Songbook, improv go a long way

Jimmy Stroup

As a full-time singer, songwriter and entertainer, Lloyd Mabrey has

seen his share of family-entertainment venues over a career that has

spanned nearly 30 years and led him to perform at county fairs all

across the United States.

After a six-year hiatus -- for personal reasons and because he was

too busy with other events -- Mabrey has returned to the Orange

County Fair to thrill audiences with his repertoire of thousands of

songs. As he performs, he also makes up songs about audience members

on the spot, singing off-the-cuff about total strangers in

improvisation.

“My main thing is to write songs about people at events,” he said.

“When I do a show, [it’s] really about the audience, not me.”

Armed onstage with his voice and a guitar, Mabrey counts his

talents as more showmanship than anything else. For him, the pleasure

of his act is more about watching and participating than about the

music.

“I could do the same show with a fly rod,” he joked.

Mabrey, who lives in Grand Junction, Colo., counts county fairs as

one of the last bastions of true family-oriented amusements, a

distinction he feels proud to help create.

Mabrey said he has been discouraged in the recent past at the

level of indecency that has become a staple of the entertainment

industry and has sought out a way to incorporate positive lessons

into a new act for children exclusively, separate from his normal

routine.

“The whole premise of what I do is to show kids how to give

themselves a ‘level of honor,’” he said. “It shows a way for kids --

and adults -- to create value for themselves.”

Mabrey ended up creating a 55-minute show to be performed at

elementary and middle schools called “Do Your Best,” an act he has

now performed for students all across the country.

He sought government and private funding to provide the act for

free to schools, to make it as accessible as possible.

Mabrey said he was recently contacted by a Virginia-area PBS

station that asked him to craft his show into a pilot for a possible

children’s series, a project he’ll begin in early September.

Mabrey performs Tuesdays through Sundays until July 25 at the

Orange County Fair’s Centennial Stage. To learn more about him, visit

https://www.doyourbest.com.