Think Out Loud

Meet the brothers making The Dalles a ‘Little Music City’ with live music 7 days a week

By Sheraz Sadiq (OPB)
Dec. 12, 2022 6:29 p.m.

Broadcast: Tuesday, Dec. 13

(From left) Al Hare, Zac Grooms and Nolan Hare – three members of Brewer's Grade Band – perform at the Bargeway Pub in The Dalles on Monday, Dec. 12. The trio joined the show to share their vision for making The Dalles a music and entertainment destination in the Columbia Gorge

(From left) Al Hare, Zac Grooms and Nolan Hare – three members of Brewer's Grade Band – perform at the Bargeway Pub in The Dalles on Monday, Dec. 12. The trio joined the show to share their vision for making The Dalles a music and entertainment destination in the Columbia Gorge

Sheraz Sadiq / OPB

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Al and Nolan Hare are brothers and musicians who were raised in The Dalles. They also play lead and bass guitar in Brewer’s Grade Band, a country western outfit that had a busy touring schedule until the pandemic shuttered live music venues across the nation. As in-person performances started up again last summer, Al approached local downtown business owners with a vision of making The Dalles a “Little Music City,” showcasing live music seven nights a week. Today, there are nearly two dozen live music venues and growing, with an outdoor event space to open in late spring. The Hare brothers and Zac Grooms, lead singer of Brewer’s Grade Band, perform original music for us while sharing their vision for making The Dalles a music and entertainment destination in the Columbia Gorge.

This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller, coming to you this week from The Dalles. Before the break, we heard about one business owner’s plans to create a more sustainable ecosystem of restaurants and bars. Part of his plan includes more live music in the city. That is something the musicians who call The Dalles home are very much hoping to make a reality. Yesterday afternoon, we stopped in at the Bargeway Pub, which has a majestic view of the Columbia. We were treated to what was essentially a private concert, and conversation, with members of the Brewer’s Grade Band. We started with one of their songs. It’s called Fish in the River.

Brewer’s Grade Band:  One, two, three, four. [Guitar playing, then singing] I went and got my heart broke again. When’s this bad luck gonna end? I can’t seem to find the right one, I told my dad sitting on the lawn. I’m tired of luring. He said “Son, don’t waste your time …

“There’s a whole lot of fish in the river. Go get your, get your fishing gear out. Go on, sit by the water; sooner or later, you’ll get a bite. There’s nothing like the feel of reelin’ one in. And if it gets away, just cast again. There’s a lot of fish in the river.” [guitar riff]

So I got to thinking about what he said. I’m still young with a lot of time to spend. I need to get back on the bank, and keep my lure in as long as it takes. I keep telling myself …

There’s a whole lot of fish in the river. Go get your, get your fishing gear out. Go on, sit by the water; sooner or later, you’ll get a bite. There’s nothing like the feel of reelin’ one in. And if it gets away, just cast again. There’s a lot of fish in the river. [guitar riff]

I’m a little older now; I finally got the one who didn’t get away, and I’m heading out just (inaudible) for some fishing on a Saturday. As I load my tackle and my favorite fishing pole, I realize all these years, he wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout girls at all. He just meant …

There’s a whole lot of fish in the river. Go get your, get your fishing gear out. Go on, sit by the water; sooner or later, you’ll get a bite. There’s nothing like the feel of reelin’ one in. And if it gets away, just cast again. There’s a lot of fish in the river. There’s a whole lot of fish in the river. There’s a lot of fish in a river. There’s a lot of fish in a river! There’s a lot of fish in a river.[guitar strum]

Miller: That’s Brewer’s Grade Band, with Zac Grooms on guitar and vocals, and Al Hare on guitar and backup vocals, and Nolan Hare on bass and backup vocals as well. That was lovely, gentleman. Zac, you wrote that, right?

Zac Grooms: Thank you. Yes, I did.

Miller: Was there a breakup that led to that song?

Al Hare: (chuckles) Usually, right?

