Country and Country Rock Music in Portage County
- Art Stevenson
- 3 hours ago
- 16 min read
As part of our PCHS feature exhibit, each month through December of 2026 we will share a new piece of music history. Be sure to come back to learn more about the music that makes Portage County so great!
Country and Country Rock Music in Portage County was researched and written by Art Stevenson, Nick Schultz, and Cheyenne Witzeling.
What is Country Music?
In the early 1920s, the public first became aware of a rich and diverse rural music culture in the Southern states. Country Music in the 1920s was Southern folk music played by hard working people with rural roots: heart songs, traditional ballads, mountain songs, yodeling, comedy, religious singing, popular songs of the past, and fiddle and banjo dance tunes. The first commercial recording of country music (or hillbilly music, as it was known then) was by rural Texas fiddlers Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland playing the instrumental pieces “Turkey In The Straw” and “Arkansas Traveler,” released in 1922. The first commercial country song was released in 1923, with Georgia fiddler John Carson singing “Little Old Log Cabin in The Lane.” Texan Vernon Dalhart, a versatile pop singer, produced the first nationally known country “hit” in 1924 with “Wreck of the Old 97” and “Lonesome Road Blues.” The booming recording industry of the late 1920s recognized the sales potential and set up recording studios in Southern cities to record local hillbilly artists. Numerous hit records followed as songwriters and commercial pop recording artists began recording country and hillbilly songs, along with rural string bands and folk singers. Millions of households in the US had phonographs, and the music became familiar and popular throughout the country by the end of the decade. In the 1920s rural people of the Southern states were often referred to as “hillbillies,” and this emerging rural Southern music style was called “hillbilly music” or folk music until the late 1940s, when the music industry began using the terms “country” or “country and western.”
Advertisements from the Stevens Point Journal showcase ways that Portage County residents could access new music.
The Arrival of Country Music in Portage County
By the mid-1920s and early ‘30s, many households had radios, and families would gather around the radio for their favorite drama, news, and music programs. Before rural electrification, some rural households used battery-operated radios, and neighbors would visit to listen between chores. Powerful AM stations, like WLS in Chicago, featured programs of live hillbilly/country music, heard during the evening when the AM signal would carry across the Midwest. The WLS National Barn Dance was broadcast from 1924 to 1959 on WLS, and many older Portage County residents still recall listening to the Saturday night show every week. Singing cowboys, blue yodelers, fiddle hoedowns, country singers, and hillbilly comedians filled the airwaves across the country every Saturday on clear channel WLS. As the popularity of the National Barn Dance spread and caught on across the Midwest, featured acts on the radio broadcast would go on tour through Wisconsin and neighboring states, performing in theaters and dance halls, appearing at Stevens Point’s Fox Theater and other Portage County venues.
Due to the increasing popularity of this Southern music style, by the late 1920s and ‘30s numerous Northern musicians began to emulate and play country music. A notable local example is fiddler Rube Tronson (1896-1939) from Amherst, Wisconsin. In the mid-1920s he led the old-time band “The Wisconsin Fiddlers,” and had a long association with the WLS National Barn Dance, from 1927-1937. In 1929, 14-year-old Les Paul played in Tronson’s Texas Cowboy Band for a summer tour. In the 1930s Tronson toured with the nationally known cowboy band Otto Gray and His Oklahoma Cowboys, and groups under his own name. The Stevens Point Journal archives list Rube Tronson’s numerous appearances in the late ‘20s and 1930s in Portage County, including the Rosholt Fair in 1938. In discographies of old-time music, Tronson is listed as an uncredited fiddler on 78 RPM records of square dance fiddling and old-time fiddle tunes, recorded by WLS fiddler and band leader Tommy Dandurand in the late 1920s. At the height of his popularity, Rube Tronson passed away of a heart ailment in Wausau in 1939.
By the 1930s, package shows from the WLS National Barn Dance, fiddlers, dancers, comedians, and country singers would appear at The Fox Theater in Stevens Point as the groups toured through Wisconsin and the Midwest.
1970s; One thing that Art Stevenson recalls about playing country, or bluegrass, in Portage County taverns was the problem of getting decent publicity. The local papers would have small ads for music at tavern, but of course it cost money to print them. One of the bands I played with in the late 1970s had a dismal night playing from 9 pm to 1 am with maybe 25 people in the bar. Boring! The band leader told me that was because the bands paid for the advertisements, not the bar. The bar owner said, if you want advertisement, I’ll put the ad in, but you’ll pay for it. That’s how it worked. I was disappointed in the band leader and the bar owner.
