Western band Jenny Don't and the Spurs have been booked to play the Spray General Store on June 28.
This is a big get for the small community venue that is bringing in big-time talent.
Jenny Don't and the Spurs describe themselves as a "Western Cowpunk" band. They are currently touring the United States and after the show in Spray, the band will head for Belgium to kickoff their European tour.
With a new album being released on June 14, the show in Spray is sure to be a big one.
Here is a Q&A with the band:
Tell us about your style of music and why you like to play it.
Describing our music is always a challenge-it's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle! We're a four-piece band diving into the realm of high-energy country western. We've been called Western Garage, Cowpunk, and even Surf Country. I like to say we're "northwestern western". Playing in this style is an absolute blast because it's a treasure trove of fantastic elements from Western music. From surf tones to reverb, fuzz to vivid Western imagery-the possibilities are endless.
What inspires you?
We're inspired by a lot of things: everything in general and nothing in particular. It can be a striking desert landscape that we drive through on tour or a real-life event in our lives that we can translate into lyrics. In the case of the title track to our previous album, "Fire on the Ridge", it was an actual forest fire in the Columbia River Gorge that we drove through one night that inspired that song. In addition to the lyrics, though, we've found that the music itself can be inspired by our environment. We like to think we can channel the empty vastness of the Western deserts and the loneliness of the hills through the echo and twang of a guitar.
We're also all lovers of music, and a few of us are pretty fanatical record collectors. Some of our favorite, most inspirational artists are the ones that didn't make it into the country music hall of fame, the underdogs and forgotten players who were, nonetheless, excellent artists: Charlie Feathers, Sanford Clark, Sonny Wallace, Bob Fryfogle, Romeo Sullivan...the list goes on and on.
What would you like viewers to come away with when they hear your music?
Well, mainly ringing ears and a new record or two under their arms! But seriously, we just want everyone to enjoy themselves and the most that we can hope for is for people to like the music that we play. We also enjoy interaction with the people who come to our shows, and we feel like there are new friends to be made everywhere we go.
What is your ideal audience?
We've played to just about every crowd in every environment you could imagine – from octogenarian line-dancers at an Arizona Honky-Tonk to a sweaty club full of crazy Filipino crust punks in Manila – and we love 'em all! Our ideal audience is a crowd of people who just want to dance and have fun.
Name a musician(s) who inspires you.
While my usual inspiration when it comes to songwriting tends to lean towards the female icons of the genre, lately, I've been veering towards more male influences such as Chris Isaac, Lee Hazelwood, Johnny Paycheck, Buddy Holly, John Fogerty, and Link Wray. Crooners, surfers, rock and roller's and all around good timers.
Describe how you learned your skills.
Lots and lots of practice.... And lots and lots of playing! Pretty much living and breathing music. And more practice.
What would you say to someone starting out with your craft?
Be patient and stick with it! Learning to play a musical instrument can be challenging and frustrating, but it can also be very rewarding and something you can continue to learn and develop for the rest of your life. Whether you play as a hobby at home or you start a band and play around the world, playing music can be an incredible thing and I can't recommend it enough.
If you had to define what art is, what would that be to you?
I guess my definition of art would be any kind of expression which conveys the artist's message, and which has some kind of emotional impact on the viewer, listener, or reader. Art can take pretty much any form, whether it's music, visual expression, or any number of other media.
What other interests do you have besides music?
We all have a pretty wide variety of interests – I love sewing and chain stitch embroidery (I make a lot of my own show clothes). I also really enjoy watching movies - especially thriller / horror films. Kelly enjoys collecting records, working on his motorcycles, reading...Christopher collects vintage music gear and likes to spend time with his dogs, and Buddy is a merciless pool shark. We all like different things, but music is the most central force in our lives.
Describe how you feel when you are writing or performing a song.
Writing and performing are pretty different animals...writing can either be something that flows easily and almost automatically, or it can come into the world kicking and fighting. We've agonized and argued over some songs for weeks or even months, while others just seem to write themselves in no time at all. Performing, though, is something else entirely. When a show is really good and the crowd is giving back everything that we're throwing at them, and when we're all "on it" musically, there's really no comparable feeling.
Describe your progression into your art. Are you a full-time musician or do you hold another job? If so, what is that job?
It's been a long, long road to get to where we're at right now, and we're not quite to the point where we can completely say goodbye to our day jobs. I've been working at music venues for years now, and Kelly is self-employed doing landscape construction. We're on tour quite a bit these days, so we're not really around enough to work more than part-time. Music is what we do full-time, and we love it.
What impressions do you have of Eastern Oregon? Have they changed over time as you have visited the region?
Eastern Oregon is a beautiful place, and I wish we could spend more time here. We've been lucky enough to have played in a few places in Eastern Oregon – Baker City, Burns, Pendleton, John Day, Sumpter – and we're excited to add Spray to the list!
Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you?
We really have a good time meeting people at our shows - it's great making friends and then coming back through towns again on future tours and seeing familiar faces. If you see us out and about or at the merch table, don't be afraid to come say hello!
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