From Journey and the Grateful Dead to The Strokes and Depeche Mode, Oregon has no shortage of tribute bands. But why perform the music of another artist?
Adam Corkery is a guitarist and vocalist for Brown Stallion, a Ween tribute band based in Eugene and Portland. Renée Muzquiz is the lead vocalist and guitarist for Major Tomboys, an all-femme David Bowie tribute based in Portland. She also represents Linda Ronstadt in Stone Phoneys, a tribute to Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris.
They both join us to talk about the joys of performing familiar songs for die-hard fans.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed using AI and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Jenn Chávez: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Jenn Chávez. One of my earliest live music memories was seeing a Rod Stewart tribute performance in the early ‘90s. The performer’s name was, yes, Rob Stewart, and I loved it. That was before I became an Oregonian, but this state certainly has no shortage of tribute acts, paying homage to the likes of Journey, the Grateful Dead, Depeche Mode, you name it.
So what are the joys of performing the music of another artist or group? Our next two guests are here to tell us. Renée Muzquiz is the lead vocalist and guitarist for Major Tomboys, a David Bowie tribute band, and represents Linda Ronstadt in the group Stone Phoneys. And Adam Corkery is a guitarist and vocalist for Brown Stallion, a Ween tribute band. Renee and Adam, welcome to Think Out Loud.
Renée Muzquiz: Thanks for having me.
Adam Corkery: Yep, thank you. Hi.
Chávez: So Renée, I’m going to start off with you. As I just said, you are in a group dedicated to the music of David Bowie. Tell me what you love about Bowie’s music and what draws you to it.
Muzquiz: Oh, so many things. I love the color to his music, the variety of it, how much it just rocks at times and then how it can be super weird. Honestly, I love the queerness of it. I love how he presents to the queer community. I just think David Bowie was one of the greatest songwriters out there. I love that he took a lot of risks, and just did it.
Chávez: And the cool thing about Major Tomboys – aside from the great name, highest compliments – is that it’s an all-femme tribute to David Bowie. What does that mean to you, to be part of a group like that?
Muzquiz: I actually answered an ad on Craigslist, where now a friend of mine – I didn’t know her at the time – Lauren, who put an ad out. And the only line in the ad was, “Wanna start an all-female David Bowie tribute band?” And I was not even looking for that, and I was like, “Yes, I do.” [Laughter] When I met with her, she’s like, “I don’t wanna sing, I play piano.” And I was like, “OK, I’ll sing and I play guitar.” So it worked out, and we built the band from there.
I think I’ve always been in a lot of tributes with all femmes, and I’ve really enjoyed the company of women when it comes to playing music. I really am a big advocate for women and gender-diverse people in music, I just honestly prefer playing with them. And this was like such a cool concept and people just immediately are drawn to it.
Chávez: OK, let’s hear a little tidbit. We have some music on deck from a show y’all played at Mississippi Studios a few years ago. Here is part of “Space Oddity.”
[“Space Oddity” cover by Major Tomboys playing]
Chávez: Oh, sounds like a great time.
Muzquiz: It is, it’s always a blast. I’m not sick of the music and I don’t know that I ever will be.
Chávez: Adam Corkery, I want to turn to you now. You are a vocalist and guitarist for Brown Stallion, which is dedicated to the music of the delightful weirdos that are Ween. So for the unfamiliar, how would you describe their music and what you love about it?
Corkery: Well, real quick, David Bowie, I absolutely agree, is one of the best. Absolutely love David Bowie.
As far as Ween, their music is just all over the place. You can kind of get a taste of almost every genre, and that’s what makes their music so much fun to play as well. I kind of get the best of all these different genres, anything from just straight rock and roll to psychedelic jams to funk, they even have a country record that they put out. They’re just kind of all over the place, and I’ve always loved a wide variety of different types of music. So it came hand in hand for me.
Chávez: This blew my mind when I learned this … As part of Brown Stallion, you got kind of a peak tribute band opportunity, you filled in for the actual band Ween. Could you tell us a little bit about that particular show at Eugene’s Cuthbert Amphitheater a few years back?
Corkery: Well, it was definitely one of the most bittersweet experiences of my life, because we were so excited to see Ween in Eugene, with the huge Ween community, which is a very deep, deep community in Eugene. But when they canceled and we got the opportunity to kind of have a lemonade show and just still have fun, basically the venue still gave a refund to all the ticket holders, but they also offered everybody to come to the show for free that had a ticket already. And then they also did a really low cover.
I think we had like 1,800 people come out and it was just a huge party, and we’re just able to all celebrate the music that we all love still and make the best out of kind of a bummer of a situation. So it was absolutely incredible, and I was very grateful to be a part of that entire experience. And playing the Cuthbert, it’s a very, very beautiful, just a really great venue.
Chávez: So Adam, we also have a clip to play for folks from that show. Let’s hear a little bit of it.
[“Ambrosia Parsley” cover by Brown Stallion playing]
Chávez: That was Brown Stallion playing “Ambrosia Parsley” at the Cuthbert Amphitheater in 2024. And Adam, that does sound like a real good time as well.
Corkery: Yeah, it was unforgettable.
Chávez: Renée, I want to turn back to you. So I know you also perform as Linda Ronstadt in Stone Phoneys, which is a tribute to the trifecta of Linda, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Out of curiosity, first of all, how did you and your bandmates decide who would be who?
