We are Brent Hoodenpyle & The Loners, a traditional - alt country, hillbilly, folk, Americana whatchacallit music band based out of Chicago, Illinois.
In this world of "corporate country" we're doing our best to keep the flame alive by playing real country music.
We play our own instruments, write our own songs, and when we run out of our songs we do covers of people we like.
Whether it's in the award winning crying-in-your-beer tune such as "Picture Show In My Mind," a historical story song like "Damn Yankees" or a 1950's Nashville rocker like "Run Back To Him," you'll hear the influences of traditional and alternative country artists such as... Steve Earle, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, and Gram Parsons, just to name a few.
Originally, from Arlington, Texas, I now live with my family in Glen Rose, about an hour or so southwest of Ft Worth. For the 10 years prior to this I lived in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and performed with a band that came to be known as the Loners. John Ballantyne plays lead guitar on that band and helps with the song arranging. Originally from Scotland, he plays the kind of country and roots rock guitar that makes for a really good LIVE sound. The bass player of the band is Buddy Carter. I've known him the longest, since way back in 2000 when he responded to a flyer that I posted at the Old Town Folk School in Chicago. The flyer featured a picture of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos standing outside of Carnegie Hall with a question that asked, "Think you can play guitar like Don Rich?" Well, Buddy can play exactly like Don Rich and he can sing the high harmonies, too. He also does a great job on bass, and when you listen to our CD, Country Music Holiday, that's him on steel guitar. Collectively, we've had the opportunity to play with a lot of talented drummers, including Rick Murawski (Gin Palace Jesters), Theresa Drda (of Honeybees), Ken Thompson (True Historians), Bill Cease (Bart Alonzo Band and Johnny Mo), and the guy that you hear on the record is the great Dave Wiesnewski. I call him great because he's a helluva drummer, and when we were set to record the CD, we didn't have a drummer. I got him the songs on Thursday afternoon, and on Saturday morning, when we recorded, he knew the songs better than we did, and we were able to record all of the drum tracks in one day.
Clubs, festivals, events of all kinds, including performances at the historic Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Illinois and the Great Artists of Illinois Festival in Chicago.
Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine, Bill Monroe, Faron Young.