Country Western Bands and Artists of Portage County
Bill Yenter (mid 1960s – mid 1980s) The Countrymen, Country Gold, the Blue Ribbon Gamblers
Bill Yenter (1942-2018) was a talented country music singer and guitar player from rural Marathon County. Bill came from a very large family, and he told me he learned to sing from his mother, Pearl, who would sing to her children to settle them down. On the farm, Bill would sing in the silo where he liked to hear the natural reverb of his voice in that space. After serving overseas in the Marines in the early 1960s, Bill made a career driving truck, playing country music in his free time.
Many of his appearances over the next twenty years, leading several bands, were at taverns, ballrooms, and country music festivals in Portage County. Billy had a charismatic stage presence, and when he sang those lonesome country songs, his voice had a tremor of emotion in it that could bring an audience to tears. He sang country classics – from Hank Williams, Ray Price, and Marty Robbins. He sang those songs like he owned them, and his venues were the taverns and honky tonks of central Wisconsin and Portage County – Wolf’s Tap, Club 66, Chuck’s Tap, Chong’s, The Dew Drop In, Country Caravan, The Echo, the Starlite Ballroom, and more. By the time I met Billy in 1993 he was no longer fronting a country music combo, but he loved to get up and sing a few songs in his powerful, quavering voice at the open mics I ran for many years. Bill Yenter encouraged and inspired many younger musicians, including his nieces and nephews, to learn to play and sing country music straight from the heart.
Billy’s close friend until the end, J.R. Mikels, related this story: “I went to his house when he was growing very weak, to play piano with him.... He'd say ‘John? are you ready to cry?' And yes, every time there were tears in my eyes while he sang. I asked him how he picked a song to sing...he said 'one of them always just wants to 'get out''... one time, he played at an auditorium/benefit for 100's of people and me being my normal self said ''Hey Billy ... did you make anybody cry?” And Billy said ''JOHN...I made them ALLL cry...''
Dave Dudley (1963-2003) was a trucker country king! In 1963, after years of hard work on the road as a country-western singer on the Midwest honky tonk circuit, Dave Dudley finally had a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Country Music charts. “Six Days On The Road” was a tribute to hard-working long-haul truck drivers, written by two truck-driving songwriters, Earl Green and “Peanut” Montgomery. Dave Dudley’s recording of Six Days On The Road reached #2 on the country charts, and #32 on the pop charts, a rare country crossover hit, selling over one million copies!
“I think it was one of those songs that truck drivers in those days were waiting for,” Dudley told a Nashville newspaper. “They were kind of outlaws back then. It kind of helped to change their image to knights of the road.”
Over the next 20 years, Dave Dudley had 29 Country Top 20 hits. Many of his hit records were truck driving songs. Dudley’s sole #1 hit, “The Pool Shark,” was released in 1970. He toured constantly, literally “on the road” for up to 200 dates a year.
Born in Spencer, Wisconsin in 1928 as David Darwin Pedruska, his family moved to Stevens Point where he attended school and played minor league baseball. His school pals nicknamed him “DD,” or “Dud,” and he used the name Dave Dudley throughout his musical career. He got his first guitar at age 11, entering the Emerson School talent contest in 1939. After a brief career in minor league baseball, an arm injury in 1950 forced Dudley to reinvent himself as a radio show DJ and musician. It would be 13 years before Dave Dudley got his big break with Six Days On The Road.
Stevens Point’s own Dave Dudley was a trendsetting, hit-making star of Country-Western music. Although songs about truck driving had been recorded since the early 1940s, the success of “Six Days On The Road” paved the way for the Trucker Country sub-genre in country music, and Dave Dudley was the Trucker Country King. Since 1963, “Six Days On The Road” has been recorded by dozens of popular artists.
Dave Dudley and his wife Marie ran the Staples Lake Resort near Danbury, Wisconsin for many years. He remained popular as a concert act and recording artist in the USA and Europe until his death from a heart attack in 2003.
The Drovers (1963-current) are made up of Craig "Archie" Hansen (bass and guitar), Wally Cegielski (guitar), Jack Kendrowicz (drums), and Gary Wyman (lead) and play a little of everything.
The Drovers were started without Archie, who was invited to join when gigs were booked but the concertina or horn players weren't available. The Drovers were well known as an old-time and country music staple in Central Wisconsin, the band members later mixed into groups like Archie's Gang and expanded to playing a wider variety of music.
