Q: Boogie Woogie? 
A: Hold my Beer.

Q: Outlaw Country?
A: Hold my Beer.

Q: Sinatra?
A: Hold my Beer.

Q: Bubblegum Country? 
A: NO!

Q: Harmonies?
A: Yes!

Q: Piano?
A: Sometimes, often bass with some other instrument . . .

Ore House, Oracle Az.

The Hold my Beer Band began innocently enough at a Farmer’s Market in Oracle Arizona.  Sue & Jerry’s Trading Post hosts this popular local event every Wednesday evening during the Spring and Summer, then winterizing at the end of October.  The trading post always features a food vendor, local arts and crafts vendors and folks selling their fruits in various forms as well as tasty treats!

They also feature a band playing for 3 hours on a lighted stage and a dirt dance floor.  Jerry is a busy guy setting up then cleaning up each and every Wednesday.  He even hoses down the dance floor to keep the dust down.  Well, it turns out Oracle Az is only 12 miles away from San Manuel Az.  Ron Chilston & his girlfriend Carla began attending the farmer’s market to listen to music, chow down and best of all, BYOB!  One Wednesday, an older gentleman and his son were playing guitars and singing/harmonizing as a duo, (duh . . .).  When they played “Silver Wings” and the younger “Rocky” took the solo, it was your typical 8 bar solo then he took it kind of bluesy jazzy sideways that Ron really responded too.  “Whoa” were the words out of Ron’s mouth.  After the song, he approached the stage, drop some cash into their tip jar and said “you guys could really use a bass player”.  Frank, the older Martinez asked, “Do you play bass?”
Ron, “Well, I played keyboard bass and many other synthesizer instruments with a previous band in Jerome called Mountain Stranded Time.”  As Ron was leaving to go have a seat with Carla, Frank announces from the stage “Folks, meet our new bass player”.  We’ve now added Mark, our drummer to the band!  He also saw us playing last fall in Oracle and hinted that he would enjoy drumming to the “stuff” we were putting down.  Turns out, this guy also plays guitar, sings and does harmonies.