Beat farmers pursuit of happiness

In the dim glow of the warmly lit Belly Up Tavern of Solana Beach, across from the red-eyed Great White Shark hanging from the ceiling, a group of middle-aged rockers, who call themselves 'The Farmers,' perform for their 12th annual Hootenanny.

Beat biography farmers insurance For the Record …. From their beginnings in San Diego until the untimely death of founder Country Dick Montana in , the band would pack local Sand Diego watering holes with punkers, bikers, country fans, and rock and rollers. They became a cultural phenomanon with a huge following even though their albums never got any air play or support from the record companies. Formed tightly around the abilities and antics of front man Country Dick Montana, the band had a reputation for being serious party animals. Punk music was just waiting to grab hold on society and country music was also experiencing a rebirth.

Standing above a crowd of middle-aged music heads wearing Beat Farmer t-shirts and holding bottled beer, The Farmers bring to life an era in San Diego music; before Blink or Thee Sacred Souls, San Diego had The Beat Farmers.

Formed in , The Beat Farmers were a San Diego-based rockabilly band that dominated the local scene around San Diego State University.

What started as just a couple of guys drinking beer and making music became a cult phenomenon. After a residency at the Spring Valley Inn and winning San Diego's Battle of the Bands in , the band was signed to Rhino Records and recorded their first album, "Tales of the New West," released in While the band doesn't fall under the "one-hit wonder" moniker, "Tales of the New West" was (and still is) the band's best album.

This album's strength lies in its likeability. A combination of covers and original songs, the light-weight, roots-based songs have a consistent air of fun about them, characterized by a lack of gloss in the production that lends to the album's feeling of familiarity, casualness, and hootin' and hollerin'. An understated element of their sound is also due to the engineering of Steve Berlin, whose engineering places this album in a similar soundscape as Los Lobos, whom Berlin plays saxophone for; it's a subtle aesthetic, but any Los Lobos fan will recognize it.

The success of "Tales of the New West" led to The Beat Farmers being signed to a seven-record deal with Curb Records in , which is when things started to go south.

By the band had a solid line-up consisting of Country Dick Montana, Jerry Raney, Rolle Dexter, and Buddy Blue.

Beat biography farmers association These guys have more lives than a cat. Between stealing onions from farmers in Holtville and walking cross ties to Brawley, Jerry started hanging out in various hobo camps, learning the guitar. After sponging up as much as he could, more was needed. A move west in search of Rebels, Rogues, and Renegades. Over the years, the Beat Farmers turned into the Farmers, and lost a couple of fixtures along the way.

Frustrated by demands from their new record label, Buddy Blue quit the band and was replaced by Joey Harris.

From to , the band released three more albums with Curb Records, "Van Go," "The Pursuit of Happiness," and "Poor & Famous," as well as a live album, "Loud & Plowed and… LIVE." They were finally released from their contract with Curb Records and signed to Sector 2 Records to record their next album, "Viking Lullabys." That album was released in , and the next year, they released their final album with this line-up, "Manifold."

From here, the story of The Beat Farmers goes from a struggling American rock band to tragedy.

While on a tour, band founder and drummer Country Dick Montana suffered a heart attack three songs into a show in British Columbia, and the group disbanded three days later. He died on stage from what was later identified as an aneurysm. Trying to capitalize on Monatan's passing, Curb Records released "The Best of the Beat Farmers," a greatest hits compilation, without permission or acknowledgment from the rest of the band members.

Beat biography farmers The Beat Farmers are an American rock band that formed in San Diego , California , United States, in August , and enjoyed a cult following into the early s before the death of drummer and sometime lead singer Country Dick Montana. The San Diego Reader summed up their sound as 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. In , they were signed to a one-off record deal with Rhino Records. Their month-long tour of England drew praise from critics, particularly from Melody Maker , whose editor followed them around and subsequently compared them to The Beatles.

On their website, the band describes this release as, "It was (and still is) a very poor retrospective of the band that was packaged, put together, and released without the band's knowledge (sound familiar!)." Montana, who had been recording a solo album at the time, had his album, "The Devil Lied to Me," released posthumously in

As far as fame goes, this was the end of the road for The Beat Farmers.

The rest of the band disbursed into other small side projects: The Farmers, Joey & The Mentals, and Buddy Blue worked as a music journalist for The San Diego Reader and the San Diego Union-Tribune until he died suddenly of a heart attack in

But the light did not die on The Beat Farmers. In , the remaining band members began the tradition of a yearly Hootenanny hosted at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

Raney performs with his band, The Farmers, Harris plays with Joey Harris and the Mentals, and then The Beat Farmers reunites to round it all out.

Beat biography farmers market

From to , the Beat Farmers were one of the greatest bands ever! Country Dick Montana, Jerry Raney, Joey Harris, and Rolle Love were this traveling musical pleasure experience that will never be duplicated ever again. If you ever saw the BFers, you know what I mean. They played a powerful combination of music and mayhem and added a large dose of stage presence to provide a live show that was truly one of a kind. These pages will give you some background regarding who the band was, how they came to be, and how it all ended on November 8, when a true "one of a kind" legend was lost doing what he loved most - playing music in front of a live crowd.

The spontaneity of it, and its scheduling through Facebook, makes it feel like a family affair. The Hootenanny has still to be announced, but The Farmers are still around playing shows at "the bars they have yet to be kicked out of," Joey & The Mentals are on a small tour in , and The Beat Farmers are doing two reunion shows in March at the Hopmonk Tavern in Novato, CA.

MARCH 29, HopMonk Tavern Novato, Session Room in Novato, CA

MARCH 30, HopMonk Tavern Novato, Session Room in Novato, CA

Tony Le Calvez is an avid reader and music enthusiast.

He has published articles on music in The San Diego Union-Tribune, , and The Coronado News.