The formation of Jenny Don’t and the Spurs is the fortuitous result of a meeting of several people on the streets of Portland, Oregon. Do you remember when you were young and you would wander the streets and parties and clubs of whatever town you lived in, talking to everyone who your path crossed with? Such is how a relatively young Jenny, having just moved to Portland from Bellingham, Washington would first come to meet some of the people that she would tour and record with years later as Jenny Don’t and the Spurs.
“My mom was Miss Central Wyoming Rodeo Queen in the 70’s, I loved doing rodeo stuff with her. Both of my parents played music, and I would get dragged along to their shows. I wish I had appreciated it more because now I think it’s really cool that they were doing that, but at the time I was like, ‘I’ll never do this, ever!'” she says describing how listening to and performing music was something she was exposed to very young.
“I grew up in a really small town outside of Bellingham, Washington and there were some bands in that town that was my first exposure to punk. It wasn’t just the bands but they had a whole community of friends that I really enjoyed being a part of once I became a part of it.”
Jenny would move to Bellingham, playing keyboards for a synthy dance band called Ladies of the Night, made up of a few friends from the small town.
“That kinda disbanded but we all moved to Portland together because we wanted to keep playing music and there was a bigger scene in Portland than in Bellingham,” she recalls.
When she arrived in Portland, Jenny was living on a couch at a friend’s house. One night, walking down the street, that friend happened to see a few people hanging out on their porch.
“She just asked them if any of them needed a roommate, then came back to her house and told me, ‘I walked by this house and they said they needed a roommate, so why don’t we go by there and check it out?” Jenny describes.
She would move into the extra room. Jenny’s housemates just happened to be friends with Andrew Loomis, the dummer for Dead Moon.
“Andrew used to hang out there all the time. I talked to him about wanting to start a band. I didn’t actually know who Dead Moon were at all,” she laughs. “Andrew said he wasn’t really up for starting a band or playing or anything but he had a friend who was”
Jenny soon found herself at a bar with Loomis’ friend, Sam Henry who had also played drums in punk bands The Rats and The Wipers. The two talked about country bands and crooners they liked, and eventually decided to start a country influenced punk band – or vice versa? – called Don’t.
Eventually Don’t morphed into a group that really embraced honky tonk and Texas swing, and became increasingly lighter on the punk. Following Don’t splitting up, Jenny and her partner Kelly of 90’s D beat punk band Detestation and Pierced Arrows would record country songs as a duo, before asking Sam Henry to join them on drums, forming the foundation for Jenny Don’t And The Spurs.
Call it cowpunk, alt country, or just some good ol honky tonk music, Jenny Don’t And The Spurs have polished their sound with an intense touring schedule and the recording of 5 studio albums. 2024’s Broken Hearted Blue album continues the group’s catchy country bar songs.
Jenny laughs at the hesitancy of some punks in the past to check out the project, given country’s more conservative image, but says that inclusiveness is a staple of her group.
“A lot can be said about people like Johnny Cash and Elvis going against the more accepted music of their time. It’s all about the mindset, and we’re just wanting to create a space where everyone can feel welcome to come and be weird, and we can all have a good time!” she enthuses.
Jenny Don’t and the Spurs will be performing at Reno’s Holland Project on Wednesday, September 11th. Reno’s Blackstallion will open.
Tickets available here.