Muzquiz: It was very easy, because I kind of look like Linda Ronstadt, first of all. Second of all, Amanda Richards, who plays Dolly, has dressed up as Dolly before and been in the annual Dolly Hoot we have every year in Portland. And then Christine has this really long hair. And we kind of match the personalities a little bit too, so it was just kind of like we fell into place very easily. And it was part of the reason why I was like, these are the right people. I chose those people to do this with me.
Chávez: And what has it been like to not just perform someone’s music, but to try to embody them as a person? I feel like in that project, you are Linda Ronstadt. How is that different? What is the process like for getting into that mindset?
Muzquiz: Well, I have an acting background. So I tend to think about motivation. What motivates Linda in this moment? We have some actual lines that we write between acts. We have that scripted. Amanda likes to write those lines, and it’s always very funny, we just kind of jab at each other and stuff like that. Because they were very much like sisters to each other, and we try to make it like that. So because we have that relationship between the three of us already – we’re all good friends – that helps for sure.
And getting to be Linda, I’ve been just kind of watching her on videos and interviews or I just listen to her talk. I try not to emulate her high voice because I think that sounds a little silly, but I just try to embody her. Sometimes it’s just a matter of imagining I’m her at that point, once I’ve done my research.
Chávez: Nice. And Adam, I want to get back to you for a sec. So I learned that Brown Stallion is actually not the only ween tribute in the Pacific Northwest. There are a whole bunch of Ween aficionados and fans out there. Is there camaraderie? Is there a little bit of friendly competition between different tributes to the same artist? What is it like being part of a Ween community?
Corkery: I mean, it is exactly that, it’s an amazing community. All the different tribute Ween bands, they’re all amazing, and they all kind of give it their own spin, their own flavor. We’ve even had some shows where we’ve all played together. We put together the full shows, like three-plus hours long, where every band played different songs from their catalog so there was no repeats for the night, and that was really special as well. It’s an absolutely great community. We’re all friends and we’ve played some pretty fun shows together, and we plan on probably trying to put some more shows together in the future too.
There’s Weener from Seattle. And then there’s Poop Ship, which is also from Portland. Those are the two active bands – kind of funny names, but that’s the way of the Ween world.
Chávez: So, we put out an ask to our listeners around this topic. And Adam, we got one comment from a person named Aram Arslanian on Facebook, who said, “I played original music in Boston, Los Angeles and Portland for 30 years, and although I always seem to get stellar reviews from recordings, no one came to shows, especially when we were all north of 40. We had to beg to get 20 people to a show, and be grateful that a venue was booking us. Now, I play in a tribute band that always has a packed house and we all get paid well. Sorry, but it’s not 1985 anymore. I still play original music too, and still no one ever comes.”
I wanted to ask, Adam, I know that you also play original music. Do you find what our commenter said to be true with your own experience performing with Brown Stallion?
Corkery: You know, I actually don’t. I think it just depends on how much actual work you wanna put in. It’s just a different time now, and you have to really work the social media aspect, which is very, very soul sucking. It takes a lot of energy, and it’s something that’s been really hard for me even.
I play in a band called Blotter Boyz which was inspired from Brown Stallion. It’s just basically the same lineup as Brown Stallion, same musicians. But I do think that there’s an easier foundation to build on when you’re in a tribute band because you just have people that are already familiar with the catalog and already familiar with the music, whereas when you’re starting out and you’re trying to push your original stuff, you’re starting fresh, no one knows your catalog at all, so it’s just a much steeper hill to start climbing.
But if you really work hard on it and you manifest what you want, I think anything’s possible. And there’s an incredible amount of original music out there that’s being released right now. Original music is still very prevalent. And it’s also very important that musicians continue to explore those avenues and to keep creating to keep things fresh. I mean, I love the music of Ween and all these different artists that have influenced us over the years. But it’s also nice to have new music that’s been influenced by them.
Chávez: Renée, I want to ask you a similar question. What do you see as the difference between getting people out to see original music performances or getting fans of these tribute acts out to see familiar songs that they love? What have you seen as a performer?
Muzquiz: I have to say I relate to Aram while also agreeing with Adam. I relate because I’ve been a songwriter first and foremost and done a bunch of songwriter gigs in my life. I would say that I could do a whole lot more promotion and stuff, especially at this time in my life. Earlier on, I had more of the sort of energy to promote all the time. But having multiple acts maybe is part of the reason why I don’t do as much with my original stuff.
I would say it’s a way smaller crowd, I’m usually solo or duo or something like that. But with Major Tomboys or Stone Phoneys, it’s completely different. When you tell people the concept, they don’t need to hear your music first to know if they wanna go to the concert. They already know that they’re gonna see femmes playing David Bowie, and they think that’s awesome and they show up. We regularly have over 100 to 200 people, depending on the show. It’s just so easy to promote in that way when people already know what they’re getting into.
I think that’s the difference to me, people want some familiarity. But I think having it being a femme band and not like somebody who’s trying to be David Bowie either is also a little bit of a fresh take on it, and I think people are curious.
Chávez: Well, Renée and Adam, thank you both so much for joining us. This has been a real fun time.
Muzquiz: Thank you.
Corkery: Yeah, thank you so much.
Chávez: Renée Muzquiz performs with the tribute band Major Tomboys and Stone Phoney. Adam Corkery plays with the tribute band Brown Stallion.
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