Soda Crackers firing up pedal steel for second Bakersfield Sound tribute

Nov. 9—Although the honky-tonks where the Bakersfield Sound was forged in whiskey and Western swing are long gone, treasured relics of the past remain.

In March, the Kern County Museum opened its much-anticipated Bakersfield Sound exhibit, packed with artifacts like a Buck Owens candy apple-red, rhinestone-sequined suit, a pair of Buckaroo Tom Brumley's Tony Lama boots, a section of Trout's bar with some of its original glass block, Lewis Talley's pedal steel guitar and much more.

Fans of the locally produced musical genre have come from far and wide — including Japan, Denmark, China and France, according to Executive Director Mike McCoy — to pay homage.

Along with its exhibit, the museum will play another key role in preserving local history on Sunday when it hosts The Pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound Concert in its Mission Bank Neon Plaza.

The Soda Crackers, a band with deep local roots courtesy of brothers Zane and Felix Cooper Adamo, will perform with three original musical contributors of the Sound: pedal steel guitarist Norm Hamlet, drummer Jimmy Phillips and guitarist and singer Tommy Hays.

This is the second show of its kind for The Soda Crackers, who performed with Hays, guitarist Sonny Anglin and pedal steel guitarist Larry Petree in July at the Bakersfield Music Hall of Fame.

The success of that performance helped fuel the Crackers' desire to keep planning big.

"They were having to turn people away at the door," Zane Adamo said of the sold-out show. "Toward the end of the show, they let people hang out in the reception area where they broadcast the show on screens."

"Seeing how much fun The Soda Crackers were having, that I was having and the pioneers were having, I was thinking we had to do a second one."

Among the audience members was McCoy, who was struck by how well the blended performance worked.

"It was magic. You had these old guys getting up there gigging with these guys in their 20s. It worked because of the music."

So when Adamo reached out about holding the next pioneer concert at the museum, McCoy was impressed with what the band was bringing to the stage.

"This young man — I'm not going to try and guess his age — south of 30, he is into the clothing, the costumes, the culture," he said.

"And they're out there doing it, catching the image of what the Sound was like and being able to replicate that.

"If there was a fan club, I would be a vice president. Not the president — that would be too much work."

Adamo serves as the band's rhythm guitarist, lead vocalist and fiddler. Brother and fellow fiddler "Coop" will be coming in this weekend for a couple of Soda Crackers shows straight from Oklahoma where he is in the graduate program at the University of Oklahoma. They will be joined by Nick Green on pedal steel, Jesus "Chuy" Holguin on stand-up bass and new lead guitarist Ramon Espinosa.

"We've been looking for a Ramon for a while so I'm glad we found one," Adamo joked.

(When not tapping pioneer drumming talent, the band has a rotating lineup of drummers, including local musician Cesareo Garasa.)

Hays, who has played with the band at other shows since it formed this spring, returns to the stage this Sunday, joined by Hamlet, who was one of Merle Haggard's Strangers for nearly five decades, and Phillips, who got his start with Bill Woods and whose fondness for Bakersfield kept him close to home where he served as a vocalist and drummer in the Shotgun Daniels Band and Fatt Katt's Bakerbilly Band.

"One of the things that I wanted was to showcase the local talent," Adamo said. "We didn't have Jimmy or Norm at our first (pioneers) show. And we wanted to have Tommy again. He's the patriarch of this music community, the last bandleader from those golden years, and we also had such a great time with him that last time."

Bringing together these active musicians who are coming up in years — Phillips at 81 is the youngest of the three pioneers — was also important to Adamo. The tragic loss of Larry Petree, who died just weeks after the show in July, was a reminder to create these musical opportunities whenever possible.

Expect a set list with hits like "Faded Love," "Mind Your Own Business, "Folsom Prison Blues," "Lone Star Beer & Bob Wills Music," "Swingin' Doors, "Love's Gonna Live Here" and, of course, "Streets of Bakersfield."

McCoy is looking forward to Sunday's concert that, if past shows are any indication, should draw musical fans of all ages.

"I love seeing the mix of generations," McCoy said. "There is a whole cadre, a whole crew of young groupies who are with The Soda Crackers, coming out in their vintage Stetsons. Mixed in with them are seniors, we'll call them mature, who are mingling with the young folks and having a beverage.

"I tell you when that pedal steel fires up, people are out on the dance floor."

"Nothing makes us happier than to watch people move around tables and chairs and make space for dancing — that's what this music is meant for," Adamo said in a release. "The neon garden has plenty of dancing room while being surrounded by vintage neon signs from all over Kern County. It'll be a perfect setting for this 'Part Two' of our tribute to these pioneers of the Bakersfield Sound."

Stefani Dias can be reached at 661-395-7488. Follow her on Twitter at @realstefanidias.