The Lone Star Retrobates

The Lone Star Retrobates
Cowjazz
at its
Finest
“Remember
Western Swing
– forget the
Alamo”
The Lone Star Retrobates is a boot-scootin’ dance band specializing in authentic West Coast Cowjazz. If
Jazz is America’s musical taproot, then this roadhouse-swing fusion is its west-facing branch.
Featuring trumpet, sax, twin fiddles, both standard and pedal steel guitars, drums and standup bass, rich
three- and four-part vocal harmonies and even trick yodeling on demand, the Retrobates sashay from hot
swing to honkytonk. Let’s say Ella and The Inkspots were to gig with Billy Jack Wills at the corner of Louis
Jordan and Ray Price, and say Hank Williams and the Modernaires were sitting in— that’s the Retrobates
in a nutshell. Oh, and with laughing gas piped in— these guys have a lot of fun.
The Retrobates show pleases all comers: retro-roots for the youth, jump-boogie for the hipsters, classic
swing with new arrangements for granddad, and good tight original arrangements and vocal harmony for
the many musicians who like to drop by and sit in on their shows. They might slide easy-like into a
sagebrush serenade, to rekindle the campfire classics of the Sons of the Pioneers or the Texas Playboys.
They rustle up much of their inspiration from rare 78s, musical oaters, and radio transcriptions.
With a freshly retooled show featuring a kicking all-star horn section—each horn man a bandleader in his
own right-- and with the best Cowjazz singer on the West Coast, Bryan “Spex” Adams, the Retrobates are
making a stir in the Bay Area alt-country and retro-roots scene. In addition to fronting their own groups,
Retrobates alumni have been band members or recorded with Wills brothers Billy Jack and Bob, Jimmie
Rivers, Junior Brown, Bill Monroe, The Neville Brothers, The Sky Blue Band, Kinky Friedman, Frank
Wakefield, The Swing Cats, The San Francisco Starlight Orchestra, Dan Hicks, the Hot Club of San
Francisco, Lavay Smith, Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums, and many, many others.
They've made many radio and TV appearances, and have been featured at many west coast shindigs,
including the Western Regional Folk Festival, the Northwest Regional Folklife Festival (Seattle), the San
Diego Folk Festival, the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival and the California State Fair. They played a sevenyear engagement at Paul’s Salloon in San Francisco. Nowadays they circle up the wagons the third
Sunday of every month at Marin’s premiere hotspot, the 19 Broadway Niteclub in Fairfax.
“I know these guys – they are great players. Check ‘em out!” -- Barbara Martin, Western Swing Monthly
Download our Cowjazz mp3s and check out set lists and Band Bayous at lonestarretrobates.com
For bookings, call the Trailboss at (415) 516-1028
The Lone Star Retrobates Appearances
Cowjazz
at its
Finest “Remember
Western Swing
– forget the
Alamo”
CONCERTS, FAIRS AND FESTIVALS
California State Fair Sacramento
Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival
Northwest Regional Folk Festival, Seattle WA
Western Regional Folk Festival CA
Bill Graham’s Shoreline Amphitheater w/ Patsy Montana
Oakland Festival of the Arts
San Benito and Sonoma County Fairs
San Diego Folk Festival concert and workshops
S.F. Folk Festival Fort Mason - concert and guitar
workshop
Jack London Square Oakland mayor’s rally
San Francisco State University concert
Luther Burbank Arts Center concert
Annual Stern Grove Concerts
Tuolumne County Wild West Film Festival
Grand National Rodeo - Cow Palace, San Francisco
RADIO AND TELEVISION
KPFA-FM the “Midnight Special”
KQED-TV with Lone Star – San Francisco Public
Library Benefit
East Bay Community Access TV - “On Stage” program
with Lone Star
KQED-FM - Sedge Thompson’s “West Coast Weekend”
KKUP-FM, Cupertino CA
CORPORATE
Moscone Center SF
