POLKA MUSIC Sturr mixes it up with his approach

By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
In many circles, the "King of Polka" Jimmy Sturr is considered a rebel with his nonpurist approach to the ethnic music genre.
"I don't consider myself the polka king and I don't know what you mean by nonpurist," said Sturr, during a phone call to his Florida, New York office.
Still, over the past few decades, Jimmy Sturr & amp; His Orchestra has arguably taken polka music to audiences larger than anyone else before. With 14 Grammy Awards and his 113th album "Polka in Paradise" featuring Bobby Vinton just released, Sturr continues to stir the polka pot in a nontraditional fashion that varies in style. More so, he's always expanding the boundaries of the genre in ways that, well, have left purists dismayed and somewhat threatened.
"Well, I don't know what kind of threat that might be," Sturr said. "I like traditional polkas as much as anybody but I just want to expand the popularity of polka and I didn't feel doing it strictly traditionally would do that, that's why I stretched out."
Branching out
For Sturr, stretching out includes recording polkas with the likes of country acts Willie Nelson, The Oak Ridge Boys and Charlie Daniels or recording polka versions of popular rock songs. Invariably, such endeavors were viewed as heretical by the old school crowd.
"I just had to find a way," Sturr said. "I don't want to be a country band. I don't want to be a rock band. We have a polka band. I had to think of a way -- and not that there's anything wrong with playing your traditional polka style dance halls, they're fun -- so I could play places like the Stambaugh Auditorium."
Sturr said he's looking forward to his first Youngstown show in more than a decade, with the upcoming Sturr-fest '06 show Sunday at Stambaugh Auditorium. Also on the bill are "Mr. Yakety Sax" Boots Randolph and Youngstown's multi-Grammy nominees, The Del Sinchak Orchestra, with the Sardich Singers.
Still popular
Polka, of course, remains popular in the Youngstown area and throughout Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Three Mahoning Valley radio stations -- WKBN AM-570, WSOM AM-600 and WBBW AM-1240 -- carry Sunday morning polka shows, and a few dance halls, including Kuzman's in Girard, cater to the polka crowd.
As for Sunday's live show at Stambaugh, fans can expect to hear a polka-palooza of sounds and styles.
At 54-years-old, Sturr feels like he's hitting his stride. It's been an amazing journey for the performer who recorded his first album at the age of 18 and has had polka in his veins for the last five decades.
"Yeah," laughed Sturr, "even though I'm 100 percent Irish, I just fell in love with the music."