Sons of the San Joaquin

Sons of the San Joaquin is a Founded in 1987, Western Harmony and cowboy band from California. It is composed of brothers Joe ( born 1932 ) and Jack Hannah ( b. 1933 ), and Joe's son Lon (* 1956). The band played in their early years mainly songs of the Sons of the Pioneers, but later his own compositions in the style of Western Music.

History

The Hannah family had moved during the global economic crisis from Missouri to California, where she sat down at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. According to the San Joaquin River flowing there, the band was later named.

The local area was characterized by many ranches, the entire family was so heavily influenced by the tradition of the Cowboys. Added to this was that the father of Joe and Jack a big fan of the Sons of the Pioneers was, the two learned so from an early age to know their songs and love. The brothers sang early with her family at local events and also had during her training as a high school teacher and baseball coach joint appearances in the area. Lon was also a teacher and gained experience as a singer in the church and in theatrical performances, as well as a member of Bennett Consort, a college group on the model of Manhattan Transfer.

1987 Lon came up with the idea together with his father and uncle to sing at the birthday party of his grandfather for the first time. To the discovery of the band came when Lon in the subsequent period by chance the cowboy singer Gary McMahan met, who in 1989 invited the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, where the band was enthusiastically received by the audience. In addition, they learned there Michael Martin Murphey know who offered them to accompany him on his first cowboy songs album. From the occasional performances became a full- time job, so that Joe and Jack took early retirement in 1992 and London in 1993 gave up his profession.

The first two albums of the trio consisted of only songs of the Sons of the Pioneers. Then they took increasingly on his own compositions. However, they are always the classic style, the three -part harmony vocals, remained faithful. In contrast to their role models and similar bands like Riders in the Sky they waive the yodel. Like this they do not want to be seen as a country band: "We sing western music, songs Which celebrate the life and work and the geographical setting of the American cowboy. "

It was followed by numerous television appearances, inter alia, at the Grand Ole Opry. In November 2006, the band from the Western Music Association was inducted into the Western Music Hall of Fame, in April 2007, she received a star on the Walk of Western Stars in Newhall, California.