Morey Sullivan named to Kansas Music Hall of Fame

Morey Sullivan, longtime master of ceremonies and music performer at Gainesville’s Hootin an Hollarin festival, has been chosen for the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. The announcement was made recently by the Kansas Music Hall of Fame Board of Directors. The induction ceremony will be July 24.   

Sullivan, who lives in Topeka, took over as Hootin an Hollarin emcee and musical performer in 1999 when his father, Ozark County native Don Sullivan, stepped down from those roles after almost 40 years. Morey handled the job until he retired as emcee following the 2019 festival, wishing the best for the next emcee, his cousin, Sam Overturf. In 2020, Hootin an Hollarin was canceled due to concerns related to the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.

Sullivan also produced a DVD about Hootin an Hollarin for the festival’s 50th anniversary that was broadcast on several television outlets throughout the Midwest.

After graduating from the University of Central Missouri, Sullivan toured the southwest U.S. with his band. At the end of that almost two-year tour, he settled in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area where he connected with Jim Halsey, a manager and booking agent who has represented bands like the Oak Ridge Boys and singers including Reba McEntire, Jimmy Dean, Roy Clark, Ronnie Milsap and country music legend Hank Thompson. 

“I was very fortunate to be associated with the Halsey Agency,” Sullivan said. “At first, with Halsey, we would open shows for many in the Halsey Agency, all the big stars at the time. Then we got hooked up with Hank Thompson.”

Sullivan worked with Country Music Association Hall of Famer Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys for almost 30 years as band leader and bassist. Before Thompson’s death in 2007, he asked Sullivan to keep the band going into the future, and that’s what Sullivan has done. The band is still together and just released a new CD. 

In the early 1990s, Sullivan was selected by former Kansas Gov. Joan Finney to lead a group of people to Russia to audition folk acts and bring them to Kansas for a tour as part of a cultural trade agreement Finney signed. 

Sullivan said, “The group chose 100 Russian performers who traveled to Kansas and toured the state for an entire summer.” 

Next, Sullivan was selected to direct and produce a show of about 50 musicians who traveled to Russia for performances.  “I designed the show to emphasize American music. I started the show with indigenous native dancers and drummers then moved to cowboy music, country, jazz, Broadway, gospel and some classic rock,” Sullivan said. “The Russian people were wonderful.  For many of them, we were the first Americans they had met. Each of our performances was standing room only, and they treated my performers like rock stars. It was an awesome experience.” 

Allen Blasco, Kansas Music Hall of Fame Board president, said he “was very impressed” with Sullivan’s résumé. “It’s really quite something, and he definitely belongs in. He definitely made contributions to music in the state of Kansas and related institutions,” Blasco said.

Sullivan said he was “very honored” to be chosen for the hall of fame. “There are many wonderful musicians and performers in the hall, and I’m humbled to be a part of the organization,” he said. 

In addition to the Kansas Music Hall of Fame, Sullivan is a member of Western Swing Music Halls of Fame in Seattle, Washington, and Sacra-mento, California, and the Southwest Western Swing Hall of Fame.