It’s not a personality conflict or creative differences breaking up the 2Broke Country Girls act, it’s something even worse: Western Pennsylvania winters.
Diana Lynn of North Huntingdon, the duo’s comedic half, is moving to Florida with her husband.
Lynn and her performing partner, Lois Scott of White Oak, will bid farewell to their Lamp Theatre audience during an ’80s-themed show at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Broke Girls have been popular with the crowd at the Irwin theater since they got together in 2017. Their last show will be their ninth at the venue at 222 Main St., with all previous shows having sold out.
“January is behind the move to Florida. My husband and I looked at each other in January and said, ‘We just need a change,’ ” Lynn said. “We’d been talking about a move for the last year or so. January came, and we said, ‘If we don’t do it now, we’re never gonna do it.’ That’s as fast as it happened.”
No hard feelings, said Scott.
“This doesn’t mean I’m quitting,” she said. “I’ve been singing for over 50 years, and every seven to 10 years, I have to reinvent myself — so it looks like it’s going to be that way again.”
“I’m not quitting, either,” Lynn added.
She figures that performing opportunities will present themselves once she gets settled in the Winter Haven area.
Country music is just in their blood, the Western Pennsylvania natives say.
Scott is the daughter of the late Roy Scott, a star of the Wheeling Jamboree radio show that broadcast on WWVA from the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling, W.Va. Lynn’s father, who played guitar and sang, took his family to Wheeling for Jamboree performances.
Both Girls grew up to be country singers and members of Jamboree USA, Lynn in 1971 and Scott in 1985. They met in 2015 when Scott decided to put together her own Country Jamboree show and was looking for a comedian.
She saw a Facebook photo of Lynn dressed as her character “Winnie Pearl,” cousin of Grand Ole Opry legend Minnie Pearl, and set up a meeting.
“I said, ‘If there’s a character that goes with this picture, I wanna talk to you,’ and that’s when we decided to work together,” Scott said. “I’m the straight man; she’s the comedienne.”
“When (the Jamboree) failed miserably two years later, we decided to go on our own,” Scott said, doing shows that combine music, comedy, audience interaction and other special features.
‘Still broke’
The NBC sitcom, “2 Broke Girls,” inspired their name.
“The TV happened to be on when we were working on something, and I said, ‘You know what? We’re just like two broke country girls,’” Lynn said. “When we decided to work together as a solo act, (Scott) said, ‘You know what our name has to be.’ And we’re still broke.”
The first characters they created together were The Juggs — Mama and Whydoncha — based on Naomi and Wynnona Judd. Their repertoire also includes The ’60s Girls, Disco Divas and Sunny and Sher, singing everything from country to oldies, classic rock, blues, disco and easy listening.
The Lamp audience will be treated to iconic ’80s tunes from the likes of Reba McEntire, Alabama, Juice Newton, Whitney Houston, the Pointer Sisters and Tina Turner. The Girls dress in character for some numbers.
“I’m coming out as Dolly Parton on a very bad day,” Lynn said. “I’m doing a song as Prince, but I’ll be more like Princess than Prince.”
They will be joined by Lynn’s daughter, Lindsey Mikash, and Greensburg country musician Gary Pratt, a 2021 International Singer Songwriter Association Award winner and Josie Music Award nominee whose original tunes are getting substantial country radio airplay.
A group of the duo’s friends, who call themselves the Mary Ellen Cooper Dancers, also take the stage.
“They’re not young kids, and they’re not all experienced dancers, but they pour their heart and soul into it,” Lynn said. “They’re a great addition to the show. Not only are they good filler when we do costume changes, but they add a lot to the other songs.”
Luehm Candy Co. of North Huntingdon provides candy for a prize giveaway.
After Thursday’s show, the Girls will have a June 2 guest appearance back at The Lamp in a show starring Pratt and his singing partner, Kate Szallar, along with the Abilene Band.
They’ll go their separate ways after singing June 18 at the Twin Oaks Lounge in White Oak, which Scott owns with her husband. Then they’ll wait for what comes next.
“I’m not upset about it. I’m not worried about it. If it’s meant to be, it will be,” Scott said. “We’ve never been steered incorrectly yet.”
Tickets to The Lamp show are $20. To reserve, call 724-367-4000 or visit lamptheatre.org.