Jun 9, 2016 3 min read

In his heyday, B.J. Thomas racked up a handful of Top 40 pop hits, even more hits on the country chart, and became a superstar in the world of contemporary Christian music.

Despite all this, he will always be most closely associated with one song in particular – “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.” The jaunty Burt Bachrach-Hal David composition stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart for four weeks in January 1970, just as the Vietnam War, the gruesome slayings masterminded by Charles Manson and campus unrest were roiling America. Thomas’ rendition, with his distinctive rich, inviting baritone, was also prominently featured in the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and was a winner for Best Original Song when the Oscars were handed out a few months later.

It’s a song Thomas is all but duty-bound to croon during his frequent live appearances. And while some performers come to resent having to trot out a well-loved chestnut again and again and again, Thomas doesn’t mind singing “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” at all.

“We always had a feeling we had pulled off something perfectly,” Thomas recalled about the recording of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.” The song also was shopped to Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan, but in the end, Thomas’ pipes proved to be the ideal match.

“I could never phone that in,” he said.

And it is certain to be among the songs the 73-year-old Thomas will perform Saturday when he opens the summer concert series at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in North Strabane Township. Aside from launching the summer concert series, Thomas will also be the first big-name performer to appear in the venue’s new event center, which seats about 1,300 people and is adjacent to the casino and the north parking garage. It starts at 8 p.m.

Some other Thomas songs you might hear? “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” “Don’t Worry Baby” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” his other No. 1 hit in America.

It’s been almost 40 years since Thomas last had a Top 40 hit, and more than 30 since he last had a country hit, his days as a country hitmaker having petered out in the wake of “big hat” country singers like Garth Brooks or Toby Keith gaining prominence in the 1990s. But he’s remained active as both a recording artist and a live performer, putting out a steady string of albums and frequently turning up at casinos, fairs, festivals and theaters.

His most recent album, 2013’s “The Living Room Sessions,” an “unplugged” album, boasted cameo appearances from Vince Gill, Richard Marx, Keb’ Mo’, Lyle Lovett and others. He explained by phone last month from his home in Dallas he is planning a new set with “guys I used to play with in New York,” but doesn’t have a producer lined up yet.

Given the number of years he logged in the spotlight, Thomas is sometimes asked for advice from younger artists on how to put a stamp on a song and make it in the music business. What does he tell them?

“Just keep your music personal,” he explained. “If you’re 17 years old … get in a band and learn how to sing and learn how to be in a band. And learn how to be on stage.”

Thomas added, for emphasis, “Just keep it personal.”