The Queens of Country: Southampton Guildhall, January 19

IF TAMMY Wynette and Patsy Cline were alive today, would they be playing Southampton Guildhall with Dolly Parton?

Like the possibility of Shakespeare writing for EastEnders if he were alive today, lots of people seem to think it highly likely but, sadly, the answer has to be probably not.

But fans of three of the campest women in country music (all female country stars are camp, but this brassy trio makes Shania Twain look like a nun) are in for a treat next Friday when tribute act The Queens of Country bring their big hair, big voices and big...other things to the Guildhall.

Advance publicity for the production describes it, rather over-excitedly, as a "fast-moving show extending the talents of these three great Superstars of Country Music."

What the already sufficiently extended Dolly Parton would make of that is

anyone's guess. But as fantasy tribute concerts that would never happen in real life go, this one promises to deliver in spades.

The be-wigged stars of the show, whose names alone would seem to qualify them for country diva status, are Kathryn Rooney, Daisy Moon and Vanessa Barrett.

All three are experienced actresses, with one of them, Vanessa Barrett, having won plaudits for her spookily life-like impersonation of Tammy Wynette in a national tour of another tribute show, Stand By Your Man. The songs of heartbreak and devotion you can expect to hear include such classics as Jolene, D.I.V.O.R.C.E., Crazy, Stand By Your Man and I Will Always Love You.

* The Queens of Country is at Southampton Guildhall next Friday, January 19, at 8pm. Call the box office on 023 8063 2601.