That’s what the bumper sticker said. In the music world of Hybrid Electric Bluegrass/Country Honky-tonk bands, long before BR-549 there was the Hills Brothers Band

As is the case with many successful bands that just instantaneously clicked, the Hills Brothers Band was not planned, it just happened. What was to be a one time Gig for 4 Boise Idaho area Full Time musicians, turned into over 3 years of Fun, Excitement and “Good Clean Fun” that can be best summed up in the Hills Brothers motto “ Twice as many notes, Twice as many thrills”

The original “Hills Brothers” started as a Duo with multi-instrumentalist Bruce Alkire playing Fiddle, Banjo, and Guitar, and “Banjo Dave” Tolson on Guitar and Banjo. Bruce had played music since childhood and was very much at home with Bluegrass and real Country and Western. Dave was a Biker in every respect. From the Harley in his living room, to the long hair, beard, chains and leathers that he wore in day to day life. When Dave stepped up to a microphone , most people expected him to start screaming out a hard rock tune, only to be shocked to hear him belt out a George Jones song with feeling and emotion that would have made the “Possum” proud. Dave was also a fantastic “Reno Style” banjo player. To the Idaho Biker community he was known as “Banjo Dave” but to the Idaho Bluegrass community, he was known as “Dave the Biker”

Bruce and Dave began performing in the clubs around Boise around 1981 and chose the name Hills Brothers because Dave liked the coffee. Sometime in1982 they booked a job that required full band. They hired “BBQ Bob” Christ on Dobro, Ron “Witicha” Penska on Stand up Bass and John Davich on electric guitar, all full time musicians on the Boise music scene. The chemistry was there and the “Hills Brothers Band” was born.

Barbecue Bob was a completely self taught musician who loved Bluegrass, Delta Blues and Rock. He could play anything with strings. But, as a Dobro player, he had a style all his own. Bob had liked sound of the Dobro and when he saw one hanging in a music shop he bought it then by trial and error mastered it. However nobody ever told Bob that most people played a wooden square neck instrument with a traditional steel bar. The Dobro Bob saw in that music store was a metal round neck guitar that he played with a bottle neck slide.

Ron “Wichita “came to Idaho courtesy of the US Air Force. Ron had played in several Bluegrass bands in NY & Co. and after having enough of electronics and the AF decided to become a full time musician. The name Wichita came from one of his musical idols, Lester Road-hog Moran and his Cadillac Cowboys. Finding that Bluegrass work in Boise was a bit thin, he branched out into other realms of music including club work, Old Time, C/W Irish, Western Swing, and even Hawaiian.

John Davich who’s mailing address was the Trolley Car Bar was an amazing guitar player that could play as quick as Django Reinhardt. The Trolley was a watering hole in Boise frequented by many musicians, there were always a couple of cheap “Bar guitars” old Stellas or some other old clunker that you could never get in tune. Davich would choke the individual strings into pitch no matter how fast the song was

After the success of the initial gig, the guys decided to stay together but as a 4 piece and keep the band more on the Bluegrass side without the electric guitar. The true test came when the band had booked a full week at a bar called Tom Graineys in the infamous Boise downtown known as the Triangle. Grainey’s had several bad weeks in a row and was about to go under when this new band that no one ever heard of was booked. The owners really thought they were done but the band was an instant success and by the end of the week, there was standing room only. To show their gratitude, the Hills Brothers Band was booked for a week a month at Tom Grainies until the band disbanded in 1985.

Because they were doing club work with Traditional Bluegrass instruments the band had to electrify in order to be heard. This at the time meant using amps beside a PA system. Barbecue Bob had a pickup mounted in his resonator cover. Wichita used a Bass amp with a contact pickup that he developed a style that allowed his transducer noise to double as the percussion along with Dave’s Guitar playing, they provided rock solid rhythm for the lead instruments.

