All current photos: Alan Mercer
Photos taken at the Texas Opry Theater in Weatherford, TX
Just what is the Shoji Tabuchi Show that everyone loving American music is raving about? At its heart is Branson USA's first family of extraordinary musical entertainment....Shoji Tabuchi, his beautiful wife Dorothy and delightful daughter Christina. The family that plays, sings, and dances encompasses all the wholesome values of truly great family entertainment. Yet the show rivals the pure excitement of Las Vegas or New York.
Shoji Tabuchi was born in Daishoji, Ishikawa, Japan. When Shoji turned 7, his mother encouraged him to learn how to play the violin under the Suzuki Method. Shoji always loved American country music and vowed that one day he would make it to America.
In the mid-1960s, Shoji was a sophomore in college and had heard that Roy Acuff, of the Grand Ole Opry, was coming to Osaka, Japan. Tabuchi went to his concert and got to meet Acuff backstage. Acuff told Tabuchi that if he was ever in Nashville, to look him up. Acuff's music inspired Tabuchi to pursue country/bluegrass music.
When Tabuchi was in college, he formed a band called The Bluegrass Ramblers, which led them to win a national contest in Japan. He decided to travel to the United States with his violin and only $500. Tabuchi had lived in San Francisco, Kansas City, and Louisiana. Then he eventually moved to Nashville, to meet Acuff. Acuff was true to his word and arranged an appearance for the young Japanese fiddler on the Grand Ole Opry. Tabuchi later made numerous appearances on the Grand Ole Opry.
Mary Jo, a patron at a financial-district restaurant where Tabuchi played for tips, became his first wife in 1968, after which he became an American citizen. They moved to Kansas City, and Tabuchi began performing at the Starlite Club in nearby Riverside. In 1974 the couple had a son, Shoji John Tabuchi. Tabuchi began performing at venues in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, but his marriage broke up under the pressure of his constant touring.
Shoji Tabuchi arrived in Branson, Missouri around 1980, after performing successfully for a few years. He took a gamble and built one of Branson's most elaborate theaters, which was finished in 1990, and began his show, now going on 28 years. Besides country music, the Shoji Tabuchi Show also has incorporated polka, gospel, Cajun, Hawaiian, rap, rock, and patriotic music.
Shoji Tabuchi has developed a loyal fan base through his Branson show. He employs about 200 personnel at his elaborate 2,000-seat theater, where he performs two shows daily during most of the year, often selling out the shows.
After moving to Branson, Missouri in 1980, he met his second wife, Dorothy Lingo, after she attended several of his shows at the Starlite Theater; and he became the stepfather to her two children from a previous marriage. Currently Dorothy helps with numerous aspects of ‘The Shoji Tabuchi Show’ such as choreography, costumes, and the theater's interior design.
Shoji and his daughter Christina Lingo-Tabuchi
Alan Mercer: How often do you get to come perform in Texas?
Shoji Tabuchi: We come to Texas once or twice a year.
AM: It’s a place where you are very popular?
ST: Yes, it’s a big state and a place we like to visit. We used to play here all the time, but now we have the theater in Branson, so we don’t get to come except once in the summer and once in the winter.
AM: I know you were born in Japan, but when did you come to the United States?
ST: In 1967 and it’s all because of Mr. Roy Acuff.
AM: That’s right, Roy Acuff discovered you in Japan.
ST: He came to Japan and I was a freshman in college. I was studying economics with a minor in business. I was also playing violin at the time. I was studying the world-famous Suzuki method. I saw a billboard with Roy Acuff, so I went to see his concert. That’s when I fell in love with the sound of the country fiddle. I met Mr. Acuff backstage.
AM: What a dream come true for you!
ST: He said, “Boy, if you ever come to the United States, look me up.” I had a great big American dream to come to America.
AM: What did America seem like when you got here?
ST: I arrived in San Francisco at the height of the hippie movement. I thought to myself, “What did I get into?” (Laughter)
AM: Were you a little scared of this new place?
ST: I wasn’t scared because everybody was so friendly. (Laughter) Country music wasn’t too popular at that time in San Francisco. I had a connection in Kansas, so I moved and saw Mr. Acuff again in Kansas City. That is when he invited me to come to the Grand Ole Opry. After that I just work my way and one of the radio stations in Wichita, Kansas, KFDI, got me connected with David Houston who had a hit with ‘Almost Persuaded,’ and I got to open his show for five years from 1971 to 1976.
AM: How did you get a theater in Branson?
ST: Can you believe I went to Branson in 1981? I was still touring on my own and working in two different theaters. I worked one for four years and the other one for three more years. After I had 7 years under my belt I decided it was time to gamble everything we owned.
AM: You had a lot of faith and you were rewarded.
ST: Yes.
AM: Is there a difference between a violin and a fiddle?
ST: People ask me this all the time and the answer is no, they are the same instrument.
AM: It’s just a difference in the style of playing it then?
ST: Yes, they have completely different styles.
AM: You play all the different styles, don’t you?
ST: I am trying to. It’s so amazing the way a fiddler plays. It is hard for a classical violinist to copy the true sound of Bluegrass or Country fiddling. They are so different.
AM: Were you listening to Country music while growing up in Japan?
ST: Yes, I did.
AM: Was it popular in Japan?
ST: At that time, it was getting more popular.
AM: Is it popular today in Japan?
ST: Not much.
AM: What about traditional Country music?
ST: When I travel to Japan and all over Europe it’s the older, traditional and classic Country music that is more popular.
AM: Are there still things you want to do career wise that you haven’t done yet?
ST: People ask me when will I retire and I always tell everyone the same thing. Probably the time I will retire is when I fall off the stage. (Laughter) I love performing.
AM: You have nothing to retire from.
ST: No.
AM: As long as you can hold the fiddle or violin. What do you call it?
ST: Fiddle, but if I play with a symphony, then it’s a violin. (Laughter)
To learn more about Shoji Tabuchi visit his web site http://www.shoji.com/