'Christmas Spec-tac-yule-ar'

3 Redneck Tenors to perform at Paramount; open house set for Nov. 23

If comedian Larry the Cable Guy could sing, didn’t cuss and had a better mullet, then he would fit right in with the 3 Redneck Tenors.
To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, you might be a redneck if your name is either Billy Joe, Billy Bob or Billy Billee.
Or you just may be a member of the 3 Redneck Tenors.
About fours years after they formed, the 3 Redneck Tenors return to Bristol, Tenn., on Nov. 23 at the Paramount Center for the Arts for their “Christmas Spec-tac-yule-ar.”
The show coincides with Downtown Bristol’s Annual Christmas Open House. Sponsored by Believe in Bristol, the event runs from 5-8 p.m. and includes free carriage rides, carolers and Claus – Santa Claus, that is. Ho ho ho on over to S.B. Paul Art Gallery at 606 State St. for photos with Santa.
Now back to the Rednecks.
Their show includes a wonderfully funny story filled with songs whimsical to wondrous.
“Edna May has moved into her brand new trailer,” said Matthew Lord, founder of and Billy Joe in the 3 Redneck Tenors, “but with the death of her cousin, Billy Ray, she has lost the Christmas spirit.”
So Edna May runs off to her grandmother’s trailer.
“But her grandmother got run over by a reindeer before she gets there,” Lord said by phone recently from Stuart, Fla. “We help her find her Christmas spirit.”
The first half of the show features Edna May’s story. The second half is more of a straight-up performance of Christmas songs, albeit as the 3 Redneck Tenors.
“There’s no way to comically do ‘Oh Holy Night’ and ‘Silent Night,’ ” Lord said of two of the songs they will perform. “It’s a flat-out Christmas show. It’s like a Bob Hope Christmas show with some humor put in.”
Formed four years ago essentially on a whim to perform at a benefit, Lord’s group may not seem like it, but they do indeed perform opera. And Bristol was among the first to ever hear them.
“Bristol was our third show,” Lord said, “and it was sold out.”
One look at the 3 Redneck Tenors, and no one would peg them as opera singers. On stage, they wear fake mullets, NASCAR hats and the like amid such backdrops as ragtag trailers. Not exactly opera material, right? However, a quick check into their individual pasts reveals impressive pasts.
But really, one sentence from Lord sums it up.
“I had just made my Metropolitan Opera debut in New York,” Lord said.
The 3 Redneck Tenors began soon after that.
Enough said. These guys carry strong pedigrees as classically trained singers with pasts that have taken them to Broadway, the Met and across the country as pure opera singers.
But that has not shielded them from highbrow opera critics.
“I will throw our voices and musical values up against any of them,” Lord said. “I’d throw our ‘Green, Green Grass of Home’ up against Schubert anytime.”
Talk with Lord, and he’s as capable of conversing about the country music of Porter Wagoner as he is the opera of Luciano Pavarotti. He’s as comfortable attired in a tuxedo as dressed in blue jeans and behind the wheel of a semi.
Literally.
“I’m a licensed truck driver,” Lord said. “And I’ve been doing opera for the last 25 years.”

IF YOU GO
Who: 3 Redneck Tenors’ “Christmas Spec-tac-yule-ar”
When: Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
Admission: $36 for adults, $32 for seniors and students
Info: (423) 274-8920
Web, audio and video: www.3rednecktenors.com

2009 ANNUAL CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE
When: Nov. 23, 5-8 p.m.
Where: Downtown Bristol, State Street
Info: (423) 573-2200
Web: www.believeinbristol.org

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at features@bristolnews.com.