WHIRLED PIES Pau Hanna Fridays
ft. Bryan Tolentino and Del
Beazley—6pm; n/c
WOW HALL Music’s Edge Summer
Rock Camp Showcase—6:30pm; $5
YUKON JACK'S Justin Case—
8:30pm; n/c
THURSDAY 8/16
5TH STREET PUBLIC MARKET
Ritmo y Romance—6pm; n/c
B&B LOUNGE Karaoke—9:30pm;
n/c
BEERGARDEN The Jivemasters—
7:30pm; n/c
COWFISH '90s Night!—9pm; n/c
DEXTER LAKE CLUB Karaoke w/
Jared—9pm; n/c
HULT CENTER PLAZA Okaidja
Afroso—5:30pm; n/c
JAZZ STATION Chappell & Dave
Holt & Christina Seaborn—
7:30pm; $12
LUCKEY'S Grateful Dead Family
Jam—10pm; $3
MCSHANE'S BAR & GRILL
Acoustic Underground Open
Mic—7:30pm; n/c
MULLIGAN'S PUB Karaoke—
9pm; n/c
OVERTIME BAR & GRILL Westside
Blues Jam w/Dave Roberts—7pm;
n/c
SAM BOND'S BREWING Rags and
Bones—7pm; n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE New Fame ,
Elena Leona, Hip Hop, Soul, R&B—
9pm; n/c
MUSIC
ROARING RAPIDS The Portland
Jazz Composers Ensemble—
7pm; n/c
SEASONS BAR & GRILL Karaoke
w/ Sassy Patty—8pm; n/c
TERRITORIAL VINEYARDS Live
Music—7pm; n/c
THE BARNLIGHT Karaoke—
7:30pm; n/c
THE DRAKE BAR
Flashback Drag Takeover—
10:30pm; n/c
FRIDAY 8/17
5TH STREET CORNUCOPIA Daddy
Rabbit—9:30pm; n/c
AXE & FIDDLE Joe Goodkin,
8:30pm; n/c
BILLY MAC'S Christie &
McCallum—7:30pm; n/c
BLAIRALLY Church of the '80s
Night—9:30pm; DJ, $3
BRONCO SALOON Karaoke w/
Lindsey—9pm; n/c
DOC'S PAD Karaoke w/KJ
Power—9pm; n/c
DRIFTWOOD BAR Karaoke w/
Slick Nick—9pm; n/c
EL TAPATIO CANTINA Karaoke w/
KJ Rick—9pm; n/c
FRIENDLY ST. MARKET Corwin
Bolt—6pm; n/c
HI-FI LOUNGE Zeta w/Muscle
Beach, Petting Zoo & El Tocayo
opening—8pm; $5; The
Resinators - Rebelution After-
Party—11pm; $5
JAZZ STATION Bob Ragan:
Timeless—7:30pm; $12
JERSEY'S Karaoke w/Sassy
Patty—9pm; n/c
MOE'S TAVERN Barbara Dzuro
Jass Duo (Piano/Bass)—6pm;
n/c
OREGON WINE LAB Blues, Soul
& Reggae—7pm; n/c
PFEIFFER WINERY RIFFLE—
6pm; n/c
PUBLIC HOUSE Racetrack
Romeos—7:30pm; n/c
SAGINAW VINEYARDS Heavy
Chevy—6pm; n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Small
Skies, The Shifts, Graduating
Class Future Pop —9:30pm
$5
TERROTORIAL VINEYARDS Live
Music—7pm; n/c
THE EMBERS Rock 'n' rewind—
9pm; n/c
SATURDAY 8/18
AXE & FIDDLE Caitlin Jemma and
the Goodness, Joseph Hein Band—
7pmp; n/c
BEERGARDEN The Firestarters—
8pm; n/c
BREW & CUE Sassy Patty, BTM
Karaoke—9pm; n/c
CUTHBERT AMPHITHEATER
Halestorm / In This Moment—
4:30pm; $5-50
DEXTER LAKE CLUB Heavy
Chevy—8pm; n/c
DOC'S PAD Karaoke w/KJ Power—
9pm; n/c
DRIFTWOOD BAR Karaoke w/
Slick Nick—9pm; n/c
HAPPY HOURS Ozone Baby—
8:30pm; n/c
HI-FI LOUNGE Egotones w/
Smear, & Animalingo opening—
9:30pm; $5
JAZZ STATION McVay Highway—
7:30pm; $12
MOE'S TAVERN Barbara Dzuro
Jass Duo (Piano/Bass), 6pm; n/c
MOHAWK TAVERN Parish Gap—
ppm; n/c
OLD NICK'S I Want The Knife,
Crushing Crayons, From The
Future—9pm; $5
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Chain
Station High Energy String Band
9:30 pm $5
SATURDAY MARKET 10 a.m
Willamette Violin Company;
11am Rob Tobias; noon Lea
Jones 1pm The Dirty Dandelions;
2pm Temple Under the Stars;
3:30; Dennis Smith Project; n/c
UPTOWN MUSIC Richard Gilewitz
Acoustic Adventures—7pm; n/c
VANILLA JILL'S Maddie Bryant—
7:30pm; n/c
WHITE HORSE SALOON Karaoke
w/Sarah—9pm; n/c
WOW HALL Eugene Noise Fest—
7pm; $8-10
SUNDAY 8/19
AGATE ALLEY BISTRO Karaoke w/
Breezy Bee—9pm; n/c
COFFEE PLANT ROASTER Open
mic/jam— 3pm; n/c
CUSH CAFE Open Mic—2pm; n/c
HOP VALLEY TASTING ROOM Amy
Obenski: Ethereal Folk Rock Live
Looping—5pm; n/c
LOWELL ROLLING PARK David
Rogers—12:30pm; n/c
MOHAWK TAVERN Karaoke w/
Caught in the Act—9pm; n/c
MULLIGAN'S PUB Open mic—
8:30pm; variety, n/c
PUBLIC HOUSE Scott Austin—
4pm; n/c
THE CIDER HOUSE Dan
Mahoney—4pm; n/c
THE DRAKE Karaoke—9pm; n/c
THE EMBERS Karaoke w/Sassy
Patty—7pm; n/c
THE RIVER STOP Open Sunday
Jam—6pm; n/c
SAM BOND'S BREWING
SongSmith Sunday—6pm; n/c
SAM BOND'S GARAGE Karl Blau ,
Jesse Daniel , Kat
Fountain—9:00 pm; $5-7
UNITY OF THE VALLEY Daniel
Nahmod Concert—7pm; $10-15
WEBFOOT Karaoke w/KJ Power—
9pm; n/c
WHIRLED PIES The Higgs—7pm;
n/c
WILDCRAFT CIDER WORKS Luke
Bradbent Trio—4pm; n/c
MONDAY 8/20
CENTENNIAL STEAK HOUSE
Karaoke w/Crystal Harmony &
Makada—9pm; n/c
COWFISH Motown Monday w/DJ
Kingsley Strangelove—9pm;
soul, n/c
FIRST NATIONAL TAPHOUSE Open
