When you start playing music at an early age, and continue it through your adult life, it means you can open for acts such as Shenandoah, David Allen Coe, Kentucky Headhunters, 38 Special, Nickleback, Ratt, Warrant, Little Big Town and Badfinger, to name a few. Wow, that’s quite a resume, but its one that’s had by Drop Tailgate, a mostly country band that will play at the Willow River Saloon on Saturday night, Dec. 13. However, it’s April Daisy that’s the biggest draw of the group, playing her pink sparkle Taylor guitar as she cranks out lead vocals. She is formerly of Daisy and the Dukes, and has performed with Save By Zero and opened for Neal McCoy and GB Leighton. She has written more than a dozen songs and was selected to perform “Wild Woman Tonight” on the television show “Strictly Original,” which has been showcased in Nashville, in ways that include internet radio.
But this time of year, the Willow is more than just music, it’s the perfect place to watch the playoff-bound Packers. The venue has a range of Sunday specials for game day, including a $10 all-you-can-eat broasted chicken dinner that runs during the course of pro football contests played at any time Sundays, day or night, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. There is also a drawing held every night “our favorite green and gold team plays,” for a trip to Vegas that spans three days and two nights for two people. You must be present to win, but with the way the Packers have been playing and all the other amenities that are present, why would you not want to be at the Willow?
– Although not exactly rock music, three other local events were among the most well-anticipated in their genre, and by all accounts lived up to their billing, and look for them to be back again. The large group that is the Steele Family, a band of singers of soul music and other types, performed at Bethel Lutheran Church on Nov. 28 but also have secular connections, having shared the stage with the likes of Donald Fagen and many other rockers and well-known pop musicians. They started making name for themselves in the Minneapolis scene at the same time as Prince and Soul Asylum and their CDs are available in the Cities.
An internationally acclaimed opera soprano who is getting some Grammy buzz and hails from Hudson, and is fresh off the New York Metropolitan Opera’s fall run of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aidi,” performed an hour-long set of high-ranging holiday music at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. The coffee concert by Margaret Jane Wray was in the intimate setting of the William Abbott Concert Hall. She has done other shows locally, including one with the celebrated Hudsonite and 40-year St. Paul Chamber Orchestra pianist Layton “Skip” James, and says that she intends to be back here soon. Until then, check out her music at www.metopera.org.
Also, a Beatles tribute band played largely acoustic sets at the River Falls Public Library last Tuesday, and a main focus was the music of the late John Lennon. But such tributes can also amp it up, as was made clear by a deejay announcement on 93X that I heard while driving through River Falls: None other than Ozzy Osbourne, who was said to love Beatles music, has made his latest cover song among the many he has done a rendition of a tune Lennon performed called How. Just considering the odd bedfellows, you might want to check out this single.