The material ran from Traditional Bluegrass to Country & Western (both kinds of music) to Western Swing. With Bruce switching between Fiddle, Banjo & Guitar doing lead and harmony vocals Banjo Dave would do most of the lead singing on the country then switch over to Banjo and do some Lightning fast Don Reno tunes BBQ Bob would switch from Dobro to Lap Steal and Wichita would play slap or walking bass and even use a bow on a slow tune. The band would play anything from the Stanley Brothers to George Jones, John Anderson to Milton Brown

The Hills Brothers was not just a band playing music, it was a show. One night at Grainies, BBQ Bob lunged out to some one in the audience with his Dobro and the crowd loved it. The next thing you know, Wichita was playing his Bass on his back. The band was having fun and it spilled out into the crowd. It became an audience participation interactive show with the band playing everywhere in the audience tethered only by the length of their cords. One show Wichita was laying on his back on somebody’s table when it gave way and flipped him right around and never lost a beat. If today’s wireless devices were available then, some of the band would be playing in the Ladies room. As the band evolved, more and more choreographed routines were added. It was said that Deaf people liked them too.

The Hills Brothers Band played what was known as the circuit. They played Clubs, Bars, Grange halls, weddings and anything from Churches to Biker bashes. Picture the scene from the Blues Brothers movie when the band walked into the Red Neck bar. Well that was a common occurrence with the Hills Bros. Imagine a Saturday night at a bar in the middle of Nowhere Idaho with the patrons dressed in their fancy Western cloths and in rolls a band that looked more like ZZ Top than anyone. The band found out that if they started the night with some buckle buffing C/W then slid in a few Bluegrass numbers, by the end of the night all they wanted to hear was Bluegrass

The Logo on the cover of this CD is from the band T-shirts and was also used on posters that would advertise appearances. It is a Carp with a fishing hat. No Hills Brothers show would be complete without some reference to Carp be it in the title of a tune or a commercial for Caviarp (Carp eggs) the inexpensive alternative to caviar, Now in a convenient squeeze tube. Try regular or Garlic flavor or the new, sour cream & onion flavor. Comedy was a large part of the show whether it was Carp or a “Road Hog” routine it was all “ Good Clean Fun” Incidentally,” Where the Hell is the Hills Brothers Band” with 4 Carp was right off the band bumper stickers.

Every band has its entourage and the Hills Brothers were no exception. Most notable was the soundman, designated driver and general roadie Kevin “Calvin” Stakes. Marsha, BBQ Bobs long time girlfriend and her whippet dog, Buggsey and of course, Joanne Dave’s “Old Lady” Plus, anywhere the band went especially if it was a reasonable drive from Boise, there would be 10, 15, and sometimes 25 plus followers invading these normally laid back establishments.

Life on the road for a full time band had its hurdles which included transportation and lodging. The equipment was hauled mostly in Dave’s truck, Marsha’s station wagon and Wichita’s Checker Marathon. Lodging expenses had to be kept to a minimum. There were many trips that the band would camp out and catch fish. ( they spared the Carp) The biggest surprise however came to a lot of unsuspecting local patrons of some of the out of town establishments that still wanted to Party at closing time. They would invite the band over to their place only to find out that they now had 6-12 unexpected house guests for the weekend.

In the music business there are a lot of Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda’s and the Hills Brothers were no exception. The band toured Idaho and the Pacific Northwest, could have went to Alaska and Japan. Traveling in those days much past Boise became a hassle and the band chose to stay closer to Boise. The band was offered a chance to make a video when that part of the industry was just blossoming. The band won a talent contest and a free recording session by a mobile recording studio but that was in the vinyl days and the recording was ruined by power fluctuations from the French fryer at the place that the live recording took place.

The recording that you have is the only known recording to still exist. It was recorded at KMFE radio Emmet Idaho on the “Old Country Barn Dance” with host Floyd Brown December 1984.

The Hills Brothers Band was going strong musically and still was Very Popular but started winding down when Bruce Alkire got tired of all the headaches of booking the band. The band finally broke up when Bassist Ron “Wichita” Penska took a trip back to Pennsylvania to visit his family and before he unpacked his suitcase, he got hired by Louie Setzer & the Appalachian Mt Boys where he got to play his first love, Hard Core Traditional Bluegrass. Bruce Alkire and “Barbecue Bob” Christ have continued to play music on the Idaho scene and as for “ Banjo Dave” Tolson , Only God and his Harley knows.