Mic—8pm; n/c
HI-FI LOUNGE Gazelle(s) w/X
Suns and Red Cloud opening—
7pm; $5
OLD NICK'S PUB Service Industry
Night & Irish Jam—9pm; n/c
ROARING RAPIDS PIZZA Sean
Peterson's Esstet—7pm; n/c
BY WILL KENNEDY
KID ROCK
GET OVER YOURSELF
Learning to love the new algorithmic country pop
P
op country music and hip hop have usurped rock
‘n’ roll for cultural relevance. The songs topping
both the country and rock ‘n’ roll games have
morphed into well-oiled machines with inter-
changeable parts: written by algorithm with a kind
of Mad Libs-style, small-town vernacular.
Dial back on the twang and rearrange the fiddle out of
the mix. Next, nix the chew-in-the-lower-lip, geographi-
cally indistinguishable rural American accent for some
rock ‘n’ roll growl. Just these simple fixes, and most con-
temporary country chart-toppers could be rock hits.
This goes both ways. From hookup anthems to arena
choruses and schmaltzy love songs, if there was ever a
time when you were, say, at a Loverboy concert wearing a
Journey T-shirt, pop country is the place for you.
ALABAMA
The southern Willamette Valley is a pop country capital.
Many of the genre’s brightest stars perform at our biggest
venues, and the popularity of that Nashville sound is best
experienced at the 4-day Bi-Mart Willamette Valley Coun-
try Music Fest, a sort of Oregon Country Fair for RVers
and glamping enthusiasts, held annually near Brownsville.
Eugene musician Jacob Pruzynski, known for playing
with local cow-punk band The Koozies, doesn’t consider
himself a pop country fan necessarily, but when he checks
out this year’s WVCM Fest lineup, he admits he’d kind of
like to attend.
“This year’s line-up covers all of those bases with Kid
Rock exemplifying my guiltiest of pleasures,” he tells me.
Yes, Kid Rock is country now, and performing at the Coun-
ty Music Fest on Sunday, Aug. 19. Donald Trump is also
president. It’s a mad world we’re living in.
“I’ve seen Eric Church before,” Pruzynski continues.
Church performs Friday, Aug. 17, at the fest. “‘Smoke a
Little Smoke’ is everything fun and ‘cringe’ at the same
time,” he adds, describing one of Church’s biggest hits.
No question pop country songs can be catchy, and pro-
duced with such air-tight precision they could be sent into
space. This is either glorious or aggravating, depending on
your point of view. After all, even a broken algorithm can
turn out real inspiration once in a while.
Pruzynski has some tips on learning to love today’s
country music giddy-up. “The sum of its parts can be less
than the cool factor of the individual parts,” he explains.
“When it’s all put together and polished up, those parts add
up to something a bit too on the nose.”
“All pop music can suffer from this, but this pop country
genre really exemplifies it to me,” he continues. “It’s a guilty
pleasure in the same way as professional wrestling. You lis-
ten to the artist and know what you are supposed to think.
Like, ‘That’s outlaw,’ or ‘Those guys are wholesome.’ But
it’s fun and satisfying even if a little predictable.”
What I find most interesting about the rise of pop coun-
try is how it has paralleled the descent of the American
working class from sovereign citizenship to commodity
and market demographic.
Once, country music was played by people who lived the
lives they sang. Nashville urbanized the sound. It now seems
doubtful the oversized-belt-buckle-festooned country stars of
today have ever touched a long-haul truck or a hay baler.
But the country music audience is used to being conde-
scended to about what’s left of the American Dream. Their
politicians do it. Why shouldn’t their favorite pop stars?
Pruzynski says I need to get over myself.
“If you can simply have fun,” Pruzynski concludes,
“and enjoy the music, a country music festival can be one
of the best times you will have at a summer concert. It’s a
whole lot of lyrics to an Eric Church song.” ■
The Bi-Mart Country Music Festival Runs Aug. 16-19 near Brownsville.
For a full line-up of artists performing, including headlining slots from
Alabama and Lady Antebellum, check out willamettecountrymusicfes-
tival.com.
eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 16, 2018
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