By: Brenda Bredahl
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| Wayne "The Train" Hancock - Photo by Brenda Bredahl |
In the heyday of supper clubs, juke joints and roadhouses, Wisconsin’s border towns had some of the best places to imbibe, indulge and cut a rug. Many of those dining-drinking-dancing establishments are now gone, but thankfully a new breed of club-keepers like the new owners at the Dalles House in St. Croix Falls, Wis., realize that it’s a winning trio, especially if you can add great music and lodging to the mix.
I had to pinch myself and pull over a few weeks ago when passing through St. Croix Falls on Wisconsin Highway 35—when I read the Dalles House letter-board sign proclaiming Wayne “The Train” Hancock, June 16. I popped in, and one of the owners—Sonya, a tall, striking bottle blond who plays the sax and runs the joint—affirmed what I at first thought was a roadside mirage.
What a perfect father’s day weekend getaway—right on track with “That’s What Daddy Wants” (Hancock’s acclaimed 1997 release on the now-defunct label Ark 21 started by Miles Copeland, the brother of Police-man Stewart Copeland).
We hadn’t been to the Dalles House in years; it’s a nearly untouched throwback to the supper clubs of the 1950s and 1960s, with an adjacent motel of the same name. A little time travel was much overdue, and what better way to spend it than to hear Hancock’s bona fide brand of “juke joint swing.”
The husband and I first saw this lone but shining star from Austin, a little musical isle in the heart of Texas, at the Chicago House of Blues in 1997. Fresh from the afterglow of his hot-plate first album, 1995’s Thunderstorms and Neon Signs, he opened for BR549, the auth-country honky-tonk outfit aptly named after a phone number used in a sketch in TV’s “Hee Haw.” Back then we were amazed at the vocal power emanating from this skinny little guy with a big grin—an ex-Marine no less.
It was evident that Hancock’s swing-ergy hasn’t faded after a decade, much to the delight of the fans of all ages who traveled near and far to this copacetic club near the beautiful blue basalt dalles of one of America’s national treasures, the St. Croix River. Hancock still looks like a kid, his grin still reminds me of the Cheshire cat, but his twangy tenor and music are anything but sly or shy. Himself a national treasure, somehow it’s fitting that an artist from the live music capitol of Texas would find kinship in Wisconsin—Sixth Street in Austin is akin to State Street in our Mad City. While one state’s on the bottom and the other’s on top, there’s a lot of synergy between the two state capitols—definitely an idea to be explored another time.
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| Fans David and Mary Anne Weidt of Plymouth, Minn. (pictured with Jake Erwin, the bass player for Wayne Hancock) traveled to the Dalles House in St. Croix Falls, Wis., to hear the "king of juke joint swing" Wayne 'The Train' Hancock - Photo by Bredahl |
Touring to support his latest release Tulsa, and with a rhythm section fortified by strings alone, there was nothing tepid about the driving hillbilly beat in Hancock’s music. Jake Erwin remained doggedly slap-happy on the doghouse bass, and seemingly staid guitarist Eddie Biebel made his axe burn, sing, swing and twang—he’s definitely down by law.
The trio had performed the previous night at the venerated Lee’s Liquor Lounge, one of my favorite Minneapolis taverns in which, like the Dalles House, not much has changed over the years. It used to serve (and maybe still does—I haven’t been there in over a year) a noontime politically incorrect but delicious hot dago sandwich, followed by the evening mainstay menu of roots, rockabilly, blue-grass, country, hillbilly, swing and jump blues.
The Dalles House is definitely worth the trip, and thankfully it looks just like the last time we were there, despite changing hands a few times. A large semi-circle bar overlooks an outdoor garden and a interior waterfall made from trap rock, the area’s signature basalt. After chatting with a friend, who is the vice-boss of one of the valley counties' political parties and himself a musician, we settled in to hear the opening act, Out Gallavantin’. This talented group of local boys are reportedly the reason Wayne discovered the Dalles House—and they give country music from the back hills of ’sconi some new-found respect: Dana Museus on acoustic guitar and vocals, Tim Michaelson on lead guitar, Dylan Frautschi on upright bass; Dave Frank on banjo and fiddle; and Erik Bobzin on drums. We’ll definitely watch for their appearance downriver.
After a large meal in the Dalles House’s dining room—great popovers, good garlic-mashed Yukon golds, and a fantastic butter-knife filet (but a veggie, cheese and olive tray not worthy of the supper club tradition)—followed by a couple of low-priced highballs, Leine’s on tap, and a few dances, the hub and I had to fall out after Hancock’s first set, which started at 11:30 p.m. Since most Wisconsin’s clubs are open until 2:30 a.m., undoubtedly there was considerable hootenanny yet to be had. In the old days, we’d of been there. But we had promised our son, who was staying with friends in nearby Osceola, that the next day we’d hike the “mountains” in Interstate State Park—Wisconsin’s oldest and our favorite— just across the highway from the Dalles House. A weekend in my beautiful valley just couldn’t get any better than this.
Location Info:
The Dalles House
Artist Info: Wayne "The Train" Hancock
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