Untitled Document

Central Mass Magazine July 2007 By Brian Goslow A country classic at the 140 Rendezvous The jukebox at the 140 Rendezvous in Sterling holds plenty of country hits by the likes of Waylon Jennings and Tim McGraw, but the tune played the most is the one written about the woman who owns the bar. Dave Pike wrote “Ruthie (Pour a Double on the Double)” in honor of Ruthie Berube and also to capture the feel of the legendary saloon on Route 140. The song has been nominated for the Massachusetts Country Music Association’s Song of the Year. Pike’s Good Ol’ Boys have been playing their classic country sounds at the 140 for the past eight years. Judging by a parking lot full of motorcycles, pickups and cars before one of their recent biweekly Sunday afternoon gigs even started, they’ll be playing there for years to come. It doesn’t hurt that the band is really tight and that Pike, who shouts out “Let’s drink” at the end of each set, puts his heart and soul into his singing. “We just love Dave,” Berube said. “He’s really a humble young man. We love all the guys in the band” The Good Ol’ Boys’ run started when Pike, living on a farm directly behind the 140, rode a horse across the river to see about getting a gig there. “I tied the horse up in back and had a beer,” he recalled. “I was talking to Ruthie at the bar about playing and we’ve been here ever since.” Inside the little club, all of the chairs and tables are filled every Sunday that the Good Ol’ Boys are playing. While old timers might call the 140 a roadhouse, it feels more like a buddy’s basement bar. Bikers and retirees, suburban moms and dads, blue collars and white collars, all mix with nary a discouraging word and, even though the Good Ol’ Boys play from 4. to 8 p.m., pretty much every vacant floor space is danced in when the licks get hot. Pike’s been playing places like the 140 since someone asked him if he wanted to open for his idol Hank Williams Jr. at the age of 13. That show at the Lone Star Ranch in Nashua, N.H. led to similar opening slots for other national acts. “It seems once you met one person on the road, you’ve met three others,” he said. “I was in the right place at the right time.” His dad, William “Bill” Pike who performed under the stage name Billy Shepherd (“like thedog”), taught him to play guitar when he was 7 years old. Belmont Recordssigned Dave Pike to a recording contract and released “Straight fromthe Heart” in 1979. It did well in New England and a single of it got national airplay. Pike estimates he’s written 60 songs during his career. Pedal steel guitar player extraordinaire Tim Bowles and hotpicking guitarist Dave Nelson have been Good Ol’ Boys since the group formed in the mid-1990s. Bassist Roger Williams came on board in December 2005 while drummer Stephen Killoran joined this April. Nelson and Williams are both fine lead and harmony singers too. Sometimes Pike and Williams swap instruments. Collectively, Pike and the Good Ol’ Boys have helped keep country music alive in the region as members of Prudence and the Plowboys, Rendezvous, Cabin Fever, Lincoln County Band, Sugar Creek and Robin Brown’s Five and Dime Country Band. “He’s got a voice that’s killer,” Bowles said of Pike’s rich baritone, a cross somewhere between George Jones and George Strait. “I get goose bumps listening to it.” While it might be “a bit nostalgic,” Bowles said of the classic country music that dominates their sets, “it’s fun to play. That’s what it’s all about.”	HOME PAGE What does it take to be a Good Ol’ Boy? “They have to be a good musician, take part in the band seriously and don’t walk over everybody else,” Pike said. “They take a lot of pride in the band. If something’s lacking, they fix it. We’ve had a lot of compliments about us being a good tight band.” On a typically packed Sunday in June, Pike dedicated songs to truck drivers, bikers and the couple who drove down three hours from Maine. Even people heading out early got thanked for stopping in. Pike knows each fan is important to the band’s continued success, as there’s a shrinking number of country music venues in the area. Even country mainstay Indian Ranch in Webster, which the Good Ol’ Boys occasionally play, has given much of its 2007 schedule to oldies and rock tribute acts. “A lot of the clubs are gone,” Pike said. “It’s not like it used to be. Rendezvous 140’s been great to us. Every place we play, it’s usually a full house. Different people hear about us. We get a lot of calls from people passing around our business cards. We’re not running out of work. I’ve been doing more private parties then I ever had.” That includes weddings, although Pike’s recent nuptials to Linda Mansueti took a bit longer than most. They met 30 years ago when she was tending bar at the Barre Hunt Club, a country music venue owned by Linda’s dad. What took them so much time to get hitched? “Probably because I was on the road so long,” Pike said. “[In marrying her] I definitely put the needle on the right record.” Linda is the band’s unsung hero. Technology friendly, she had Pike’s old albums re-pressed as CDs for people who asked for them as well as recent recordings by the Good Ol’ Boys. “She does a lot of good marketing for us,” Pike said. “She wants me to write a song for her but it hasn’t come out of the pen yet.” Back at the 140, Pike sent a song out to “the guy with the good looking sneakers,” – a man in safari hat wearing a Hawg Haulers Motorcycle Association T-shirt and holding two drafts in his hands. The Good Ol’ Boys have hundreds of fans like him, having played many of the poker run benefit motorcyclists hold to raise funds to help a fallen rider or family member. “We play lots of benefits,” Pike said. “Where we can help someone out, we do.” The Good Ol’ Boys will be back at the 140 on July 1, 15 and 22 and on Aug. 12 and 26 and appear at the Brookfield on the Common on July 20, the Artist Development Complex in Southbridge on July 28 and the Hardwick Fair on Aug. 18. You can check out their latest schedule at davepikeandgob.com. “It’s always the Good Ol’ Boys as we are,” Pike said. “Good country music. It’s always the same with us when we play. Sometimes we’ll go into something by the Eagles, Bob Seger or Elvis. It depends on what the crowd’s into. We can do rockabilly or Hank Williams tunes all night. That’s the beauty of this band.” Goslow@centralmassmedia.com The dance floor fills up whenever Dave Pike and the Good Ol' Boys play at the140 Rendezvous. That's Pike (right) playing bass next to Roger Williams
“I tied the horse up in back and had a beer. I was talking to Ruthie at the bar about playing and we’ve been here ever since.”

