Former members of Sawmill Creek Band and other guest performers gave a packed crowd the gift of music at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson last Sunday at the celebration of life for Bruce Hauser, the founder and front man of the Sawmill Creek Band.
Others relived some of the best times in their lives, telling stories about how Sawmill Creek music was played at wedding, funerals and other special events.
Hauser passed away from cancer at the age of 74, at his home in California with his daughter by his side.
Like many of my contemporaries, I was introduced to Sawmill Creek in a fire marshal’s nightmare in the packed Cowboy Saloon. Being a poor college student, I attended on Boot Night.
In those days on Boot Night, one could buy a boot-shaped beer mug for two dollars. With boot mug in tow, and after paying a cover charge of seven dollars, we could drink unlimited boots of beer and listen to amazing music.
Boot Night required two special skills. First, one needed to learn how to drink beer out of the boot-shaped mug without spilling it all over one’s face and shirt. Second, if one were lucky enough to find a dance partner, reuniting with your particular two-dollar beer boot after the dance became a frightening exercise in communicable diseases.
The music made braving the bar worth the effort.
Hauser, along with a cast of talented musicians, toured Wyoming and the Western United States for much of the 1970s and 1980s.
During a time when disco was ending, interest rates on new home loans were 17%,energy prices were at a premium and Jimmy Carter was talking about a crisis of confidence in his famous malaise speech, Sawmill Creek was sharing a message of hope wrapped up in a warm blanket of country music.
To a group of young baby boomers looking to carve out a future, Hauser’s lyrics shared a message of positivity and hope. In their trademark hit, Wild Western Windblown Band, Hauser’s husky voice made for singing country music, encouraged, “Life is waiting up the road for you and the future's in your hand."
Indeed, our future was in our hands. We gathered in bars and honky-tonks by the hundreds to listen to their message of simple country values.
When the bottom fell out of the real estate market and the Wyoming oil industry crashed, Sawmill Creek shared the following lyrics:
Now money don't mean much to me, I never have no extry
just enough to keep the wolves back from my door
as long as God be willing, I will keep my ol' horse saddled
that will lead me down the trail right to your door
And we're barely gettin' there and barely gettin' by
looking for a song in the wind and the clear blue sky
barely gettin' there and barely gettin' by
our strength is in each other and our friends they will stick by.
With those comforting words, we made it through tough economic times, and worked to build our lives and our state.
We sought out Sawmill Creek in the Cowboy Saloon, Boot Hill, Cassie’s, the Sheridan Inn, the Beacon Club and the Fort. They played so often at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, it is said if you put your ear up to pine knot in the bar, you will hear a Sawmill Creek song.
The video for “Barely Getting By” shares clips of those happy baby boomers finding joy in some tough times in Wyoming history, dancing at the Cowboy.
As their fame grew, the band expanded their tours to venues worldwide. They performed with acts such as Neil Young, Tanya Tucker, Glenn Campbell, The Oakridge Boys, Jerry Jeff Walker and Chris LeDoux.
After 30 years of touring, Hauser felt the need to settle down. He took jobs in Oregon and California in the RV industry. While he did a few concerts from time to time, he worked a day job for 20 years.
He was preceded in death by his wife Linda “Bubbles” Hauser.
Bruce Hauser is gone, and Sawmill Creek is no more. But their music will live forever. Their encouraging message is just as valid, now, as it was in those days. We can preserve this piece of Wyoming history and culture by listening to their music.
Sawmill Creek can be found on YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify. Their CDs can be purchased at sawmillcreekband.com.
Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 - 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House.
He can be reached at: YourInputAppreciated@gmail.com