Grooms: There’s been several, that have led to several. No, I don’t think, for that one in particular, there wasn’t. I think it was more of the idea, the whole idea that kind of inspired me. It was something like … I grew up fishing, in ponds and rivers and whatnot, and I always look for those dual meaning songs, song titles, and that one is, ‘there’s a lot of fish in the river.’ Everybody always uses that wrong. What about the fisherman that just wants to go fishing? There’s a lot of fish in the river. So it was the song idea. It wasn’t inspired by anything but my grandpa and my dad.

Miller: I’ve got to say, it’s nice hearing it, too, when we’re within view of the Columbia right here. It’s just behind us right now.

Zac Grooms: Yeah, one of the best views in town, actually, of the river and the barges coming in.

Miller: Yeah. My understanding is that you all call yourselves ‘Northwest country’, that that’s how you classify your sound. I’m curious what that means to you. Al first: what’s Northwest country as opposed to, I don’t know, Nashville country, or any other?

Al Hare: Well, I think Northwest country, the best way for me to describe it is that we are inspired to write music here, and record it here, and perform it here in the Northwest, and so what you get out of it, the inspiration, doesn’t come from anywhere other than here. That’s the easiest way for me to say it, I guess.

Miller: You’re from here, you’re making music from here, it can’t help but be Northwest. Nolan, what about you? What are your influences?

Nolan Hare: We all have a wide variety of stuff; I grew up in a house where my parents were listening to The Beatles and The Carpenters, and my brother was listening to hair metal, and my sister was practicing her Chopin and her Bach. Then we’d go to church and have a good old sing. We had a lot of different influences in our home, musically, growing up.

Miller: You didn’t mention what you were listening to. We’ve got Beatles, Carpenters, and Bach, heavy or head metal?

Nolan Hare: I just, I don’t know, they got to choose. (laughs) They got to choose.

Miller: (laughs) Because you’re the youngest?

Nolan Hare: I just had to listen to whatever they made me, so there’s been all kinds of influence there. Collectively, our music, we pull a lot from kind of a classic country field. Another one of our members that isn’t here today, Joe Smart, he’s very influenced in the bluegrass world. He’s a bluegrass Grammy Award Winner, so we get a lot of bluegrass from him. We get the Northwest rock feel a little bit in some of our music, so it’s just a varied, different thing: a lot of strong harmonies, a lot of really melodic guitar work, and string work, and a little less production, I’d say, than some of the Nashville sound you hear. It just kind of ends up with a different sound, at the end of the day.

Miller: Zac, what about you? I mean, how’d you become a musician?

Grooms: I came from homeschooling until I was in sixth grade, lived out of town on a ranch or a farm. It really started out after my parents split; my dad taught me how to play guitar on one of his old guitars, and I’d never showed any interest in guitar until that time, and that was our time together. He taught me a couple of songs and then, from there, there wasn’t really a whole lot else to do out of town, so I would just lock myself in my room and listen to a tape over and over and over again, and learn everything by ear.

Then the internet came out and you could finally download lyrics and chords. That springboarded me just a little bit more. It was a pretty quick process, too, because I started when I was about 10 years old, and by the time I was 14, I was cutting songs in Nashville. I really spent hours and hours and hours just locked in my room, just listening and learning, listening and learning.

Miller: And at what point did you start writing your own stuff?

Grooms: I was about 12 years old.

Miller: Two years in? Two years before you went to Nashville?

Grooms: Yeah. I co-wrote with my mom; she played guitar and piano and we would write songs together.

Miller: So, it was a connection you had with both your parents.

Grooms: It was, actually, yeah. He taught me the guitar, and then I got my vocal ability mostly from her.

Miller: How would you all describe the musical scene in The Dalles right now?

Al Hare: I think it’s growing. It’s really great. There wasn’t much of a scene. There was a great scene back in the 60′s, and it kind of dipped down, and I’d say, in the early 2000′s, there weren’t very many places to play music here in The Dalles. Right now, I think we’re sitting at about 23 venues that have music.

