Jenny Don't & The Spurs: A Western Holiday

Jenny Don't & The Spurs: A Western Holiday (Doomtown Sound, DTS-020, USA, 45 rpm, gold And red splatter vinyl)

I remember having seen a punk band called Don't about two years ago in the local club OCCII, here in Amsterdam. Led by front woman Jenny Don't, the band put down an energetic set. What I didn't know, and only just discovered, is that basically the same people are also playing in another band, Jenny Don't & The Spurs. A total different cup of tea, as Jenny Don't & The Spurs play traditional country. Think Hank Williams and The Carter Family. And now Jenny Don't & The Spurs have released a holiday single, 'A Western Holiday'. They are from Portland, Oregon, which is indeed in the western part of the US, so yes, it is indeed a western holiday that they celebrate over there. Although that is probably not what they mean with the title.

Most of the classic country Christmas songs are sad songs ('Blue Christmas', 'Will Santa Come To Shanty Town', 'An Old Christmas Card', 'Pretty Paper' and 'If We Make It Through December' to name just a few) and Jenny Don't knows that: 'Holiday Tears' and 'Santa, Please Bring Him Home' are all about loss and feeling lonely at Christmas. Although the music does not sound that sad at all. Both songs are upbeat, quite melodic, and invite you to tap along with your cowboy boots (with spurs). Add a great looking and very seasonal cover and red-gold splattered vinyl, and we have another 45 you need in your Christmas music collection!

And before you start listening to these two great country Christmas songs, I am just going to list the band members with the bands they have played in, to proof we have a very unusual combination here: some of the most active people from the hardcore and punk scene from Portland in the last 20 to 30 years playing country music that goes even further back. Jenny Don't played in Ladies Of The Night and Don't. There is Kelly Halliburton on bass who played in 16 Volt, Axiom, Burning Leather, Celebrity Graves, Cluster Bomb Unit, Dead Moon, Defiance , Deprived, Detestation, Don't, Endrophobia, Final Massakre, Holocausto Pomada, Masskontroll, Murder Disco Experience, P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S., Pierced Arrows, Resist, Severed Head Of State, Suicide Blitz and War Machine. And we have the oldest guy on the block, drummer Sam Henry, who already played in the late 1970s in legendary punk band The Wipers, and also played in Don't, Napalm Beach, Poison Idea, Snow Bud And The Flower People and The Rats. Guitarist and steel guitarist Christopher March seems to be the rookie in the band, as Discogs does not list any previous bands for him. You can listen to the two songs on the band's Bandcamp, and you can also order the single there.