Wayne County’s musical past takes center stage

Cleveland has the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Most big cities have a Hard Rock Café.

Wooster, little city that it is, will for at least the next few months have its answer to those collections of music memorabilia. Beginning Aug. 1 and running for four months, the Wayne County Historical Society will present “Wayne County Music Explosion,” an assemblage of artifacts highlighting an extensive music history in the area.

While Wayne County will never likely be confused with Nashville, New York or Los Angeles and its venues never mistaken for Madison Square Garden, the Grand Ol’ Opry, the Hollywood Bowl or Red Rocks, Wooster has nonetheless been host to some of the biggest stars over several genres, spanning better than half a century.

The extent of area music history may just surprise a few people.

“Most people aren’t even aware of the historical society being where it is,” said the WCHS’s Andy Kiehl, who’s serving as curator of the music exhibit, which will take up a good-sized piece of space at the welcome center at the society located at 546 Bowman St.

Things such as The Inferno, Wooster’s Teen Dance Center and the Wooster Summer Stage community theater are commemorated and will be on display in poster form, just a few of many pieces of rock history that took place in the area.

Old radio station WWST AM-960, which hit the airwaves nearly 80 years ago, featured three full-time announcers, all sorts of local programming and popular music and predated the rock/pop music areas that dawned in the 1950s and ’60s. The station eventually gave way to WQKT FM-104.5, which exists as the area’s only radio entity.

“That’s some of the stuff people are not really aware of,” Kiehl said. “The radio station, I just got something the other day from (WQKT’s) Mike Breckenridge. It goes way back to the late-’40s. There were only two radio stations that had the Indians/Guardians. Wooster had one and a station up by Sandusky. They had a rich tradition of DJs.”

Perhaps most interesting to many rock aficionados is the who’s-who list of performers who made stops in the area to play shows. While in recent times ex-Foreigner singer Lou Gramm entertained a healthy crowd at the county fair, he was on the downside of his career, stopping in Wooster for most of four decades past his prime.

Many others, though, made their way to town while still on the way up, no-names in some cases, somewhat well-known in others. One or two even played in town at the height of their powers.

The most noteworthy on the latter list was likely Emerson, Lake & Palmer, which played at The College of Wooster’s gym on April 9, 1972. ELP, best known for the songs “Lucky Man” and “Karn Evil 9,” was at or close to the top of the rock music world in those days.

Also in the early to mid-’70s, rock fans were treated to shows by the likes of Chicago (1970), Styx (1975), and Sly and the Family Stone (1972), among others.

Chicago was just a year or so off of “Beginnings” and was just about to release top 5 smash “Saturday in the Park” when it brought its brass-heavy sound to Wayne County.

Styx was still high off its single of two years earlier, “Lady.” Its Wooster show was one of the band’s last with original guitarist John Curulewski, who was soon replaced by Tommy Shaw, whose acquisition propelled the band to stardom. Just two years after appearing here, the Chicago-based corporate rock supergroup released its seminal album, “The Grand Illusion.”

Sly and Co. were owners of three No. 1 songs in the years just before arriving in town including “Family Affair” in 1971.

Others predating those included visits by then-future Eagle Joe Walsh and a band called the Bob Seger System, which evolved into Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band.

Arguably the biggest name to hit Wooster was in 1973, when none other than country queen Dolly Parton played a show. That was the same year she released her biggest hit, “Jolene.”

In the 1980s other country royalty hit town, with Johnny Cash stopping by in 1980 and Roy Clark making an appearance in 1985.

Those are just some of the names you can learn about at the exhibit. Also highlighted will be local musicians who went on to accomplish various things in the music world.

Lots of other nonmusic-related stuff is going on for area history buffs, so visitors to the music exhibit also can see a display dedicated to Charles Follis and an exhibit honoring the Compton family. Things in the works include a dedicated Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame.

People wanting to see the music exhibit or anything else can stop by during regular visiting hours or call to arrange a tour. Visit waynehistoricalohio.org, call 330-264-8856 or email host@waynehistoricalohio.org for more information or times.