Cast party for “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”
Marlo Thomas birthday party, with Tommy Tunes
Int’l Singer Sewing Machine Convention
Francis Ford Coppola filmcrew vineyard campout- filmed
for documentary
Cascade Ranch dance-BBQ, Ano Nueva State Park
CLUBS
Napa-Sonoma-Marin:
19 Broadway Fairfax
Rancho Nicasio, CA
Rosebud’s, Benecia CA
Sweetwater Mill Valley
Silverado Country Club and Resort
Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
San Rafael Elks Lodge
San Francisco and Peninsula:
23 Club and Dick’s Tower Brisbane CA
Owl & Monkey
SF Public Library Artists Series
One Market Plaza
Mariott’s Great America
Paul’s Saloon, SF CA - 8 years as House Band
Lucky Luke’s North Beach
Pier 23 on Embarcadero
The Waterfront
Fairmont and St. Francis Hotels
Fort Mason Plowshares concert w/ Patsy Montana
East Bay and beyond:
Askhenaz
Bear’s Lair UCB
Olympia Tavern, Fresno
Petty Officer’s Club, Alameda Naval Air Station
Kensington Western Days, CA - Lone Star
Freight & Salvage
Western Swing Society, Sacramento
The Lone Star Retrobates
Cowjazz
at its
Finest “Remember
Western Swing
– forget the
Alamo”
The Retrobates’ Song List
Across the Alley from the Alamo
All of Me
Bottle Baby Boogie
Choo Choo Cha Boogie
Cow Cow Boogie
Curtain Call
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
End of the Line
Ghost Riders in the Sky
How High the Moon
I Remember You
It's All Your Fault
Little White Lies
Miles of Texas
Misery
Moanin' the Blues
My Adobe Hacienda
Along the Navajo Trail
Panhandle Rag
Right or Wrong
Route 66
Satin Doll
Sentimental Journey
She Taught Me to Yodel
Slow Boat to China
Smoke that Cigarette
Steel Guitar Rag
Steelin' the Blues
Take Me Back to Tulsa
Texas Drummer Boy
Tumbling Tumbleweeds
When the Bloom is on the Sage
Adventures in Paradise
Blues for Dixie
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Corrina, Corrina
Crazy
Don't Fence Me In
East of the Sun
Fly Me to the Moon
Herding Cats
I'll Be There
I'm My Own Grandpa
Kari Grows Up
Lovesick Blues
Milk Cow Blues
Mississippi Delta Trilogy
Mood Indigo
My Window Faces South
Old Fashioned Love
Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia
Roly Poly
San Antonio Rose
Saturday Night Fish Fry
Sheik of Araby
Sleepwalk
Slowpoke
South of the Border
Steelin' Home
Sugar Moon
Take the A Train
Texas Plains
Twin Guitar Special
Whoa Babe
The Lone Star Retrobates Alumni
Cowjazz
at its
Finest “Remember
Western Swing
– forget the
Alamo”
Lonestar Retrobates alumni have appeared, recorded or shared billing with:
WESTERN SWING-ROCKABILLY-BLUEGRASS
Bob Wills Texas Playboys
Billy Jack Wills
Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys
Rose Maddox
Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun
Kinky Friedman
Junior Brown
Frank Wakefield Bluegrass Band
High Country
Laurie Lewis
Lost Weekend
Patsy Montana
Cari Lee and the Saddle-ites
Truitt Cunningham
Byron Berline
Tiny Moore
Wayne “The Train” Hancock
Cornell Hurd Band
Bravo
Stephanie Davis
Dr. Elmo
SF Starlight Orchestra
Rusty Evans
Hot Rize/Red Knuckles’ Trail Blazers
Rusty Richards ( Sons of the Pioneers)
Peter Rowan
Dick Oxtot’s Western Swing Express
Bill Woods and Cousin Herb Henson
Dale Watson and Lonestar
Dayna Wills All-Star Band
Shorty Joe Quartuccio
Paul Mehling’s Hot Club of San Francisco
ROCK-POP-FOLK-MISCELLANY
Dan Hicks
Red River Dave McEnery
D. L. Menard
Sam Hinton
Norton Buffalo
Iggy Pop
Del Rey and the Blues Gators
Clarence Van Hook
Ramblin’ Jack Elliot
Jim Ringer & Mary McCaslin
Sky Blues Band
Elvin Bishop
Mike Bloomfield
Luther Tucker
Mike Lipskin
Harold Jones
Thom Bresh
Neville Brothers
Pfister Sisters
The Band
The Temptations
Gatemouth Brown
Notes from the Underground
Rockin’ Daddy
Cool Papa
David Grisman
Lavay Smith
Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums
Burt Bales
Barbara Lashley
Norma Teagarden
Pat Cloud