Crossing County Lines (left to right): Isaac Blake, Will Atkins, Tanner Lacks, Charlotte Ivy, Eli Phillips

Virginia Opry To Open 28th Season With Moonshine Express Band   Clifton Forge, VA (Jan. 18, 2019) - The Virginia Opry will open its 28th performance season by presenting “Be My Valentine” with the Moonshine Express Band performing as the headliner on stage at The Historic Masonic Theatre on Sat., Feb. 9, at 8:00 p.m. Jana Allen, a member of SAG/AFTRA, will serve as emcee and vocalist. She graduated from Liberty University in 2004 and completed a two-year program for actors at the William Esper Studio in Manhattan where she studied the Misner method of acting. Her speaking roles in movies and TV programs include “The Shunning,” “The Bleeding,” “The Hollow,” “The Taking of Deborah Logan,” “The Unabomber,” and “Why My Child?” Crossing County Lines will open the “Be My Valentine” show with bluegrass and old-time music, including selections of original compositions that the band recorded in Nashville in October of 2018. Crossing County Lines performed at the Commodore Grille in downtown Nashville, and the youth band that is part of the New “Old School” Junior Virginia Opry has opened for The Virginia Opry in 2017 and 2018. The Moonshine Express Band is mainly a five-piece country music band that was formed by Billy Fury some 30 years ago. However, the band has shown its versatility by performing renditions of songs from other music genres. The Virginia General Assembly passed “Resolution 397” on Feb. of 2017 to commend The Virginia Opry for producing country music shows in the Alleghany Highlands for 25 consecutive years. Such nationally prominent recording artists as the late Dan Seals, Michael Hoover and Keith Bryant have performed on The Virginia Opry that has featured such famous groups as The Lonesome River Band, The Freight Hoppers, The Farm Hands and the Darrell Webb Band. Tickets for balcony seating are $10 and $15 dollars depending upon the location while orchestra seating under the balcony in the John E. Hillert Auditorium is $15 compared to $20 for orchestra seating from the front façade of the balcony to and including the front row nearest the stage. Box seats are $25. The Historic Masonic Theatre’s box office number is (540) 862-5655. Tickets may be reserved in advance via the telephone or by visiting www.historicmasonicthetre.com. M. Ray Allen, director of The Virginia Opry, remarked, “Be My Valentine” will feature a wide variety of music, and “Home Sweet Home, Virginia,” has been adopted as The Virginia Opry’s theme song.” Sponsors for the “Be My Valentine” show are Mr. & Mrs. William T. Wilson, silver sponsor; Dr. & Mrs. Viddi Ayyildiz, bronze sponsor; and B. A. Rupert Real Estate, Inc, bronze sponsor. The Historic Masonic Theatre is the oldest continuously operating Theatre in the state of Virginia and is an architectural treasure. Designed by the Lynchburg firm of Chesterman and commissioned by Low Moor Masonic Lodge 166, the Theatre opened in September 1906. Appalfolks of America Association (AAA) founded The Virginia Opry in October of 1992 when the theatre was operating as the Historic Stonewall Theatre and owned by AAA, and on February 17, 2017, The Virginia General Assembly passed “Resolution 397” commending The Virginia Opry for providing the Alleghany Highlands with country music shows for 25 consecutive years. AAA donated the theatre to the Town of Clifton Forge in 2003, and the Town Council of Clifton Forge passed a resolution on January 9, 2019, commending The Virginia Opry for making more than $200,000 of restoration improvements to the theatre during its 12 years of ownership and for drawing patrons to Clifton Forge from several states, including a tour bus that brought 35 country music fans from Fort Payne, Alabama. M. Ray Allen, director of The Virginia Opry, holds his MFA degree in theatre arts from UCLA, and Jana Allen, his daughter, made her debut as a vocalist in the Historic Masonic Theatre when she was a sixth grader. That was in 1992 during the staging of “A Musical Tribute to the Railroad,” a production by AAA’s Stonewall Players that M. Ray Allen wrote and directed. M. Ray Allen commented, “The Virginia Opry has featured such nationally prominent entertainers as the late Dan Seals, Michael Hoover, Keith Bryant, The Lonesome River Band and The Darrell Webb Band.” He concluded, “The Moonshine Express Band will bring a variety of music to the stage while Crossing County Lines will provide our audience with old-time and bluegrass music, a contrast to Jana’s country music songs by such stars as Patsy Cline.”

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