Miller: And that includes places that have a lot of it, and places like a coffee shop that might have a band every now and then?

Al Hare: Yeah. Here, where we’re at now, that’s eight days a week.

Grooms: (laughs) Eight times. Eight days?

Al Hare: Eight times a week.

Miller: (chuckles) Special timewarp venue here.

Al Hare: We’ve got another venue that’s doing seven days a week. Several others do three to four, and then there’s others that do only weekend or only once a week, but it’s really great. It’s a really great outlet. It’s growing, and we have more potential venues coming; we have 13 future or former venues that could come back or could begin.

Miller: Are there enough bands for 13 more venues? And are there enough people to go to them?

Al Hare: I think so.

Grooms: I believe that there’s definitely enough people, and there’s a lot of rural little towns around. A lot of towns in the northwest, obviously, are like this, but a lot of small towns that surround The Dalles, and a lot of people come in for events, for weekends, or things like that.

Hare: The Gorge is a tourist destination. We’re 20 minutes from Hood River. That’s just overrun with people and bustling all the time. Because people are wandering a little further east, down the Gorge now, they’re finding The Dalles.

Miller: I was wondering. As Hood River becomes more and more trafficked, you think people are going to just go a little bit further down 84 and stop here for some entertainment?

Hare: Yeah. I mean, we’re already starting to see that, and I think it’s going to continue to grow, because there’s only so much real estate and room for people there. If you’re coming from the Portland metro area, this is 15 to 20 minutes further, and there’s just a lot more offerings here than there used to be. It’s really come a long way recently. As people discover that, the word spreads, and it’s getting better and better, especially in the good weather season.

Miller: I want to hear more about your hopes and dreams for Little Music City, but let’s hear some more music in the meantime. What do you have for us?

Grooms: Absolutely. We don’t have any coasts here, we just have this river here.

Miller: You mean no beaches?

Grooms: We have a couple here and there, but this one really has nothing to do with the beach. (laughs) It’s called The Coast is Clear.

Brewer’s Grade Band: [strumming] I’ve seen how you look at me when I walk by. Don’t think I don’t notice that look in your eyes. Every time I look up, you look down. If you really wanna meet me, let your feet hit the ground.

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The coast is clear, come on over, ‘cause you might wanna hear what I have to say. No, don’t be so shy. Nobody’s gonna say a thing. You know you’ve got nothing to fear; the coast is clear. [strumming]

I’ll admit that maybe I’ve been interested, too. I’m a little bit nervous, don’t know what to do. Kind of complicated, this feeling inside, but I think I know the answer to what’s in those eyes.

The coast is clear, come on over, ‘cause you might wanna hear what I have to say. No, don’t be so shy. Nobody’s gonna say a thing. You know you’ve got nothing to fear; the coast is clear. [strumming, guitar riff]

Oh no, she’s headin’ my way. I don’t know what to do or what to say. What’s this, as she hands me a note. I can’t believe these words she wrote.

The coast is clear, come on over, ‘cause you might wanna hear what I have to say. No, don’t be so shy. Nobody’s gonna say a thing. You know you’ve got nothing to fear, and darlin’ I ain’t goin’ nowhere; the coast is clear. [strumming, guitar riff]

Miller: That’s Brewer’s Grade Band. That is Zac Grooms, Al Hare, and Nolan Hare. How did this band come to be?

Grooms: Oh, it’s been a work in progress for 20 something years. I started a band a long, long time ago, in the late 90′s, and actually our original drummer Cody was the one that I co-founded it with. He was in high school, I was in junior high, and we were playing county fairs and whatnot.

Miller: Where was this?

Grooms: This was in Gilliam County, so the next county over.

Miller: Not that far.

Grooms: Yeah. Arlington is where I graduated. We played The Dalles a lot. We played a lot of different places, as just a kid band. We had a lot of fun.

Al Hare: Cody was chosen as the drummer because he was the only one with a driver’s license.

Grooms: (laughs) That’s right. He had to drive me.

Miller: (laughs) Everyone else was in junior high, he was the older kid.

