Getting 'Spooky' Saturday

MOSES LAKE - Tom Garrett has been in the music business since he was 15 years old.

For 28 years, he had a cover band that played songs from bands such as The Classics IV, the Buckinghams and the Righteous Brothers.

So when The Classics IV's lead singer Dennis Yost asked him to be his successor, Garrett says it came as a shock.

Yost, who was the backbone of the group since its inception in 1965, suffered a brain injury after falling in 2005 and was no longer able to perform with the band.

"It was important to him that the group moved forward without him," says Garrett. "It had been his life's work and that is no understatement."

A mutual friend, Tony Butala, of music group The Lettermen, arranged for Garrett to meet with Yost and his wife, Linda.

After demonstrating what he sounded like performing Yost's songs, Garrett and Yost were on the same page: Garrett would serve as the new voice for The Classics IV.

"Our goal was that Dennis would come to shows and do what he could, probably stand up in the audience and kind of wave, maybe come out on stage with us for a couple minutes, just depending on his health," says Garrett.

That goal did not work out. Yost died on Dec. 7, 2008, of respiratory failure.

"Where I stand, my spot on the stage, belongs to Dennis Yost," says Garrett. "He earned it, but he asked me to take care of it. So I see my job as the caretaker of that little place on the stage and, good Lord willing, I'll continue to do that for a long time."

While the group's recordings preserve the band as they sounded in the 1960s and 1970s, Garrett says it's the band's live performances that really constitute its legacy.

"Let's face it: there's less and less oldies stations," he says. "There's less and less people playing those records. Through the live shows we have the opportunity to bring in a new audience, people that will come to the park in Moses Lake and see the show, who maybe aren't familiar with us, but they're like, 'Hey, there's a band, let's go see what's going on.' ... It's an opportunity to expose the band and the music to a whole different group of people that records wouldn't get to."

When fans do attend the band's performance at McCosh Park in Moses Lake Saturday, they will be taken back in time, says Garrett.

"A concert with the Classics IV is going to take people to kind of a more fun time," says Garrett. "The music from the 60s and early 70s ... (it was) a little more fun time for most of us."

They will play some of the band's biggest hits, such as "Spooky," "Stormy," "Traces," and "Everyday with You, Girl." But Garrett says they'll also play music that will be new to some listeners.

"The group had a lot of chart records, some of which were Top 40 and some weren't," he says. "We'll mix in a few of the ones that are a little lesser-known, we'll do some stuff that has been recorded by other artists that is easily and instantly recognizable. It's a fun evening of music. We'll try to keep everybody happy and probably tell a couple of bad jokes along the way."

The Classics IV perform Saturday at the Centennial Amphitheater in McCosh Park at 8 p.m.

The performance is free and is part of the Grant County Food & Wine Festival.

The food court opens at noon both days, while the food and wine festival starts at 6 p.m.