Congratulations to Dick Woods, Adams City High School Class of 1960, for his induction into the Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame. Commerce City is proud of you. Dick was the long term owner of Commerce City’s Silver Saddle Lounge which featured lived bands. He is the current owner of the Silver Saddle in Scottsbluff, NE. Way to go, Dick!
Local pub owner inducted into Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame
By Rick Myers, Staff Reporter | Scottsbluff, Nebraska Star Herald
It’s been a bit of a journey through the world of country music for Dick Woods of Scottsbluff, one of the newest inductees into the Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame.
For the owner of the Silver Saddle Lounge in Scottsbluff the trek begin in the 1960’s, took him overseas in the 1970s and 1980s and around the Karaoke circuit in the past few years before landing in Scottsbluff.
Woods was honored recently during a country music show in Broadwater for his efforts as a promoter of music throughout the region for many years.
Woods, who graduated from high school in Colorado in 1960 knocked around with a few jobs but ultimately found his way to California to pursue a career in music and signed his first recording contract in 1963.
A broken foot, however, forced his return to Colorado but didn’t put a damper on his musical dreams.
While in California he became friends with several musicians, including Roil Trujillo, who he started singing with and doing shows in the Denver area and performed in the early 1970’s.
“We still have our demo recording somewhere,” Woods said.
Woods was featured in a Billboard magazine article in 1974 for his efforts both as an up and coming musical talent as well as for his efforts promoting other acts.
“I did quite a bit of promotion for the Country Music Foundation,” Woods said.
He then recorded and released two songs, “Big, Big World” and “Genie in the Bottle” in 1974. “We got some air play back east,” he said, but there was not enough financial gain to do it full time.
Woods kept promoting groups and formed another group himself call “Dick Woods and Rocka’ Billy Country” that did a lot of 1950s and 1960s music. The group played a lot in Central City, CO, but he found his way to Nashville for the first 1975 Fan Fair where he was able to make a lot of contacts with record producers and radio station managers.
It was in Nashville where Woods made contact with a producer that was working in England and a series of overseas trips were planned.
“We had 10 bookings on the first trip,” he said. “I met a British country band over there and we rehearsed and went to a lot of pubs and football clubs.”
Woods said the experience was interesting as the patrons of the pubs were decked out in their western attire, some as cavalry troops and others as Native Americans. “They lived the American life in their own pubs,” he said.
Woods made seven tours to England between 1976 and 1986, but kept in the promotions business.
Now, he said he would like to bring in a “Legends of Legends” show to western Nebraska that would bring together those country music singers who are still pickin’ and singing but might not be the huge names in the industry, but have paid their dues and still like to perform. No dates have been set, but Woods is not going to give up the dream.
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