Bar J Wranglers' singing is tops

BAR J WRANGLERS; McKay Events Center, UVSC campus; one night only. Running time: 2 hours, no intermission.

OREM — Remember the old story when a man married a woman because he liked the way she sang?

The next day when they woke up he saw her eyelashes on the dresser, her wig lying on the floor; parts of this woman were everywhere. So he shook her, woke her up and said, "Sing, baby, sing."

That's what folks expect of the Bar J Wranglers. These performers' warm, Western harmonies brought in a packed house at the David O. McKay Special Events Center at Utah Valley State College on Dec. 13, but much of the audience didn't come for the jokes, spread too liberally throughout the program. For many, the concert was over when the singing cowpokes from near Jackson Hole, Wyo., launched into a lengthy slapstick jokefest halfway through the show, primarily ridiculing each other and introducing bass player and singer Bryan Humphrey as Granny in drag.

As one old-timer muttered on his way out, "Too much talkin'; not enough singin'."

He has a point. It often seemed this group can't decide if they're singers or comedians.

Fortunately the group, which includes Scott Humphrey and Jerry Baxter on guitar, Tim Hodgson on fiddle, Donnie Cook on steel guitar and Don Christensen on keyboard got back to singing and ended with a series of the cowboy songs that brought the appreciative audience out in the first place.

The six-piece Western band has for 28 years been the mainstay of the Bar J Chuckwagon Supper and Western Show in Jackson Hole during the summer season, but for the last couple of decades it has taken to "sneaking off the ranch" during the off-season to tour coast to coast and from Montana to New Mexico.

The group presented its Christmas show, mixing in traditional tunes of the American West from the singing cowboy era of the 1930s and '40s and more modern pieces with traditional Christmas melodies. Included was a Gene Autry song, "I'm Back in the Saddle Again," and "Shadows on the Trail" from the Sons of the Pioneers.

Humphrey's yodeling was outstanding and plentiful. Groups like this, rather than the more popular country singers, keep alive the spirit of the West.

Known for their inspirational songs as well, Baxter, the brunt of short jokes but a man with a big voice, performed a patriotic poem then launched into "Battle Hymn of the Republic." That song led into moving performances of "America" and "God Bless America," which brought the audience to its feet.

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E-mail: rodger@desnews.com