The Barn Dance

You haven’t lived as a bass player until you have played a Barn Dance. I am talking a real honest to goodness Barn Dance. I have played several, most of them in my early days of being a bass player. They were not always in a barn but they were structured the same. This is an example 
of one.

I got lost going to the job. Fortunately I was not driving and Gary (the new singer/rhythm player) was from the area and knew how to get there. It was a long way.

First we had to drive 80 miles East on a two lane secondary road to a town named Baker (Population 1695). At Baker we turned south and drove another 40 miles (another secondary road) to a town named Ekalaka (Population 395). Then we went east another 20 miles (a secondary, secondary road) to Mill Iron. Mill Iron is an area not a town. The only building there was a community center. It was there we were to play our music.

We got there about 8:00PM which gave us an hour to setup before we were to being playing. There was no one there. Gary said not to worry, these dances usually started late. The building was open so we went ahead and set up our equipment. Nine o’clock came and went and no people. I was beginning to worry. Was this the wrong place, the wrong night, or maybe both?

Gary just laughed at me. I was a born and raised city boy and transplanted here to the country. I didn’t know the difference between a cow and a combine. The only thing I did know was that they both process grain for human consumption.

Gary, who was an elementary school teacher by day, sat me down and gave me a lesson in being a country boy. He said “this being a rural area (well dud, I hadn’t seen a vehicle or another human being is three hours) the residents usually work until the sun goes down. They then have supper (the last meal of the day, we city folk call it dinner) then they will come here to dance and party”. This meant, Gary said, they probably would not be here until 11:00PM. I though “wow” that means we with only play for three hours. Wrong, that meant that we would play until 5:00AM.

Several Ladies showed up at a little after ten. They brought food, a lot of food. It looked like we would at least eat well. Around eleven, just as Gary had predicted, cars and pickup trucks filled with men, women and children, began to roll in. With them they brought more food and enough alcohol to float a battle ship. This was going to be a Party. I was kind of surprised when they didn’t bring any of the alcohol into the building. Gary informed me (another lesson in country) that no alcohol was allowed in the building for two reasons. No drinking in front of children and the building was also used as a church. There would be services the next morning.

The children only lasted until about midnight. They went to sleep in the cars and trucks. Then the party really got started. Country people work hard and party hard. There was no rock and roll here. We had to dig out every 3 chord country song we knew. Some we didn’t know. Buck Owens was king. We played Waltz’s, Polka’s and Two Steps until the sun came up. When 2:00AM arrived (the time we would normally to quit) they pass a cowboy hat around to gather cash so we would keep playing. We were having such a good time I don’t think they would have had to pay us extra, but we didn’t turn it down. We played until 5:00AM and went home tired and our pockets full of cash.

Another Change in the Band