HP Community Pick is a semi-regular blog series where community members have the chance to highlight a show they’re stoked about. This pick is brought to you by Shaun Astor, a local journalist, longtime showgoer, and music lover, shouting out one of his favorite live acts Jenny Don’t and the Spurs playing on September 11th with locals Blackstallion. Check it out!
“The first time I saw Jenny Don’t And The Spurs perform was on the whimsically outfitted outdoor theater stage beneath the sunbeams filtering through forest leaves at Salem, Oregon’s Enchanted Forest Amusement Park. The band had to watch out for the human-sized bird cage and Candyland-colored set pieces adorning the small space. For those lucky enough to be familiar with Enchanted Forest, you’ll know just how magical and surreal seeing Jenny Don’t perform in this one-of-a-kind amusement park would be.
Before this, I only knew of the band as having former members of some of the devastatingly dour punk bands I’ve liked – Kelly from the 90’s crust band Detestation and the project started by Fred and Toody Cole of Dead Moon called Pierced Arrows who would often play Holland on their tours, and Sam Henry (RIP) from garage punk bands The Wipers and The Rats. The story goes that by sheer coincidence, Jenny had just moved to Portland, Oregon, from the small rodeo town she had grown up in, and after the breakup of her electroclash band Ladies Of The Night, she was looking to start a new band. She was introduced to Sam, and after the two talked about their love of trail songs and country crooners, they soon started Don’t, a country-influenced punk band.
That project would morph into Jenny Don’t And The Spurs, and my surreal introduction to the group was absolutely fitting. Pouring a little country, a little Texas swing and some good ol honkey tonk dive bar polish into their music, not to mention being decked out in americana-inspired outfits that Jenny makes herself by hand, Jenny Don’t And The Spurs distill their wide-ranging influences into a fun and danceable style of country. Delivering a fun show over all else, anyone lucky enough to have seen the group previously knows that when they roll back through town, it’s always a show not to be missed.”
– Shaun
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