Grooms: I didn’t have my license yet. Yeah, that was fun. Then it was the early to mid-2000′s, I don’t remember what year it was.

Al Hare: Yeah, I don’t either.

Grooms: Al came on as the lead guitar player, and that’s been ever since. It was right around 2008, I believe, that we needed a bass player. One of the bass players we had couldn’t do it anymore, and so Al said, ‘well, the obvious choice is my brother; he’s a bass player.’ He gave up playing in church all the time and started playing in the band.

Nolan Hare: I did both, come on.

Grooms: You did both, yeah.

Miller: Sunday mornings you were still available.

Al Hare: There were some rough Sunday mornings there. (all laugh)

Grooms: From there, it was 2011 when we officially hired Joe Smart, the fiddle player, the fifth member. It went that way up until a couple years ago, when Cody left the band. We got our friend Bill, who has been filling in ever since, so it’s been a pretty consistent line up for several years.

Miller: What does it mean to you, to be from The Dalles, as a band?

Nolan Hare: Well, this is home base for us. This is where we cut our teeth, as a band. It’s where he did his first country showdown that launched him into his career. He’s the hometown boy to everyone around here, and we’ve been able to just launch our entire music career out of what we started doing here together, and taking that all over the place now, but this is where we always call home.

Miller: What was the pandemic like for you all as musicians? Given that being able to make music, certainly inside, in front of a bunch of people, was legally impossible for a big chunk of time.

Al Hare: Well, in the very beginning, we did a virtual show. We did that for, I believe, I don’t know how many … how many was it?

Nolan Hare: We did 51 episodes. We went to the civic auditorium in The Dalles here, which is a huge space, huge stage, and we had one producer. I was seated and we would bring in a guest, and we partnered with all the different venues that were doing music. Monday night was Last Stop night, so we’d talk about what Last Stop had for the to-go options, and we’d bring the musician that would have been at Last Stop and simulcast him across all the venues and across our platform that we were using. That was people’s dinner entertainment that night. The next night we’d do Zim’s, because it was Zim’s night, the next night we did Bargeway because it was Bargeway night.

It was just something that the music community collectively came together and said ‘these people have been helping us all along to develop this scene here. We can do something to help.’ It might not be a huge thing, but it really was a turning point where all of the venues, everyone was doing a lot, but they weren’t necessarily going in a direction together with it. I think that kind of got the artists and the venues all aligned, so it was really a beautiful thing born out of a terrible time. That was really the beginning of the whole Little Music City concept. It came out of that.

Miller: So what is the Little Music City concept?

Al Hare: The Little Music City concept is precisely what Nolan just said. This is a great area. Everybody was doing their own attempts at doing entertainment, and Little Music City is more of a consolidated effort, and more of a concentrated effort, in marketing. We have an abundance of awesome things to do out here, from the wind surfing to the biking trail riding, wine tasting, beer tasting. We haven’t featured entertainment yet. That’s the next step in making The Dalles a destination: actually letting everybody know that this is a very high volume entertainment city.

Nolan Hare: One of the bigger selling points is that we have live music here, locally, seven nights a week, which might not sound that incredible, but for a town of this size, for a small area like this, that’s really something that we feel is pretty special. You can come in on any given night, and whatever you’ve been doing, you can go to our little strip of venues we’ve got here, and one of them, if not most of them, will have something going on for you.

Miller: It seems like what you’re saying is the pandemic, by necessity, forced artists and also venues, to sort of band together in some ways. Do you feel like that has stayed? That sense of being in things together is still with everybody?

Al Hare: I think it’s continuing to grow here. A lot of our owners, of our venues here, have stuck with it. They were so grateful that the music community stepped up and did that, that they then in turn, when it was time to be able to let some stuff start happening again, they really invested. A lot of them have really invested hard in trying to facilitate and cultivate good quality music happening all the time. A lot of people have invested a lot in production, and stage, and marketing, and all these things that were kind of an afterthought a lot of the time, where now there’s really a bigger focus on that here locally. I think that’s been driven by that.

