For Airman Courtney Woods, the mission is the music.
Woods, a vocalist with the United State’s Air Force Band of the West, will join six other members as part of the rock/pop ensemble “Top Flight” for a free concert at the Columbus Riverwalk Amphitheater at 7 p.m. Friday.
The band, which tours throughout the Southwest and Southeast, had been scheduled to perform at the Columbus Air Force Base Ball on Saturday. CAFB officials, with the enthusiastic support of the band, approached Columbus Mayor Robert Smith with the idea of performing a public concert the night before the ball.
“Of course, the mayor said, ‘yes’ so they approached us to see if we could help pull everything together,” said Main Street Columbus Director Barbara Bigelow. “We were happy to do it. Really, it’s going to be a lot like the Sounds of Summer we do, so even on pretty short notice, we were able to get everything put together. I think it’s a great idea.”
So, too, does Woods, whose love of music and desire to serve her country meshed into her current position.
“Before I joined the Air Force two years ago, I was living in Rhode Island and we had a band that played for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients,” she said. “We played songs from the 1930s and 1940s. A lot of times, a song would trigger a memory for them and could be sort of a break-through, a way to connect.
“That made me realize how important music can be,” she continued.
Depending on the schedule, Woods may perform with “Top Flight” or with other combinations of the 50-member Band of the West, performing a variety of musical genres.
In “Top Flight,” Woods is joined by another singer, a guitarist, bassists, drummer, pianist and audio engineer.
“It’s basically rock and pop hits from the 1960s until the present,” she said.
Woods said as a member of the Air Force band, there are three main goals: Honor, inspire and connect.
“When we are traveling and performing, we want to honor our veterans through our music,” she said. “We want to inspire people to join the Air Force, so there’s a recruiting element to what we do. Finally, we want to connect with people. Columbus is an Air Force town, so we’re very happy to be able to perform this concert for the community.”
Smith said he was thrilled to work with CAFB and Main Street to bring the concert to the Riverwalk.
“This will be a wonderful evening of entertainment for the entire family,” he said. “Top Flight has been seen all over the country and crowds love their music. This is a free event. Just bring your lawn chairs or blankets to this event on the beautiful Riverwalk. We are proud to host this great event.”
Bigelow said the concert will operate much like the Sounds of Summer events.
“Bring your lawn chairs, bring your blankets, bring your kids,” she said. “We’ll have the Police Auxiliary cooking hot dogs and hamburgers for sale and we’ll have soft drinks and beer. It’s really like having another Sounds of Summer concert.”
Concert-goers are not allowed to bring coolers or pets.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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