Tonight is the night that American Idol and country/pop music fans have been waiting for, Maddie Poppe, this year’s American Idol winner, is performing at Wild Rose Jefferson.

Wild Rose Founder and Chair Gary Kirke says it started with him and his wife watching the television show and they suddenly became fans of the Clarksville native. Once she won, Gary’s wife Sue suggested that they bring her to the Wild Rose casino locations. Gary says they had her scheduled to perform in August, when she was on the American Idol Tour.

“In about a month before that they called and said they had to cancel because they had 63 gigs booked but they could only do about 48, because of logistics, et cetera, and people getting worn out. So then we said, ‘Well, can we get her on her own?’ They said, ‘You can’t touch her until she’s out of the contract with the (American) Idol, which was the middle of September.’”

And the rest as they say is history. But another part of that history is inviting other special guests, honoring other first women in Iowa, since Poppe is the first Iowan to win American Idol. Gary tells Raccoon Valley Radio he was inspired to create a “Ladies First Night” after listening to a 1970s hit single “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy.

“We have a lot of firsts in Iowa. We have the first lady governor, we have the first lady senator, we have the first lady speaker of the (Iowa) house, the first lady (state) auditor. And I said, ‘Maybe we can have a First Ladies Night when we bring her here.’ And they all agreed to come. We’re going to start out by singing ‘I Am Woman.’”

The doors will open at 7pm with the concert to start at 8pm. To hear more from Gary and Sue Kirke, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.