Central Mass Magazine July 2007
By Brian Goslow

A country classic at the 140 Rendezvous

The jukebox at the 140 Rendezvous
in Sterling holds plenty of country
hits by the likes of Waylon
Jennings and Tim McGraw, but the tune
played the most is the one written about
the woman who owns the bar.
Dave Pike wrote “Ruthie (Pour a
Double on the Double)” in honor of Ruthie
Berube and also to capture the feel of the
legendary saloon on Route 140. The song
has been nominated for the Massachusetts
Country Music Association’s Song of the Year.
Pike’s Good Ol’ Boys have been
playing their classic country sounds at
the 140 for the past eight years. Judging
by a parking lot full of motorcycles, pickups
and cars before one of their recent
biweekly Sunday afternoon gigs even
started, they’ll be playing there for years
to come. It doesn’t hurt that the band is
really tight and that Pike, who shouts out
“Let’s drink” at the end of each set, puts
his heart and soul into his singing.
“We just love Dave,” Berube said.
“He’s really a humble young man. We
love all the guys in the band”
The Good Ol’ Boys’ run started
when Pike, living on a farm directly behind the
140, rode a horse across the river to see about
getting a gig there.
“I tied the horse
up in back and had a
beer,” he recalled. “I was
talking to Ruthie at the
bar about playing and
we’ve been here ever since.”
Inside the little club, all of the chairs
and tables are filled every Sunday that
the Good Ol’ Boys are playing. While old
timers might call the 140 a roadhouse, it
feels more like a buddy’s basement bar.
Bikers and retirees, suburban moms and
dads, blue collars and white collars, all
mix with nary a discouraging word and,
even though the Good Ol’ Boys play from
4. to 8 p.m., pretty much every vacant
floor space is danced in when the licks get hot.
Pike’s been playing places like the
140 since someone asked him if he wanted
to open for his idol Hank Williams Jr. at
the age of 13. That show at the Lone Star
Ranch in Nashua, N.H. led to similar
opening slots for other national acts.
“It seems once you met one person
on the road, you’ve met three others,” he
said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”
His dad, William “Bill” Pike who performed under the
stage name Billy Shepherd (“like thedog”), taught him to
play guitar when he was 7 years old.
Belmont Recordssigned Dave Pike to a
recording contract and released
“Straight fromthe Heart” in 1979.
It did well in New England and a single of it got
national airplay. Pike estimates he’s written
60 songs during his career.
Pedal steel guitar player
extraordinaire Tim Bowles and hotpicking
guitarist Dave Nelson have been
Good Ol’ Boys since the group formed in
the mid-1990s. Bassist Roger Williams
came on board in December 2005 while
drummer Stephen Killoran joined this
April. Nelson and Williams are both fine
lead and harmony singers too. Sometimes
Pike and Williams swap instruments.
Collectively, Pike and the Good
Ol’ Boys have helped keep country
music alive in the region as members of
Prudence and the Plowboys, Rendezvous,
Cabin Fever, Lincoln County Band, Sugar
Creek and Robin Brown’s Five and Dime Country Band.
“He’s got a voice that’s killer,”
Bowles said of Pike’s rich baritone, a
cross somewhere between George Jones
and George Strait. “I get goose bumps listening to it.”
While it might be “a bit nostalgic,”
Bowles said of the classic country music
that dominates their sets, “it’s fun to play.
That’s what it’s all about.”

