Jan. 15--There once was a man named John Wonsil. He died in 2012 but when he was alive he worked in the advertising department of the Tribune, retiring in 2007 after decades here. His nickname was John the Cowboy, or Cowboy John, and this is why: During those working years he would dress in country duds on Fridays, on what used to be called (haven't heard this phrase in ages) "Casual Fridays": blue jeans, cowboy boots and hat, fancy belt and suitably colorful shirt.
It was, he said, not only a reflection of his affection for country music but his fondness for dancing to it at some of the places here that cater to that desire. "There aren't as many of those places as I would like but there are a few, more than people know," he said. "But still it's tough to be country in all this concrete."
How happy Wonsil would be to learn then that there's a relatively new country music station in town, Big 95.5-FM, Chicago's Hit Country. It is competing against WUSN-FM 99.5, Chicago's longtime country music outlet and a perennial top 10 station.
And how happy Wonsil would be to meet and hear and dance to the music of a local band called Lonesome Still. The seven-piece band is bound by music and mutual passion. Formed in 2012, its members come from a variety of musical backgrounds -- rock, classical, blues, folk. They try to gather every Tuesday night to rehearse, which they do in a band member's basement studio. That would be David Huizenga, a vocalist/guitarist for this band; a member of Generation, a band that covers classic rock and soul of the '60s and '70s; and, for nearly three decades, the man composing and recording music for the many television ventures created by Bill Kurtis' local production company.
The leader of Lonesome Still and its principal songwriter is Michael O'Briant. He's also a visual artist, a painter and native of North Carolina.
"What most people think of as country music now pretty much all comes out of Nashville and it is very pop," says O'Briant, who has lived in the city for nearly 20 years. "Pop with a twang. But the Chicago country scene is fantastic, a scene very deeply influenced by country roots, people like Hank Williams, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash."
There would be very few who, listening to O'Briant's deep baritone in song, would not hear the influence and tone of Cash. (For a listen, travel to www.lonesomestill.bandcamp.com.) Others sing, too, and there are some lovely four-part harmonies and altogether stirring, self-assured music.
A couple other members -- Josh Piet (upright and electric bass) and drummer Lance Helgeson -- are also members of that longtime area sensation the Hoyle Brothers. Writing about that group a few years ago, my colleague Kevin Williams cited the band's brand of "hard-hitting honky-tonk," adding, "It's been fascinating to watch this local ensemble improve over the years, to the point where you go and marvel. .... All of the elements are there: originals and covers, that uptempo honky-tonk beat made to get your boots scootin' and a pedal steel sound that is downright salacious."
Emily Albright, who plays fiddle and sings, works full time in a non-music job, as do Tony Wittrock (lead guitarist and vocalist) and vocalist Kary Ream. The latter two met O'Briant at a charity art event where O'Briant was exhibiting his work.
"After the show we just hung out and started playing and singing," says O'Briant.
"We just really liked each other," says Wittrock.
Wittrock and Ream met five years before the encounter with O'Briant. They were attending a FitzGerald's show. Both had played music since their teenage years and he had performed on stage many times with various bands. She, not at all.
"I was classically trained on piano and picked up a guitar as a teenager but I had terrible stage fright," Ream says. "That's changed. I am so comfortable with these folks."
Indeed: She and Wittrock were married in September.
O'Briant does most of the band's songwriting. "He is super prolific," says Wittrock. "But basically he gives us a framework and allows us all to create with him, to add our own sounds and words. It really makes for a wonderful musical collaboration."
The band plays at such country-friendly venues as the Hideout, FitzGerald's, Emporium Arcade, Uncommon Ground and the occasional summer street fair. Next up is a performance Feb. 26 at Honky Tonk BBQ, 1800 S. Racine Ave. "A Hideout show earlier this month was our first sell-out," says O'Briant, happily.
But there are no plans to take the show on the road. "We are not just starting out. We all have others lives, jobs, families and, in some cases, other bands," says O'Briant. "It's not like all seven of us can pack up and get on a tour bus."
If aspirations are modest, rewards are not. "We'd like to play more often and maybe in some bigger venues," says O'Briant. "We'd like to record more. A friend of mine likes to call what we do 'Unruined Country,' and I think that's perfect for the city scene in general. Industry people would call Chicago's country sound 'commercially unviable,' but we aren't interested in playing to the dumbest listeners. We are playing honest, true-to-ourselves country music. Whatever the future may hold, I do know I want to play with these folks forever."
"After Hours With Rick Kogan" airs 9-11 p.m. Sundays on WGN-AM 720.
