Jenny Don't and the Spurs Burn It Down with Surf-Western Sound at White Water Tavern

by Julian Spivey

Julian Spivey Photo

Sometimes the best thing you can do with a free Friday night is search out a band and just have some fun.

I’m no stranger to going to concerts, but Friday (May 1) at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Ark., was a rarity for me. Usually, the shows I go to are for musical acts I know and like, but on Friday, I took a chance on a band I wasn’t very familiar with (I had heard the name and maybe a song or two in passing) … Jenny Don’t and the Spurs.

I get that, with concert tickets skyrocketing, this might not be something people can do much of, but one of the many great things about the White Water Tavern and small-venue shows is affordability.

Jenny Don’t, and the Spurs are a four-piece out of Portland, Ore., whose website calls them cowpunk, but I would call them surf-western, which may not even be a thing, but it certainly fits the sound and groove of this outfit.

The band consists of frontwoman Jenny Don’t, the stage name for musician Jenny Connors, who was given the nickname as a child for her rebellious attitude and independent nature, which I absolutely love, bassist Kelly Haliburton (who has been married to Jenny Don’t since 2022), guitarist Christopher March (who was celebrating a birthday on Friday night) and drummer Buddy Weeks. Jenny Don’t said the band had recently surpassed 1,000 live shows together, and you could tell they’ve been at it for a while, as in tune as they are with each other.

I was instantly enthralled by the group’s surf-western sound, which was like a mix of Dick Dale’s surf-rock guitar and the classic country music of someone like Ernest Tubb, but with the look and feel, especially at times, of Patsy Cline. The closest thing I’ve ever heard to their sound was Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives' excellent 2017 album Way Out West.  

The music was stellar from the beginning of the show, but for some reason, it was hard for me to make out Jenny Don’t’s vocals for the first few songs from my perch near the stage (an issue I’ve never had in my many shows at WWT). I was worried it wouldn’t be a very fun evening if I couldn’t make out what she was singing, but luckily, when I moved to the back of the small bar venue, I could hear just fine.

The band has released four studio albums and an EP dating back to 2015 and performed material from all of them throughout the set.

A lot of the set’s most memorable tracks can be found on the band’s rip-roaring live album, Live at the Jenny, from last year, like the opening “Flying High,” “Trouble with the Law” and “Is It Too Late?”

Among the band’s other highlights were “California Cowboy,” off 2021’s Fire On The Ridge and “One More Night,” off the band’s most recent album, Broken Hearted Blue (2024).  

I’m thrilled to have a new band to keep an eye out for, both for their live performances and for whatever music they have coming out in the future. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night on my own.