HOME PAGE

What does it take to be a Good Ol’ Boy?
“They have to be a good musician,
take part in the band seriously and don’t
walk over everybody else,” Pike said.
“They take a lot of pride in the band. If
something’s lacking, they fix it. We’ve
had a lot of compliments about us being
a good tight band.”
On a typically packed Sunday
in June, Pike dedicated songs to truck
drivers, bikers and the couple who drove
down three hours from Maine. Even
people heading out early got thanked
for stopping in. Pike knows each fan is
important to the band’s continued success,
as there’s a shrinking number of country
music venues in the area. Even country
mainstay Indian Ranch in Webster, which
the Good Ol’ Boys occasionally play, has
given much of its 2007 schedule to oldies
and rock tribute acts.
“A lot of the clubs are gone,” Pike
said. “It’s not like it used to be. Rendezvous
140’s been great to us. Every place we
play, it’s usually a full house. Different
people hear about us. We get a lot of calls
from people passing around our business
cards. We’re not running out of work. I’ve
been doing more private parties then I ever had.”
That includes weddings, although
Pike’s recent nuptials to Linda Mansueti
took a bit longer than most. They met 30
years ago when she was tending bar at the
Barre Hunt Club, a country music venue
owned by Linda’s dad.
What took them so much time to get hitched?
“Probably because I was on the road
so long,” Pike said. “[In marrying her]
I definitely put the needle on the right record.”
Linda is the band’s unsung hero.
Technology friendly, she had Pike’s old
albums re-pressed as CDs for people who
asked for them as well as recent recordings
by the Good Ol’ Boys.
“She does a lot of good marketing
for us,” Pike said. “She wants me to write
a song for her but it hasn’t come out of the pen yet.”
Back at the 140, Pike sent a song
out to “the guy with the good looking
sneakers,” – a man in safari hat wearing
a Hawg Haulers Motorcycle Association
T-shirt and holding two drafts in his
hands. The Good Ol’ Boys have hundreds
of fans like him, having played many of
the poker run benefit motorcyclists hold
to raise funds to help a fallen rider or family member.
“We play lots of benefits,” Pike
said. “Where we can help someone out, we do.”
The Good Ol’ Boys will be back at
the 140 on July 1, 15 and 22 and on Aug.
12 and 26 and appear at the Brookfield
on the Common on July 20, the Artist
Development Complex in Southbridge on
July 28 and the Hardwick Fair on Aug. 18.
You can check out their latest schedule at
davepikeandgob.com.
“It’s always the Good Ol’ Boys as
we are,” Pike said. “Good country music.
It’s always the same with us when we
play. Sometimes we’ll go into something
by the Eagles, Bob Seger or Elvis. It
depends on what the crowd’s into. We can
do rockabilly or Hank Williams tunes all
night. That’s the beauty of this band.”
Goslow@centralmassmedia.com
The dance floor fills up whenever Dave Pike and the Good Ol' Boys play at the140 Rendezvous. That's Pike (right) playing bass next to Roger Williams

“I tied the horse
up in back and
had a beer.
I was talking to
Ruthie at the bar
about playing and
we’ve been here
ever since.”