in the Army. When he came home, he talked his younger brother into playing drums with him. They named themselves the “Western Tones,” added four more musicians and started playing taverns and honky-tonks.
The six-piece band then began playing local ballrooms. In 1955, the band broke up, and Dennis went out on his own, playing nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Currently, Dennis is the front man for a band named “Highway 30 Band.” He is just starting his 54th year in music and reports, “I love it as much today as when I first started.
— Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director