My ears did a double take when David Church started singing.  He not only looked like Hank Williams with his tall lean look and suits like the ones Williams wore, he sounded just like the old records my roommate and I used to play during college days.

For those who have never heard David Church do a Hank Williams tribute, it is a step back in time as he not only looks like Hank did, but has a twang to his voice that is similar to Williams’ voice. Though the concert at Aladdin Villas was his last concert for this season, fans of Hank Williams will not want to miss him when he returns next season.  It will be a step back in time.

The show began with cowboy poetry reciter and emcee Rich Bellert telling some of his entertaining cowboy poems that had the audience rolling in their seats. Bellert brought in the laughs before he introduced Terri Lisa Church, David’s wife, who is also a singer.

Terri started the show with an old favorite, “Heartaches By the Dozen,” before singing a song about jelly beans and happy things she said was inspired by her five grandchildren.

Then she introduced David Church by saying he was RFD-TV’s  most requested performer. Though Church has never had a number one hit of his own, his tributes to the fallen legend, Hank Williams, keep him in high demand on television and in other locations as well.

Dressed in a pale tan suit and a cowboy hat, David Church took the stage and sang, “I Could Never Be Ashamed of You” followed by the “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”  He commented on the line in the song that Hank wrote that said, “the silence of a fallen star lights up the purple sky,” and said that was pretty talented writing for a guy who only finished sixth grade. After adding a couple of additional songs by Hank, he sang the song Hank claimed was his favorite song, “Cold, Cold Heart.”

Pausing to introduce the band he pieced together for the event, David introduced Left Schrage on keyboard, Keith Ross on fiddle, J. C. George on bass guitar, and Lynn Hughes on electric guitar.

Bringing Terry Lisa back to sing, “Somewhere Down the Road,” he joked that when they got married he told her he was boss and would make the major decisions. But in the 11 years of marriage he had yet to make a major decision and had discovered the words to hold the marriage together were, “Terry, you’re right!”

David Church sang several songs like “Lord, Have Mercy on the Working Man,” “Long Black Veil,” and “Son of a Saginaw Fisherman.”

Terry sang “Stand By Your Man,” an old Tammy Wynette song, which she said was the “female Song of the Century.”

The couple ended the first half with “Old Red, White and Blue,” a patriotic song written by David to honor returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Terry opened the second half with “I’ll Be There If You ever Want Me” and Patsy Cline’s “If You’ve Got Leavin’ on Your Mind.”

David returned to sing Hank’s “Honky Tonk Blues” and “Hey Good Lookin’. ” Terry came back with “Satin Sheets” and Connie Smith’s “Everyday, All Day Long.”

Branching out a bit, David sang “Two Dollars in a Juke Box,” Stonewall Jackson’s “A Wound Time Can’t Heal,” “Apartment #9,” and “Together Again.”  Terry Lisa joined him with a medley of “I Saw the Light” and “I’ll Fly away.”

For those who loved the songs of Hank Williams and some of the ladies of country music in the 50’s and 60’s, it was a night of nostalgia. With David looking and sounding so much like Hank Williams, he did a very believable tribute to Williams.