EXILE

More than six decades ago, a group of musicians founded a band in Richmond, Kentucky.

They hit the road and served as the opening act for a plethora of big-name acts.

And in 1978, Exile achieved world-wide acclaim with the cross-over hit "Kiss You All Over," — which topped the charts in the United States, South Africa and Australia while peaking at No. 2 in Canada and Sweden and No. 3 in West Germany and Switzerland.

On Nov. 2, the current line-up of the band — J.P. Pennington, Marlon Hargis, Steve Goetzman, Sonny LeMaire and Les Taylor — took the stage in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky to commemorate two special milestones.

Exile's performance marked their 61st year as a band and was also a celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center.

On November 4th, 1939, the doors to Renfro Valley's Old Barn Theater swung open, the microphones went hot and the WLW announcer was heard to say — by those in attendance as well as well as those listening live on their radios from Canada to Cuba and all places in between..., “And now friends, by way of the magic carpet of radio, we take you to the big Old Barn in Renfro Valley, Kentucky for The Renfro Valley Barn Dance”.

In the past eight decades, Renfro Valley has played host to some of the biggest names in music, including George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Conway Twitty, Ralph Stanley, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Flatt and Scruggs, Coon Creek Girls, Marty Robbins, Patty Loveless, Ted Nugent, Keith Whitley, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Travis Tritt and Trace Adkins.

Exile has been a frequent visitor to the iconic venue, as well.

Initially, the band played lots of covers with a mix of their own songs.

Later, they wrote songs which other covered by other chart-top artists like Alabama (The Closer You Get and Take Me Down), Huey Lewis and the News (Heart & Soul) and Kenny Rogers (Take Heart).

Between 1983 to 1987, the group had 10 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Country Charts and a No. 1 album (Kentucky Hearts, 1984).

The band disbanded in 1995, but the love of music and success of their song writing talents brought them back together.

And they are still going strong — six decades later.

On Saturday, Exile performed a mix of their biggest hits in addition to songs from their new album — A Million Miles Later, which was released this past September.