November 25, 2022

Jenny Don’t & The Spurs – Whammy Back Room: Nov. 24, 2022

Jenny Don’t & The Spurs rode into town and got Whammy’s Back Room rocking with their own brand of rhinestone-encrusted cow-punk.

Jenny and Co hail from Portland, Oregon and this was their very first show in New Zealand (they play Kumeu Live tonight and Piha RSA on Saturday)

This night’s show, being at Whammy Back Room, meant a later than average start time. Of course myself and several others arrived early, which meant an extended trip to a local bar in advance. We all got back in time (just barely) to catch opening act, Magic Factory. The 7-piece unit got the party started in fine form.

Then, at 10:20pm, Jenny and co took the stage. This is a crew with cred. Jenny has fronted her own band, Don’t, while guitarist Kelly Halliburton has been a member of Pierced Arrows (with Fred and Toody Cole).

Original drummer Sam Henry sadly passed away earlier this year (cancer) and so Dean Miles is pounding the skins. Rounding out the band is their (not so) secret weapon, guitarist and pedal steel player Christopher March.

The quartet gets right down to business, opening with Trouble With The Law. Jenny is easily the centre of attention, decked out in a blue denim fringed dress, cowboy boots and hat and a big, inviting smile.

The band whips through 19 songs in just under an hour, stopping briefly to allow March to move from guitar to pedal steel for four numbers beginning with Take Me To Jail.

If there was any doubt, Jenny proved she had rockabilly in her blood, introducing the one cover they performed, Black Cadillac, as originally written and recorded by her cousin, Sonny Wallace, back in 1960. And yes, indeed, it is a rockabilly rarity on the “Yucca” label.

So, there you have it…plenty of good times, good tunes and good pickin’ from a band that has waited far too long to play here.

There are two more Auckland shows this weekend.

Catch them if you can.

Marty Duda

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