In 1992 The Drovers were invited to play for President George Bush when he visited Stevens Point. More than 13,000 people showed up to see the president, so the pressure was on. They chose their music carefully and practiced at Hansen's tavern, "Archie's", the night before the big performance. They kept the crowd on their feet with hits like the "Beer Barrel Polka", "Pretty Women", "Achy Breaky Heart" and "Tequila". Quoted in the Stevens Point Journal on 11/2/1992, Gary Wyman remarked that "It was a real thrill to play to a big crowd like this." Craig "Archie" Hansen echoed the sentiment, saying "It's the biggest crowd we've ever played for. It's an honor to play for the presidential reception."
Southern Comfort (1970s) was a traveling country and western band that picked up local signer Myrna Cornwell for their tours in the 1970s. Myrna was well known in Stevens Point for her time with local bands, including The Furys, The Orbits, and Myrna and the Avalons. Myrna could sing, play guitar, piano, and drums, and had a musical career across the United States. Find out more about Myrna's music career in the PCHS Rock and Roll blog article, coming soon.
Fran and the Night Train (1973 - 2001) was formed in 1973 by Rosholt musicians Fran Glowdowski and her husband, Bob. According to Fran, "music is my soul!" and her long career of country western music proves her right. From 1973 to 2001, the band was one of Portage County’s busiest groups, playing Country Western music two or three nights a week at taverns, bowling alleys, ballrooms, country music festivals, and private events. In 1977 Fran & The Night Train were the first band to perform on the brand new Bandshell in Stevens Point’s Pfiffner Park.
In the 1970s and 80s, long-standing Night Train musicians Duane Landowski, Glen Wanta, Joe Schultz, Denny Wayerski, and Bernie Liebe were augmented by a “who’s who” of Portage County country rockers: Frank Stanislawski, Dan Alfuth, Jeff Ebel, Tom Dehlinger, Joe Ebel, Scott Neubert, Al Pieper, and Otis McClennon. Like many long-lived bands, they’ve had periods of inactivity. But they’ve always returned, playing the music they love for their many fans. In 2025 Fran and Bob are joined by new band members Ron Gruna, Ron Wanta, and Myron Kurszewski as the latest edition of Fran & The Night Train.
Fran’s family, and Bob’s, came from eastern Kentucky, a hotbed of rural roots music talent. Fran’s family tree includes Ricky Skaggs, a distant cousin. Her father had a country music band in Milwaukee, and Fran recalls Grand Ole Opry star Ernest Tubb offering her father a job playing steel guitar in his Texas Troubadours! In 1975, on Fran and Bob’s wedding honeymoon trip to Nashville, Fran sang with Grand Ole Opry star George Morgan’s band.
Fran Glodowski mentions the Glacier Ridge Antique Tractor Show, where they’ve appeared for the past three years, as a favorite event to perform with Night Train. What about the future? After 52 years as a country singer, Fran says “Music Is my soul. No retirement for us, yet!”
Archie Hansen (1977 - current) has been a member of many bands and also the owner of a popular performance venue in Stevens Point, Archie's Cocktail Lounge.
When Craig “Archie” and Sue Hansen opened Archie’s Cocktail Lounge in 1977, music wasn’t the top priority. But a guitar and amplifier in the corner invited guests to jam at the southside bar and grill – and paved the way for Archie to play even after the business sold.
Hansen didn’t actively book bands, but groups occasionally asked if they could perform at the bar. It started with Woody Gruber, whose family made up the band Strictly Country. Before long, Hansen was playing with them. After a few years, the Drovers – an old-time and country music staple in central Wisconsin – asked Hansen to join them at some gigs. The Drovers, and a variation, the Trigger Trippers, continue to perform country and rock classics.
Both the first and last bands that played at Archie’s approached him requesting the venue. Vic Gerard (Ziolkowski), who played with Austin-based country band The Derailers, was from Stevens Point. On tour in 2012, the band was coming to Chicago July 4, and Gerard wanted to play in Stevens Point so his mom could hear them. The band manager called Archie, who told him: “It has to be before July 1 because I’m selling the bar.”
The Derailers played June 30, 2012, the final day Archie and Sue Hansen owned the bar. They played some of Hansen‘s favorites -- Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison – and invited him to play bass guitar on a few songs. When asked about the experience, Archie said “I got to play with my heroes.”
Ramblin' Country (1983-1984) was made up of Jay Silverman (bass), Tom Adams (rhythm guitar), Pat Coble (drums), and Dan Mansavage (lead guitar).
