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Mike Munford, Mike Ritter, Kenn Roberts, Jon Glik, Buddy Renfro, Mack Bailey

Mack Bailey, Mike Munford, Mike Ritter

Kenn Roberts, Buddy Renfro, Jon Glik

Mike Ritter, Kenn Roberts, Mack Bailey, Ira Gitlin

Christmas Reunion Shows at Rams Head

December 22, 2001

Kenn Roberts, Ira Gitlin, Mack Bailey, Jon Glik, Mike Munford

"Music From The Mountains" at Maryland Hall

November 9, 2001

 Special Guest Jim Salestrom, Mack Bailey, Ira Gitlin, Mike Munford

Christmas Reunion Shows at Rams Head

December 21 & 22, 2001

Ira Gitlin, Mike Munford, Mack Bailey, Kenn Roberts, Jon Glik

Baldwin's Station

May 29 & 30, 2002

Mike Munford, Kenn Roberts, Mack Bailey, Ira Gitlin, Jon Glik

Cystic Fibrosis Benefit at the Baltimore Arena - Opening for Alan Jackson

September 13, 2002

Special guest John Sommers, Kenn Roberts, Jon Glik, Mack Bailey, special guests Jim Horn and Jim Salestrom

New Group Photo for 2003

Ira Gitlin, Jon Glik, Kenn Roberts, Mack Bailey, Mike Munford

(If you need to use this photo for PR purposes, please use the larger version by clicking HERE, and click on right button on mouse, and use "Save as.")

New Group Photo for 2003

Kenn Roberts, Jon Glik,Ira Gitlin, Mack Bailey, Mike Munford

(If you need to use this photo for PR purposes, please use the larger version by clicking HERE, and click on right button on mouse, and use "Save as.")

The Hard Travelers - 20th Anniversary Concert

The Hard Travelers:  Ira Gitlin, Mike Munford, Kenn Roberts, Mack Bailey, and Jon Glik; 

The guys are joined by Chris Nole, Pete Huttlinger, John Sommers & Kris O'Connor

The Hard Travelers in action:

Click on "Thumbnail" photo to see the larger version:

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Vintage Photos

Mack, Buddy, Mike, Kenn

The Gaithersburg Express

Wednesday, September 11, 1991

&

The Aspen Hill Express

Thursday, September 12, 1991

“Take Me Home . . . Clopper Road”

 — by Betsy Stieff, Express Staff Writer

  “Take me home, country road,  to the place I belong...”

    The next few words really should sing out “Montgomery County”, not "West Virginia," because that's where the inspiration for the popular tune sung by John Denver came from.

   The songwriter. Bill Danoff, and his former wife. Taffy, were inspired to write the popular tune as they were driving down Clopper Road 21 years ago on the way to a Fisher family reunion at the Izaak Walton League.

    "It was a real pretty old country road with farms and cows and fields. I thought it would be a great thing to write a song about so we started humming it right then," Danoff said.  He and his wife, who were then part of the group Fat City, developed the song and were later helped out by friend, John Denver, who put in his two cents worth and later recorded the hit.

   Why West Virginia if the country road was in Maryland?  Danoff admitted it just sounded good. He'd never been there he said, but he has gone since – to Harpers Ferry where the Blue Ridge Mountains reach the Shenandoah and "it's everything I said it would be - almost heaven,'' he joked.

 Concert to aid Cystic Fibrosis fight

    Danoff was also the talent behind the group Starland Vocal Band, responsible for the hit “Afternoon Delight.” The band broke up about ten years ago but will be back together for a very special performance – the 4^th Annual Hard Travelers and Friends Concert for Cystic Fibrosis Sept. 20 at Merriweather Post Pavilion. This year Barbara Mandrell will headline the concert.  Kenn Roberts, a former Montgomery County developer and resident and a member of The Hard Travelers, puts this concert together every year to raise money to help find a cure for the nation’s number one genetic killer of children.

    The Hard Travelers is a group of seasoned performers that began playing together again in 1985 after 20 years apart. Not long after their reunion they did a benefit show for Cystic Fibrosis and were taken with a little girl that had the disease.  The little girl died, and the group decided then to dedicate themselves to fighting the disease.  “There have been a lot of breakthroughs in recent years....we have been involved in something that we can actually see the results,” Roberts said.

    Over the past years, the group has raised over $150,000 and this year they hope to add another $100,000 to that figure. 2,800 tickets have been sold this year but there are plenty left, Roberts said.  Roberts promises a family-oriented event. Danoff and the other members of his band are going to have their children do a number and children with Cystic Fibrosis will have their moment on stage.

    “I’d love to see the place full. It’s going to be a wonderful night of entertainment and all the proceeds go to finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis,” Roberts said.

    The Rouse Company is one of  the major sponsors and as owners of Merriweather,  the  company helped secure the location for the event. Other sponsors underwrite all the expenses, and the artists perform at reduced rate.

   “When we are as fortunate as we are to be able to play music and to have friends join us — it is such a blessing we feel we have a responsibility to give back, and through Cystic Fibrosis the Hard Travelers are able to give,” Roberts said.

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