It is unusual for Safford to host a concert with musicians of the caliber that played Safford High School's Center for the Arts on Thursday. Add to that the fact it was a benefit concert with proceeds going to Safford Rotary causes, and one might consider playing the lottery due to the improbability of it all.

Safford natives Jonathan and Jordan Lawson are Nashville transplants who head up the band Tin Cup Gypsy with Jonathan's wife, Cassandra, who is originally from Phoenix.

Tin Cup opened the evening's festivities and immediately drew the audience in with its eclectic 1970s sound and playful banter. By the end of its set, the band left the audience wanting more of its classic covers and roots-rock originals.

Luckily for those in attendance, the brothers stayed onstage and backed up the show's headliner, Don Derby, whose cowboy crooning captured the audience's attention from the very first note. Derby also had other session players sitting in with the band, including local musician and disc jockey Bill Perry on bass guitar.

Derby is originally from Oklahoma but has plied his trade from the music mecca of Nashville for the past few years. He came out in a white suit and cowboy hat and took the audience on a roller coaster ride. One song would pull at heartstrings as it described domestic violence seen through a child's eyes, and the very next one would be an uplifting honky tonk-type.

Cassandra rejoined her boys onstage for the finale, and afterward, the group invited fans to take pictures and get autographs. It was a moment to be cherished by those in attendance because, more likely than not, the approachability the musicians showed Thursday might not ever be the same again as their careers continue to rise.