Ramblin' Country was a school project for Mansavage who performed for a final project in his American Literature class. But he had already formed the band before needing a project for his American Folk Music unit. He and Tom Adams were in Vocal Honors class together and Mansavage had already been playing guitar, mandolin, bass, and harmonica for several years. When the group formed their band in early 1983, seeking experience and a little side money, they quickly got gigs at local establishments and at private parties. Performing in school launched them higher, though. Quoted in the Stevens Point Journal on 12/17/1983, Jay Silverman said "When we walked onto the stage, the applause and cheering made us feel like the Oak Ridge Boys."
Ramblin' Country would later win second place in their homecoming talent competition in 1984 before disbanding.
Ramblin' Country (later 1970s) was also the name of a 4-piece classic country-western band from Wisconsin Rapids. We only know the name of one band member, William Noska. If you know anything more about this band please reach out to the PCHS curator at collections@pchswi.org
Southbound (1988 - current) is a Country and Country-Rock band based in Plover, Wisconsin. 1988. Band members are Brian Baumann (guitar and vocals), Chelle Baumann (guitar, keyboards, mandolin and vocals), Todd Twait (drums and vocals), and Wayne Jaworski (bass and vocals).
Chelle Baumann (nee Cox); “when I am on a roll of learning songs, I absolutely obsess over it until I nail it.” Born in Wisconsin Rapids and raised in Nekoosa, into a musical family, Chelle learned guitar from her dad when she we 8 or 9. Her dad, and brother Steve, sang and played music. She was in choir in junior and senior high school. Her choir director encouraged Chelle to continue her studies at UW-Stevens Point and pursue a music teaching career. In 1986 she enrolled at UWSP and moved onto campus.
Chelle and her brother Steve Cox formed a country band, Chelley & Silver Wings, which kept her busy playing gigs on weekends. She first met Brian Baumann in a music theory class at UWSP. They formed Southbound, which has been active as a popular country music act since 1988. For several years, Chelle Baumann has taught and directed middle school and high school choir in the Tomorrow River School District.
Brian Baumann; “Did I play music in school? I did everything musical in school!” Born and raised in Wausau, Brian attended public schools there, graduating from Wausau East High School. Throughout his school years, Brian was involved in band, marching band, jazz band, choir, and show choir. His dad Kenny Baumann played guitar with Denny Bloom & The Side Men, who backed up visiting country stars when they came to the Wausau area. He also toured with country music star Wanda Jackson. Brian started playing his dad’s guitars at 12 years old and saved enough money to buy a bass. He started gigging as the bass player in his dad’s band at age 14, sometimes doubling on guitar. As a teen, Brian loved Southern Rock and applied that style to his electric guitar playing. After high school, he enrolled at UW-Stevens Point as a music major, focusing on jazz. He played in the country rock band Buckshot on weekends. Brian and Chelle got to know each other as UWSP music students, both playing on the weekends in different bands. They began dating, and decided to form their own band, taking members from Buckshot and Silver Wings (including Chelle’s brother Steve Cox) to form Southbound. Southbound played its first show in January 1988 and have been a popular country music band for 37 years!
Todd Twait is from Wisconsin Rapids. He studied drums and percussion in high school and at UWSP. He was a student of Mike Irish, and played in Mike's jazz combo, Full Speed Ahead. Todd also played with The Don Greene Quartet, and The Don Cheeseboro Orchestra. Todd played in Fool’s Gold and Grand Slam, two notable central Wisconsin bands. Todd Twait has been the drummer for Southbound since 1996 and owns a barbershop in Wisconsin Rapids.
Wayne Jaworski is a skilled and versatile musician with many years of experience playing music in central Wisconsin, including 37 years as bass player and vocalist for Rumors, a popular Wisconsin Rapids band. Aside from playing bass and singing with Southbound since 2018, Wayne frequently appears as a solo performer, singing popular songs and playing guitar.
Other country bands and artists from Portage County include The Cordaires (1960s), Wild Turkey (1970s), Country Still (1970s), Loose Strings, Jimmy Howen, Strictly Country, Cher & The Night Riders, DAM Country, and Blame It On Waylon.
Country Western Music Venues in Portage County
Listed here are just some of the many bars and venues that have hosted local country music bands.
The Kountry Kwencher
Club 66
Whiting Hotel
Dillon’s Tap
Rusty’s Backwater Saloon
Virg ‘N Mary’s Tap
Merryland Ballroom
Golden Sands Bar
Gene’s Koko Club
701 Club
The Echo Nite Club
Country Rock Bands of Portage County
But wait! Country music has taken on some of the instruments and vocal styles often attributed to rock music. Country rock music is a genre all its own and has a unique following here in Portage County. Below are just some of the bands that bring this genre to our area.
