Thirty years back, Chicago-based musicians Dean Schlabowske and Jon Langford didn’t know much about country music. They knew about rock ’n’ roll and its many offshoots in the form of “indie” or “punk,” as Schlabowske had done time in the noise rock band Wreck, while Langford had been in first wave punk band The Mekons. Country music, however, was just not on their radar.
Country blipped on said radar when Schlabowske hired Langford to produce a record; during downtime in the studio, they’d listen to country compilation records that grew their interest, ultimately growing The Waco Brothers, a Chicago-born rock band that walks a fine but rowdy line between classic country and garage rock.
If you go
WHAT: KDUR presents The Waco Brothers and Genuine Cowhide.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive.
TICKETS: $15.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.animascitytheatre.com.
The Waco Brothers will perform Saturday at the Animas City Theatre, helping local radio KDUR continue to celebrate 50 years of broadcast. Full disclosure: I am the station manager of KDUR. Opening the show is the Montezuma County-based, self-described “Nitro-Twang” band Genuine Cowhide.
Those early Waco Brothers days found Schlabowske and Langford diving head-first into country music education
“In 1980s when you’d go to a party with all of your punk rock friends and look through the record collection, for some reason there was always a Hank Williams record in there. So I had heard a little bit of it,” Schlabowske said.
“I always hated country music, I thought it was rubbish,” added the Wales-born Langford. “I liked Tom Jones and Johnny Cash, and it was explained to me they played country music. I thought ‘Green, Green Grass of Home’ was a Welsh folk song.”
Soon after, the two started playing out in clubs around Chicago under names like “Ranchquake,” “Jonboy and Deano” “Hillbilly Love Child” and “The Church of Country Music.”
It was one of those first shows that mandolin player Tracy Dear, who was new to his instrument, jumped on stage. Alan Doughty joined on bass, also using the band to learn about American country music. Ultimately, Schlabowske made a poster using the name “The Waco Brothers,” and right around that time, the Chicago record label Bloodshot Records reached out to them to make a record, and the name stuck.
The current lineup includes Schlabowske and Langford on guitar and vocals, Dear on mandolin and vocals, Doughty, Jean Cook on fiddle, and drummer Dan Massey.
This is far from traditional country music. One minute they may bang out a George Jones influenced, crying in your beer tune, then they’ll move onto a rowdy Neil Young or The Who cover, then they’ll drop an original that blurs the lines between outlaw country and first-wave punk rock. This isn’t overproduced fluff. This is blue-collar rock ’n’ roll that is also thinking man’s music. It’s smart with a protest vibe; a bit classic, a bit garage, and all good and rowdy, bar-band fun.
“I think with the Waco Brothers, I have an image of what I want to be and what I want it to be like, and Dean’s part in that is like this kind of 50-50 thing, where we tell ‘two sides of a coin’ side of story sometimes,” Langford said. “It’s more kind of working-man stuff.”
These days, some band members are spread out around the country from New York to Louisiana along with Chicago, with shows happening around the Midwest when they put out a record. Thus, this appearance is rare, a show all in an effort to celebrate 50 years of KDUR.
“It takes a little effort for us to get together,” Schlabowske said.
“It never stopped us from doing things we want to do, it’s made us grow up a little bit and not just play every bar, every night,” Langford added. “When we started, we just played bars for beer, now we get treated properly.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
