More new bands take over stages, as a labor of love, this Labor Day weekend:
– A host of music groups that are new to the Willow River Saloon, or at least haven’t played there for a
while, are on tap this month. They start with Chubs on Friday, Sept. 2, then Zachary the following night, and
the next weekend there are the Honky Tonk Cowboys on Friday and Loot 66 on Saturday.
Chubs plays the typical styles that you would see at the Willow River Saloon, plus throws in some modern rock
and even a bit of reggae in performing their first gig there. However, their mainstay style is — of course –
country, but they include a diverse blend in their song list, which has in it songs by the Black Keys, Sublime,
Bob Seger, BB King, The Commodores, Jefferson Airplane, Alice in Chains, Poison, Cheap Trick, 3 Doors Down,
Bill Withers and Melissa Ethridge. The band features Mike and Darrel on guitar and vocals, and also Rocky and
Devin.
Zackary has 29 songs that they’ve recorded highlighted on an online site. The Cottage Grove country musician,
back at The Willow for the first time since spring, on behalf of his band has written and recorded hundreds of
songs, penning some on the highway. In recent times has delved into a totally unrelated genre while a sideman
with another group, so look for many differing styles that aren’t in the same classification.
Back last month, there was a newly appearing band that was more in the traditional Willow River Saloon style.
Dusty and the Dirt Road Band, as you might guess from the name, was called straight-forward country by a couple
of staff members, and look to see them again soon.
– Singer and guitarist Garret Farber said he gave me a by-name shoutout, when seeing me across the street,
between songs when he was a late fill-in at the Smilin’ Moose for a solo acoustic patio gig. He also is on to
play, as part of the regularly scheduled lineup on Friday, followed by Brian Ott on Saturday. Both shows run
from 5-8 p.m.
– There will be Coco’s heart dog rescue fundraiser from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday at Kozy Korner in North
Hudson and the sign had said earlier in the week, “bring your puppies.” Is that a literal invitation to make
this a pooch powwow?
– Lava Java, a locally grown coffee drink infused with “stout” liquor, is being sold at the Village Inn in
North Hudson, and makes me hearken back to days of my youth when I’d infuriate family members while playing
Scrabble by making the word “aa,” which the dictionary says, referring back to the first part of this sentence,
is a type of again, lava. Would that make this a class AA drink?