{"id":2571,"date":"2023-03-15T07:09:47","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:09:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leslepage.com\/?p=2571"},"modified":"2023-03-15T07:44:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:44:51","slug":"the-beat-farmers-one-of-the-best-live-bands-ever-bar-none","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leslepage.com\/?p=2571","title":{"rendered":"The Beat Farmers. One of the best live bands ever, bar none."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Beat Farmers<\/strong>\u00a0were an American rock band that formed in\u00a0San Diego,\u00a0California, United States, in August 1983, and enjoyed a\u00a0cult following\u00a0into the early 1990s before the death of drummer\u00a0\u00a0and sometime\u00a0lead singer\u00a0Country Dick Montana. Their music has been described as an amalgamation of\u00a0cow punk,\u00a0jangle pop,\u00a0roots rock, hard-twang\u00a0Americana,\u00a0country rock,\u00a0rockabilly, and\u00a0swamp rock. The\u00a0San Diego Reader\u00a0summed up their sound as …”like\u00a0Bo Diddley,\u00a0CCR,\u00a0Joe South, and the\u00a0Yardbirds, ham fisted into a food processor, stuffed into a shotgun shell, and blasted into a beer keg at three in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1983, the Beat Farmers were formed by\u00a0Country Dick Montana, former drummer for San Diego bands The Penetrators and The Crawdaddys, and Jerry Raney, singer and guitarist with The Shames and formerly of 1970s psychedelic band Glory. Singer-guitarist Bernard “Buddy Blue” Seigal and bassist Rolle Love from local rockabilly band The Rockin’ Roulettes were recruited to round out the lineup. The band regularly played at the Spring Valley Inn and venues around\u00a0San Diego State University. In 1984, they won the annual San Diego Battle of the Bands and gained a Southern California following.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Beat Farmers were born out of an earlier band formed by Dan McLain called Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies. That band included many San Diego musicians who would later play important roles in both the Beat Farmers and the neo-traditional Country and cow punk scenes. Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies were: McLain (aka Country Dick Montana), drums and vocals; Richard Banke (aka\u00a0Skid Roper), mandolin, washboard and vocals; Robin Jackson, guitar and vocals; Paul Kamanski, guitar and vocals; Joey Harris, guitar and vocals; and\u00a0Nino Del Pesco, bass and vocals.
\nHarris later replaced Buddy Blue in The Beat Farmers, Kamanski penned a number of Beat Farmer songs, Banke teamed up with\u00a0Mojo Nixon, and Del Pesco later formed The Lonesome Strangers with bandmates Randy Weeks, Jeff Rymes, and\u00a0Joe Nanini\u00a0and Snake Farm with Barry McBride of\u00a0The Plugz.<\/p>\n

In 1984, they were signed to a one-off\u00a0record deal\u00a0with\u00a0Rhino Records. The first album,\u00a0Tales of the New West, was produced by\u00a0Blasters\u00a0and\u00a0Los Lobos\u00a0saxophonist\u00a0Steve Berlin\u00a0and released in January 1985. The album included cover songs “Reason to Believe” by\u00a0Bruce Springsteen, “There She Goes Again” by\u00a0The Velvet Underground, and “Never Going Back” by\u00a0John Stewart. It also featured their most well known song, “Happy Boy”, which gained national exposure through the\u00a0Doctor Demento\u00a0radio show, and was played as a novelty song across the country, notably by disc jockeys Jim McInnes and Pat Martin on San Diego radio station\u00a0KGB-FM, on\u00a0Pittsburgh\u00a0station\u00a0WDVE, where it has been played weekly since the 1980s, and in the early 1980s on\u00a0San Francisco,\u00a0California, FM radio station KQAK aka The Quake FM 99, particularly on the morning show with DJ\u00a0Alex Bennett\u00a0(the Quake closed its doors on June 18, 1985).<\/p>\n

In 1985, they traveled to England to record\u00a0Glad ‘N’ Greasy, a six-song EP for\u00a0Demon Records. It was co-produced by\u00a0Graham Parker\u00a0and\u00a0The Rumour\u00a0keyboardist\u00a0Bob Andrews\u00a0and included a dancehall version of\u00a0Neil Young’s “Powderfinger” and Country Dick singing “Beat Generation” with backing vocals from\u00a0Dave Alvin,\u00a0Nick Lowe, Gene Taylor,\u00a0Dan Stuart, and\u00a0Loudon Wainwright III. Their month-long tour of England drew praise from critics, particularly from\u00a0Melody Maker, whose editor followed them around and subsequently compared them to\u00a0The Beatles.
\nIn 1986, the band continued to tour and signed a seven-record deal with\u00a0Curb Records. Fed up by working with Curb Records, Buddy Blue left the band. Their major-label debut\u00a0Van Go\u00a0was produced by\u00a0Craig Leon\u00a0and featured performances by both Blue and new member Joey Harris, who previously played with\u00a0John Stewart, The Speedsters, and Country Dick and the Snuggle Bunnies.
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nThe next year,\u00a0The Pursuit of Happiness\u00a0was released on Curb Records\/MCA. The single “Make It Last” was briefly played on dozens of Country-Western stations across the nation, but the rest of the album was too rock n’ roll-oriented for the format,\u00a0and the single was dropped from rotation. “Hideaway” was featured in the soundtrack to the film\u00a0Major League\u00a0and “Big Big Man” was featured in\u00a0The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.\u00a0Poor and Famous\u00a0was released in 1989, and included “King of Sleaze”, a collaboration by Montana and\u00a0Mojo Nixon. Later in the year, Montana and Harris formed a side project with Nixon and Alvin called the\u00a0Pleasure Barons, a group that specialized in\u00a0lounge music. The Beat Farmers finished the year with a three-night stand at San Diego’s Bacchannal nightclub. The album\u00a0Loud and Plowed and . . . LIVE!!\u00a0was culled from those three nights and released the next year.<\/p>\n

