Premieres Jan. 6 at 8pm ET - Repeats Jan. 7 at 6am ET and Midnight ET - Two of our producers, Adam and Ian Black, were attending an event where they were recognized as being from CFR on RFD-TV. Danny Forbes, a long time HEE HAW fan, introduced himself. He was with a couple of the former HEE HAW cast members. Introductions were made. The next day Danny called Adam and asked if we had ever considered doing a tribute show.  Of course we had, but didn’t know how to reach all the cast members, who were now scattered all over the United States and Canada.

Danny said he could get in contact with them if we wanted to pursue it. We hired Danny to get in touch with the former cast members to see if there was interest. The interest was overwhelming. Gailard Sartain was recovering from a recent surgery and couldn’t be there. Ronnie Stoneman delayed an overseas tour and Buddy Allen Owens interrupted a tour to fly to Nashville to join the Salute.

The Honeys began to gather, and other country artist were added to make the Salute all the more realistic. Roy Clark and Buck Trent renewed their “Hey Roy” routine. The KornField came to life when these great entertainers renewed their relationships that sustained a 25 year run as cast members of the TV show HEE HAW.

This is a treasure. Today it remains as one of the highest rated shows on RFD-TV. The KornField Salute is offered as a tribute to a great piece of TV history that refuses to die.

“HEE HAW”, a mixture of music and comedy skits, was a staple of syndicated television for more than 20 years; originally, the show had aired on CBS, but was canceled in 1971 because the network thought it was “too rural.” A majority of each week’s “HEE HAW” shows included a series of skits, blackouts and corny jokes; however, the meat of the series came from its music. Each week, two or three well-established country music stars guested plus other newer and up-and-coming stars. They included bluegrass, country gospel and other acts, singers and musicians popular with country audiences.  During the final segment of each show, the HEE HAW Gospel Quartet (through the mid-1980s, usually co-hosts Owens and Clark, along with Kenny Price and Grandpa Jones) performed a gospel song. The shows were only taped a few weeks out of the year.