Dennis Brutke & the Country Gents entertain a Friday night crowd of dancers at the McMinnville Grange.

Marcus Larson
News-Register

"I wanted to be a little bit of a cowboy," recalls Amity resident Dennis Brutke. "I saw Gene Autry and Roy Rogers on horses
and I wanted to do that."

A cherry farmer by trade, Brutke strides into his cowboy dream each Friday night at the McMinnville Grange, performing country western dance music with his band, The Country Gents. The makeup of the band has stayed "pretty much the same" through the entire 10 years it has been doing the grange gig.

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Brutke was reluctant to sign on at first.

"I was always kind of a bashful guy," he said. "The grange kept wanting me to play music, but I didn't think I was good enough."

Eventually, Brutke gathered some musicians he had met through jam sessions and gave it a go.

"That's why I'm the leader," he said, smiling at the thought. "I'm probably the weakest link, but they can't kick me off."

A self-taught musician, Brutke began with nothing more than a guitar and a how-to book. Before long, he was thinking, "Gene Autry, move over."

He recalls pulling on his mother's apron strings and asking her to sing "Strawberry Roan," a song which traces its lyrics to an original poem published in 1931 by Curley Fletcher. "Music became a part of my life early on," he noted.

Farming was also an important part of his life. So he found ways to meld the two interests.

"I drove hours and hours of tractor," he said. "There wasn't a tractor built that I couldn't harmonize with."

Brutke is just the third owner of his cherry orchard, perched high in the hills above Amity where it affords him a view reaching all the way to Salem. He purchased it in 1970.

Altogether, he's been farming since 1957.

His son, Daryn, joined him in 1992. The two have 100 acres of cherries to keep them busy.

"I'm supposed to be retired," he said. "My son is farming now."

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Brutke handles lead vocals and rhythm guitar in his weekly sessions at the grange. Bob Smith plays lead guitar, Wayne Odom and Randy Koch play bass, Jim Toussaint plays violin and Koch lends support on vocals.

"We have a great time," said Smith, who drives down from Hillsboro. "It's a nice place to play. We get along well and have great crowds. It's good ol' country music."

Smith has been performing in public for 60 years. He got his start at the age of 12, playing for square dances in upstate New York.

He used to live in Boise. At one point there, he was playing six nights a week.

In addition to playing with The Country Gents, Smith participates in occasional jam sessions. He also operates a home recording studio, allowing him to record his own CDs.

Toussaint, a former McMinnville resident now living in Beaverton, started playing classical violin when he was 10. He moved to California in 1983 to pursue a degree in economics at the University of California at Los Angeles.

When he returned to Oregon in 1999, he joined the Old Time Fiddlers Association. "That's when I found Dennis," he said.

He also met Smith through the association. He calls Smith an "incredible musician."

Toussaint was invited to play with The Country Gents, and quickly signed on. "It just took," he said.

He really likes the no drinking, no smoking framework.

"It's a very, very friendly family atmosphere," he said. "It's the nicest group of people. They're very welcoming. It's just a lot of fun."

Toussaint, who also performs with The River City Ramblers and a local trio with a guitarist and second violinist, enjoys the improvisational nature of the weekly grange sessions. "It leaves much more room for interpretation and creativity," he added.

Odom, who lives in Otis, is an artist who sculpts in bronze. He has work on display at the Keep It Art Sea Gallery in Depoe Bay.

He also likes to express his creative side through music.

He and his son, Dwayne, have a country gospel album out called, "It Is Finished." And he has another 10-song album in the works.

Odom sums up his guiding philosophy this way: "Inspire others to believe you can do it, and then get started. Go do it. Age is not an issue."

He and Smith go back more than 40 years.

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The dances begin at 7 p.m. in the fall and winter. They include a potluck dinner and a break that runs 8:30 to 9.

Just before and after the breaks, the grange hosts chair dances. The participants, who range into their 90s, continue to trade off partners during each chair dance.

"It's a real fun mixer," said Treasurer Doris Thurston, who has been attending the dances for 2 1/2 years with her grange-master husband, Ed. "You get to dance with people that you ordinarily wouldn't."

They love the music.

"Dennis and his band, they're just great," she said. "They sound as good as the people who make the records."

The dances draw about 60 people a week. They come from as far away as Vancouver, Toledo and Aurora, but most are local.

Those celebrating birthdays or anniversaries get to choose a song for the band.

"We always like to welcome new people," Thurston said. "We have so much fun. We want them to have fun as well."