In 1991 Montana was treated for a\u00a0thyroid\u00a0condition and continued to visit a doctor for\u00a0cancer\u00a0treatments. The band appeared on\u00a0Late Night with David Letterman\u00a0on Friday, June 14, 1991.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the years, the band grew increasingly dissatisfied with its relationship with Curb Records, and repeatedly attempted to get out of their seven-album contract. Finally succeeding in 1993, the group began to record\u00a0Viking Lullabys\u00a0in\u00a0Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was released in August 1994 by Sector 2, an\u00a0Austin, Texas, record label. In 1995, Curb\/MCA released\u00a0The Best of the Beat Farmers\u00a0without the consent or involvement of the band.\u00a0That same year, the Beat Farmers released\u00a0Manifold, their second record for Sector 2. Paul Kamanski, who wrote several songs on previous Beat Farmers releases, appeared on vocals and guitar.<\/p>\n

On November 8, 1995, Country Dick Montana died of a\u00a0heart attack\u00a0while performing “The Girl I Almost Married”, three songs into the set at the\u00a0Longhorn Saloon\u00a0in\u00a0Whistler, British Columbia. The remaining Beat Farmers decided to dissolve the band three days later.<\/p>\n

In 1996,\u00a0Bar None Records\u00a0of\u00a0Hoboken, New Jersey, posthumously released\u00a0The Devil Lied to Me, the Country Dick Montana solo album. The performers included members of the Farmers,\u00a0Katy Moffatt,\u00a0Rosie Flores,\u00a0Mojo Nixon, and\u00a0Dave Alvin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2002, Rhino Records digitally remastered and reissued the first CD release of\u00a0Glad n’ Greasy, now subtitled “The Lost Beat Farmers Recording”, and an extended version of\u00a0Tales of the New West.<\/p>\n

The remaining members formed several new bands including Raney-Blue (Jerry Raney and Buddy Blue), Powerthud (Jerry Raney and Joey Harris), The Joey Show (Joey Harris), Joey Harris and The Mentals, The Flying Putos (Jerry Raney, Buddy Blue, & Rolle Love), and The Farmers (Jerry Raney, Rolle Love and Buddy Blue).<\/p>\n

On April 2, 2006, Buddy Blue died of a heart attack at his\u00a0La Mesa\u00a0home at the age of 48. Also that year, a live recording of an early show was released as\u00a0The Beat Farmers Live at the Spring Valley Inn, 1983\u00a0on Clarence Records.<\/p>\n

In January 2010, the Beat Farmers started a tradition of an annual Hootenanny that features Jerry Raney, Joey Harris and Rollie Love getting together to play Beat Farmers songs. These are held at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California. The show typically features Raney (playing with his band, The Farmers), Harris (playing with his band, Joey Harris and the Mentals) as well as the Beat Farmers with Love (and Joel Kmak on drums). There is typically a number of special guests as well. These have included Dave Alvin, Steve Berlin, Mojo Nixon, Paul Kamanski and others as they pay tribute to Country Dick Montana and Buddy Blue.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 26, 2022, the Beat Farmers (Raney, Harris, Love, Kmak) performed on the Outlaw Country Cruise. They performed two other sets (Feb. 27 and March 2) as well as joining the he Warner Hodges Band (ex-Jason and the Scorchers) for a jam session. The Beat Farmers will be on the West Coast version of the Outlaw Country Cruise in 2022.<\/p>\n

Country Dick Montana\u00a0(Dan McLain) (drums, guitar, vocals) 1983 to 1995<\/p>\n

Jerry Raney (guitar, vocals) 1983 to 1995<\/p>\n

Rolle Dexter Love (bass) 1983 to 1995<\/p>\n

Buddy Blue\u00a0(guitar, vocals, drums) 1983 to 1986<\/p>\n

Joey Harris (guitar, vocals) 1986 to 1995<\/p>\n

Albums
\nTales of the New West\u00a0(Rhino \/ 1985)
\nVan Go\u00a0(Curb \/1986)
\nThe Pursuit of Happiness\u00a0(MCA \/1987)
\nPoor and Famous\u00a0(Curb \/1989)
\nViking Lullabys\u00a0(Sector 2 \/ 1994)
\nManifold\u00a0(Sector 2 \/ 1995)
\nThe Lost Beat Farmers Recording\u00a0(Rhino \/ 2002)<\/p>\n

Beat Farmers Hootenanny Jan. 21, 2023 video
\nI can\u2019t believe the feeling I got when I found these three videos on YouTube in February 2023. Man these guy\u2019s can set the tone when they step on stage, some 43 years later. Brings me back to seeing them live in Ottawa at Barrymores and some other club on Dalhousie street. I\u2019ve seen a lot of live bands over the last 5 decades and these guy\u2019s are on my top 5 live bands ever. They know how to do it. Thanks for the great music and performances over the years. Keep Rockin\u2019!<\/p>\n