Get ready to see one of the Texas panhandle’s most renowned bands, The Prairie Dogs, live at the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center, located at 320 S. Cuyler next Thursday, March 26, at 6 PM, featuring our very own Pampa mayor, Mike Borger!
This band composed of three talented guys, Mike Borger, Dane Williams, and Byron Williamson, has been going 50 years strong playing across Texas, from Waxahachie and Dallas to up here closer to home in the panhandle. On top of performing at annual festivals and numerous concerts, The Prairie Dogs have opened and played for some of the biggest names in music, such as Merle Haggard, The Dixie Chicks, The Shirelles, Eddie Rabbit, and America just to name a few.
What started as simple jam sessions between friends who shared a similar passion for music turned into something much bigger none of them could have ever imagined.
“Several of us were playing together in high school, and there were a couple of guys who were playing in a non-denominational Christian outreach called Young Life, and we started just jamming together a little bit,” said Byron. “One of the guys needed tuition money for college, and Amarillo College offered to pay us to play for their back-to-school bash at the first of that school year. So we did and they paid us and we gave him the money he needed for his tuition. That was in the fall of 1976, so we are 50 years this year as a band!”
“So Byron and I were meeting at my house on Thursday nights just playing music, then Dane came along and he’s the newcomer of like 30 years,” Mike laughed. “He’s the drummer and a great singer, but he also drives the bus so it works out great. We were kind of just doing it for fun because we enjoyed music, but then we got the opportunity to perform at the Texas musical in Palo Duro Canyon in the early 80s.”
“The director of the play, Neil Hess was a neighbor to one of our guys and he told us we should come and entertain folks while they’re eating BBQ before the main show. So we brought our stuff out there and the only plugs they had was in the women’s restroom. So we plugged in and played and we just had a blast even though it was close to 100 degrees outside.”
“It was the best gig ever-we would play for 2,000 people or so and we ended up doing that full-time and we played every weekend for like 15 years. We did that for a long time and a lot of people saw us and thought we were real cowboys, but we didn’t just do what you’d expect to hear as far as cowboy music. We did a lot of rock and roll type stuff too, but we’ve had a lot of fun.”
“I’m retired from Valero now, but I was the director of the credit card center for 43 years,” said Dane. “As part of the deal, the company used to take people out for a summer event and our group at Valero decided to go see the Texas play. We went out there and there was this great band playing on their own stage, The Prairie Dog stage. There were 100 of us out there milling around after we ate and the band was playing and I said, ‘these guys are really good, but where’s the drummer?’ I could hear drums, but I didn’t see a drummer. A friend of mine came up who knew these guys and he said they used an electronic machine they call a slim because they couldn’t find a human drummer. I said I’d love to try out for them and I did and the rest is history.”
Since the band’s formation, they have released five albums on all platforms, and one of those albums titled, ‘Dogs Hit Bottom,’ was recorded live at Palo Duro Canyon, and their style is considered ‘cow jazz’, a term they coined with a hilarious meaning.
“We play what we call ‘cow jazz’, because if you play it real loud, it makes cows walk funny and kick,” Byron laughed. “We were playing red dirt music before that genre ever really became known. We play Texas, Western, original, folky Americana-it’s hard to put us in a single category, so we created our own genre, ‘cow jazz’.
The band writes and performs their own original music, each member contributing to the writing process, but during live sets they’ll also play cover songs because who doesn’t love a good cover of a classic song?
While some musicians have those one or two songs they have grown to nearly despise from constantly playing and hearing it over the years, The Prairie Dogs instead have many favorite songs they perform, each one holding a special significance in their hearts.
“For me there’s a couple,” Dane said. “One of them is what we close with pretty much every set, it’s an old gospel song: ‘I’ll Fly Away.’ One of the things you’ll find in every one of the men who are in this band is we are all devout Christians, strong Christians and lead our families as Christians, and we have always loved that song. The other is one we didn’t write, but we borrowed-’Levelland’ by James McMurtry. We took that and kind of made it one of our own.”
“One of my favorite songs is a fairly simple song that Mike wrote about a friend of his who had some struggles, and it tells a real story of a young man and what he went through in life,” Byron said. “It’s called ‘Have You Been Low, and it’s just a great song about this young man. I love songs like that that tell stories.”
“There’s another one that Mike co-wrote called ‘Play the Cards You Hold’ that is a really great one that tells a story,” Dane chimed in. “I just thought of another one we do that is about Byron’s mom who passed away.”
“That one is actually an old English tune that came to the settling of our country,” Byron said. “It’s called ‘Wayfaring Stranger.’”
Next Thursday, The Prairie Dogs will perform at the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center, and in their 50-year tenure, this will be the first time the band plays together under that historic roof, and it’s something they’re extremely excited for and honored to do.
“The Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center is just a treasure here in Pampa,” Mike said. “To be able to play at the place where Woody Guthrie himself bought his first guitars and played is really cool. And some of the stuff that Michael Sinks has gotten to come there when they have an outside concert-there’s been some really amazing music in that place so we’re truly honored to get to play there. This will be The Prairie Dogs first time as a band to play at the Woody Guthrie. We want to dedicate this as a thing to benefit the center, so we’re hoping a lot of people will come and donate. We’re playing for free and donating our time, so we hope that people will come out, have a great time, and bless the Woody Guthrie Center.”
With 50 years and a whole lot of songs under their belt, The Prairie Dogs are more than just a band, they’re brothers, and to hear them carry on with each other and laugh together made this one phonecall that I personally enjoyed.
“Sometimes we get together to practice and we play music for three hours, and sometimes we get together to practice and we never get through a song. We are brothers and we’ve walked through 50 years of life with each other,” Byron said, with an ‘amen’ from Dane and Mike. “These guys are near and dear to my heart and I don’t know what my life would have been like without these guys.”
“I second that motion,” Dane said. “All in favor, say I?”