Miller: What are the challenges? You’ve outlined what you hope could be, to have this area be more of a regional, or even further away, draw. There’s music every night of the week. People are coming together, people are recognizing that. What could get in the way of this dream?

Nolan Hare: The only thing that could get in the way is if we give up, if we don’t see it through. It’s hard to keep everybody agreeing all the time, and it’s hard to keep business always flourishing. We need good business to afford entertainment. Part of our job as being entertainers, we love to play and sing, but we spend a lot more of our time trying to collect people to come to the venue and hear. If we’re not able to do that, we’re not able to draw people, well, we would love to see more tourism come in. That’s what our battle is, I think.

Miller: Let’s assume that you all do just keep this effort together. What’s the dream for what the city could be like in 10 years?

Grooms: I can see it as a place that people want to go. There’s obviously the places that people want to go for things, there’s destinations. Obviously, a musician wants to go to Nashville, they want to go to LA, even Seattle, because that’s where things are happening. Things are already happening enough here to attract musicians, and to attract spectators as well, and other people in the music industry. I’d see the path as going there.There’s so much to the musicians, so much that’s just good. It’s such a good vibe for the music industry, that people want to be here to make music. They want to consume music here, like in Nashville or LA. That’s where I see it going, because it’s already gaining that traction.

Al Hare: We’ve traveled all over, doing what we do with Brewer’s Grade Band, to a lot of small towns where you see it done right, and I feel like, for a long time, there was a deficit here of great quality entertainment. We’ve started turning a corner on that; our venues, our chambers, our city, as more people catch the vision of that, then see what can happen when you have a large scale music event in town, that can be a major, major explosion to a local economy. I think about a place like Sweet Home Oregon, where they started the jamboree, and that basically saved that town. There’s no reason we can’t have that level happened right here.

We’re in a central, beautiful place that people travel all over the world to come to, and we’ve got the team here. We’ve got the talent here. We’ve got the venues here. We’ve got a great park that we can do shows in, and we’re just a couple steps away from that. As we all pull together, and now that we’re all working on this together, it’s not ‘if’ it’s ‘when.’ We’re going there, so it’s really exciting to see it come together.

Miller: Can we hear one more song?

Grooms: Absolutely.

Miller: What are we gonna hear?

Grooms: (strums) A heartbreak song that actually was inspired by heartbreak. (tuning)

Al Hare: We actually were able to take this song all the way back to Kentucky a few years ago. We were nominated by the International Music and Entertainers Association; we had a nomination for this song for Song of the Year, and then we were nominated for Country Band of the Year. The song didn’t take home the win, but we were able to take the 2018 Country Band of the Year Award home. That was fun. We got to go back to Kentucky and perform this at a big music hall out there.

Grooms: Does that make us international artists now?

Al Hare: Interstate artists at least.

Grooms: Alright, this one’s called Heartbreak Song.

Brewer’s Grade Band: [strumming] Here I am again. I’m sitting alone in an empty bar where the beer, it flows like a waterfall over my broken heart. I still need quite a few more drinks before my mind decides and my heart can think “she’s gone for good,” until it’s understood. But those of you who know me best know what happens next.

I break down, and the tears start to flow, and the words pour out like a river, and it all goes down, and it lands right there on a bed of music. The last thing I need is another heartbreak song.

It all starts with a memory, a place and time where I used to be so happy. We were so happy. And then a sad tune comes in my head, and it goes along with those things you said, and how you left me. Oh, how you left me. Those who’ve been there before, you know what’s in store.

I break down, and the tears start to flow, and the words pour out like a river, and it all goes down, and it lands right there on a bed of music. But the last thing I need is another heartbreak song.

Here I am again. I’m sitting alone in an empty bar where the beer, it flows like a waterfall (in chorus harmony) over my broken heart.

Miller: That is Zac Grooms and Al and Nolan Hare. They are most of the members of Brewer’s Grade Band. Thank you again.

Grooms: Thank you.

Hare Brothers: Thank you

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