Tahlequah Daily Press
February 15, 2006
Local band wins spot at major national festival
By Eddie Glenn - Press Staff Writer
A couple of decades ago, there was a band in Tahequah called "All the Naked Payne Children." It consisted of two local artists - Sam Enka on bass and guitar, Robert Lewis on congas - and whoever else they could manage to dredge up for the handful of shows they played.
The Band's name was inspired by some youngsters who used to play (wearing little or now clothing) in a magnolia tree just down the sidewalk from Enka's art studio on North Muskogee Avenue.
Although they might've guessed, Enka and Lewis had no way of knowing that, someday, two of the naked Paine children would form their own band and win a coveted spot on the Wakarusa Music and Camping festival, held annually on Clinton Lake near Lawrence, Kan.
This past weekend, Tahlequah's very own My-Tea Kind - Anna and Bonnie Paine, Sarah Garde, and James Townsend - won the "Battlerusa" battle of the bands in Lawrence, putting them on the bill for this year's Wakarusa (sltated for June 8-11), alongside nationally touring acts. The band won a preliminary competition in Tulsa last month, competing against five other area acts.
"There were 18 preliminary battle of the bands all over the country - in Madison, Wis; St. Louis; Chicago; Denver. Tulsa was the southernmost one," said Townsend, who sings, and plays guitar and musical saw. "There ended up being 21 bands in the final competition at Lawrence; Chicago had some extra bands, evidently."
But even with Chicago's strong showing, it was a Tahlequah band that walked away with the grand prize.
"We get a track on the Wakarusa CD, and we get our name on the fly-ers, instead of just being included in the '...and many more!,'" said Townsend. "We also get paid for the gig, which is nice."
(Loyal readers may remember Townsend as the fellow quoted in a Daily Press story last Friday about eBay who was somewhat disappointed in the 40 coyote penises he ordered through the online auction site. He's much more thrilled about Wakarusa than he was about those coyotye parts.)
"A lot of the bands were playing really long songs, getting all jammy and everything, but I guess we were what they were looking for," said Townsend. "We had 45 minutes at Cain's [Ballroom, the venue for the Tulsa preliminary competition] and 30 minutes at Lawrence, and I think a lot of bands did the same set for both competitions. We did totally different sets."
Which wasn't too hard to do, considering the amount of material the band has written since forming less than two years ago.
"We're moving toward sharing the writing, but James is a really good songwriter - he's got over 150 songs written," said Bonnie Paine, who sings and plays washboard, percussion, and bullhorn (that's right, bullhorn).
Paine said the band does three cover tunes - one by the Squirrel Nut Zippers, one by George Gritzdach, and one by Reverend Horton Heat - but not necessarily because they have to.
"We have 47 originals that we do," she said, before recalculating. "Actually, I just wrote a song day-before-yesterday, and my brother just wrote one, and JAmes just wrote a really beautiful song, so that's 50."
The band has finished recording its first CD, and members hope to have it ready for release in a couple of months. "I just talked to the guy whose going to master the CD, and the artwork's almost finished," she said. "It's almost ready to send off [for replication], and hopefully we'll get it back by April."
The CD includes 12 tunes of original music, which the band describes as "obscure folk root rock."
Paine said that no matter how far My-Tea Kind takes their act, they'll be forever gratefull to Anna and Bonnie's dad (for buying them instruments at a young age and encouraging them to play), and Tahlequah music icon Randy Crouch, for years of lessons. "Randy taught us to play," she said. "And he was very patient with us."
Photo caption: My-Tea Kind are, from left: James Townsend on vocals, guitar, and saw; Bonnie Paine on vocals, percussion, and bullhorn; Sarah Garde on drums; and Anna Paine on bass. The Tahlequah band recently won a spot onstage at the Wakarusa musica festival this June in Lawrence, Kan.