Double J and the Boys

Double J and the Boys will be in Oysterville this afternoon – 3:00 at the Church! I’ve polished my boots and located my neckerchief but the jury’s still out on the hat issue. I guess the protocol is that cowgirls can keep their hats on but it makes it hard for the folks behind you to see. And it seems sort of silly to wear it from the house across the street and then take it off as soon as I get into the church. We’ll see…

I have no idea what they’re planning to sing today and when I try to think of favorites I get that earworm thing. I love “Sharp Snappy Snake Boots” but I also like their “Social Security” and “One Wrong Step” which features the little horse called Judy that Larry Freshley had when he was a kid here in Oysterville.

In fact, even though Double J and the Boys do some of the old singing cowboy favorites like “Home on the Range” and “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” I think it’s their original songs that I like the best. Most are written by Judy Eron (one of the Js and spokesperson for the group.) She writes of her personal experiences – the time her mother made her skating outfit and it turned out oh-so-wrong or the experience she had trying to be a Rodeo Queen. All of them are funny, poignant, and easy to relate to and somehow your toes start tapping all by themselves.

Tucker Wachsmuth

The group includes Janet (the other J) and Bill Clark (one of the boys) and Charlie Watkins (the other boy) and among them they play guitar, fiddle, accordion, flute (or is it a clarinet?) and who knows what else. They sing in several languages – Spanish, Swedish, and Yodel – and seem to have as much fun as their audience does.

This summer they have been having “a few fun opportunities” according to Judy. “We’re playing at the Washington State Fair on its opening weekend. And playing for the Cowboy luncheon at Golden Sands.  And the song I wrote for the Astoria Sunday Market has been on the radio in snippets as an ad campaign for that market all summer.” Even if you catch them at one of those venues though, chances are that you won’t have as full and uninterrupted a program as their presentation this afternoon at Vespers!

And besides that, Tom Elkins of the Ocean Park Methodist Church will be conducting the service, Suzanne Knutzen playing the pump organ and Tucker Wachsmuth presenting the Oysterville Moment. What a fun, thought-provoking afternoon it promises to be!  See you in church – with or without your boots!