Mesa (1970-1972) was played by Randy Bruce (rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals), Frank Stanislawski (lead guitar, vocals), Jack Hurrish (lead guitar, vocals), Danny Bartkowiak (bass, vocals), and Al Crowe (drums).
Down Home (1971-1972) included Tom Dellinger, Dave Olson, Dave Trickle, Pat Houlihan, and Joe Schultz.
Roadhouse (1972-1974) was made up by Jim Hotvedt, Pat Houlihan, and Jim Prideaux.
Daddy Whiskers (1973-2022) Portage County’s best known and longest-lived country rock band. Randy Bruce (guitar, harmonica, vocals), Frank Stanislawski (guitar, banjo, pedal steel, vocals) and Danny Bartkowiak (bass, vocals) left the band Mesa to form Daddy Whiskers with Jeff Ebel (drums, vocals) and his brother Joe Ebel (guitar, fiddle, vocals). Their focus was country rock and country folk with a bluegrass edge, with original material contributed by Randy, Frank, and Joe. In early 1973 Gale Barchus replaced Danny Bartkowiak on bass.
They rehearsed for a month and hit the ground running, playing around the state 2 or 3 days a week. The Stevens Point – based band had plenty of local venues to play: the YMCA, 701 Club, Lancers, Poor Henry’s, Wolf’s Tap, various UWSP events, Second Street Pub, Country Fest at Starlite Ballroom, the Holiday Inn, Whiting Hotel, Super Bowl, Legion Hall, Eddie O’s, and more. The YMCA teen dances were packed with dancers. Daddy Whiskers released two 45 RPM records of original songs by Frank Stanislawski and Randy Bruce. The band has gone through at least three phases since the classic 1973 lineup, Randy Bruce being the common denominator. Recently, Randy has circulated compilation CDs of Daddy Whiskers’ studio recordings and live shows. For several years, the band reunited annually for OldStock at the Indian Crossing Casino, also featuring Heart Strings, another great 1970s central Wisconsin band. On March 22, 2025 Daddy Whiskers reunited with all five 1973 band members to play in Plover at the Once In A Lifetime reunion show.
The Gamblers included Frank Stanislawski, Scott Neubert, Dan Halverson, and Jeff Ebel. Scott Neubert later left The Gamblers and toured nationally with larger country bands, eventually owning his own studio in Nashville.
Shine was played by Pat Houlihan, Tom Dellinger, and Dan Halverson.
L-R: Mike Bestul, Dave Olson, Andy Huntoon, Jim Prideaux
Heart Strings Melody Band (1974-1982) was formed in 1974. Lead guitarist Jim Prideaux, a long-time resident of Amherst, is a founding member of the group. By 1975 the band abbreviated its name to Heart Strings, with steady members Mike Bestul (lead guitar), Andy Huntoon (bass), Dan Halverson (keyboards and vocals), Dave Olson (drums), and Jim Prideaux (lead guitar and banjo). Amherst native Jim Hotvedt eventually replaced Huntoon as bass player and singer, and Stevens Point resident Pat Houlihan (guitar and vocals) was added as a 6th member. All the musicians had previous experience playing in central Wisconsin bands.
Although most of the Heart Strings members lived in Waupaca County, many of their gigs were at Portage County clubs and venues: Poor Henry’s, the Rec Center, the YMCA, Lucky’s, 2nd Street Pub, and The Kountry Kwencher. The band played rock and country rock covers, featuring extended jams and long guitar solos from Prideaux and Bestul. At teen dances at the YMCA and the Rec Center, the dance floor was packed with kids grooving to the music of Heart Strings. As a bonus, Jim Prideaux would play banjo on a number or two, blending bluegrass and country rock for added excitement. Heart Strings is remembered by many fans as one of the best rock bands of the 1970s in central Wisconsin. They toured the state and appeared at Summerfest in Milwaukee and at college campuses for dances and concerts
Heart Strings retired in 1982 as members pursued other goals but reunited for periods of activity in the years that followed. Heart Strings has appeared from time to time at exciting reunion shows, including “Oldstock” with Daddy Whiskers at the Indian Crossing Casino. Since 1992 Jim Prideaux has lived in Amherst. He was the lead guitarist of the Stevens Point – based blues band Otis & The Alligators for many years.
Adam Greuel & The Space Burritos (2022 – current) is a jam band led by Stevens Point native Adam Greuel. When Adam isn't playing with The Space Burritos he can be found playing with his band Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, the bands Rucksack Revolution and The High Hawks, as a solo artist or a duo with friends like Art Stevenson, and as a performer with comedian Charlie Behrens.
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