Just because coronavirus has closed the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College for public events, that doesn’t mean the Bar D Wranglers won’t be serving up a heaping helping of holiday and Western music and shenanigans during their annual Christmas concert.
This year, it will be in your living room – specifically, at 7 p.m. Saturday, when you log on to your computer for the Bar D Wranglers “Christmas at Home” show.
Like a lot of bands, the Bar D Wranglers – Gary Cook, Joel Racheff, Matt Palmer and David Bradley – have had to pivot since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, and their Christmas show is no exception.
“Christmas at Home” was recorded at the Reising Stage Event Center in Durango and has Cook on guitar, Palmer on fiddle and Racheff on upright bass (and comedy!). Bradley was unable to attend the recording.
“We weren’t sure we’d be able to pull it off with all the logistics of it, but we have worked with them at the concert hall for so many years doing the Christmas show, our Christmas Jubilee, and it’s our favorite month – we just love to go and do that,” Cook said. “And so, of course with this year being so different, when they approached us and wanted to know if we might be able to do something like this, we were all in.”
The show will be broken into two sections with an intermission, which will feature a tribute to Cy Scarborough, co-founder of the Bar D Chuckwagon and member of the Wranglers, who died in May at age 93.
The Bar D Wranglers are the home band at the Bar D Chuckwagon, which celebrated its 50th season in 2018. Band members blend traditional cowboy/Western songs with comedy. And while comedy plays a big part of the show, the musicianship is no joke – the band is made up of musicians who have won awards, have successful solo careers and who have recorded multiple albums. While based at the Chuckwagon in the summer, the band generally spends the rest of the year performing around the country.
While this has been a challenging year with the pandemic and Scarborough’s passing, the band – and everyone else – could use a little cheer.
“Christmas spirit is probably going to help us all through this. It gave us an excuse as a group to get together and rehearse some, and normally this time of year we would be playing shows all around the country,” he said. “We’re anxious to get together and actually perform in front of people and maybe in a year like this, maybe put a smile on someone’s face that they don’t get a chance to go out and enjoy things lately.”
katie@durangoherald.com
To watch
What:
Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College presents the Bar D Wranglers’ “Christmas at Home” show.
When:
7 p.m. Dec. 19.
Where:
Online. A private link will be sent to all ticketholders before event.
Tickets:
$15 per household, available at
.
More information:
Visit
or call 247-7468.
