They both are successful and respected in their full-time jobs, but Rosemary Cundiff Brown and Chris Kramer might very well have experienced long and profitable careers as full-time entertainers if they had chosen to do so.
Logan Countians can judge for themselves Thursday evening when the two singers with rich, melodious voices perform in a “Southern Style Picnic & Concert” at the Historic Old Logan County Courthouse.
The picnic begins at 5:30 and the singing should start about 7 p.m., according to J.R. Cundiff, Rosemary’s dad and one of the planners of the event along with her mom, Zelma.
The Logan County Republican Executive Committee is sponsoring the evening, but the Cundiffs and Kramer insist that no political speaking will be involved.
Cundiff-Brown, who lives in Louisville, and Kramer, who is a preacher in Russellville, have performed together before but have never practiced together. “As we heard each other sing, we found our voices are a natural meld,” Kramer told Don Neagle on WRUS’ Feedback Wednesday.
Rosemary Cundiff-Brown is a 1990 graduate of Logan County High School where she was a standout in speech and drama. She also was a member of the internationally acclaimed forensics team at WKU, but she became more involved in drama before her graduation with majors in secondary education and theatre. She has built North Oldham High School into one of the state’s best speech teams, which is also successful on the national level.
Her husband, Jonathan Brown, has been a professional photographer for several years, and in 2007 Rosemary joined him in Monarch Photography LLC. Both of them have earned National Merit Photographers of America status, and their photographs have been displayed not only around the nation but also internationally.
Despite being so involved in coaching speech and shooting prize-winning photographs, Rosemary still finds time to use her own performance skills. She has acted in many plays, often musicals, and toured the state in her one-woman Kentucky Humanities show in the role of the late Kentucky crooner Rosemary Clooney. In fact, she gave one of those performances at this same venue in Russellville a few yeas ago.
Her latest gig has been the female vocalist for the Louisville-based sixties band Personnel Only. They perform on weekends.
Chris Kramer, who is four years older than Cundiff-Brown, is a minister for Northside Church of Christ in Russellville. He and his wife Jeanette are not only parents but also grandparents.
He says his public performances began locally when one of the Northside members, Dottie Hightower, got him to sing for a function she was having. Pretty soon he was receiving more and more invitations to sing at a variety of events.
Kramer is known to many area residents and tourists as a talented impersonator of Elvis Presley. Nat and Jean Nofsinger book him to do Elvis shows at their Shady Cliff Boat Dock and Restaurant for special events, including the upcoming Labor Day celebration.
More about Chris Kramer can be learned at his website, http://chriskramer.vpweb.com/default.html.
Tickets for the meal and the concert are $10. They can be obtained by calling Bobbie Jean or Keith Burnett at 726-3801 or from the Cundiffs at 726-3787. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.