{"id":5408,"date":"2015-02-03T07:30:59","date_gmt":"2015-02-03T14:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=5408"},"modified":"2016-02-14T08:56:22","modified_gmt":"2016-02-14T15:56:22","slug":"the-real-deal-red-lodge-brothers-play-country-from-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/02\/the-real-deal-red-lodge-brothers-play-country-from-the-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"The real deal: Kosel brothers play country from the heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-5408\" class=\"navis-slideshow\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slide-nav\">\n\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"prev\"><\/a>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" class=\"next\"><\/a>\n\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slides_container\"><div id=\"5408-slide1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Harmony-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Harmony-1-of-1-771x514.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The High Country Cowboys, left to right, Marty, John and Joe Kosel, harmonize on a cowboy classic at the Pub at the Pollard in Red Lodge.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Crowd2-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Crowd2-1-of-1-771x466.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Week after week, the trio of brothers has been packing the Pub at the Pollard.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Fans-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Fans-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Fans, one of them holding a High Country Cowboys CD after the Friday-night show, chat with John and Joe.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Parents-1-of-1.jpg*336*224\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Parents-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6> <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Margaret and Andy Kosel, parents of the High Country Cowboys, took in the show Friday along with six of their daughters.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-pick-guard-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-pick-guard-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>One of Joe's guitars features an engraved pick guard.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide6\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-saddle2-1-of-1-771x514.jpg*771*514\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-saddle2-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>One of Marty's handmade saddles is displayed just off at the stage at the Pub at the Pollard.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Painting-1-of-1-771x542.jpg*771*542\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Painting-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Here is another of John's paintings that hangs at the Pollard.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide8\" data-src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-CDs-1-of-1-771x339.jpg*771*339\" data-href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-CDs-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>The boys were also selling copies of their four homemade CDs.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"5408-slide9\"><a href=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-By-Joe-1-of-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-By-Joe-1-of-1.jpg\" \/><\/a><h6>Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News <a href=\"#\" class=\"slide-permalink\">permalink<\/a><\/h6><p>Just in case you were wondering who made the guitars.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><script>jQuery( document ).ready( function() { loadSlideshow( 5408, 'https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/02\/the-real-deal-red-lodge-brothers-play-country-from-the-heart\/', 9 ) } );<\/script>\n<p>RED LODGE\u2014A little before the High Country Cowboys took to the stage Friday night at the Pollard Hotel, lead singer Marty Kosel was talking about the kind of show they put on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like sing a song and sing another song,\u201d he said. \u201cNot a lot in between.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sure enough, in the course of a show that ran for four hours, Marty and his brothers, John and Joe, addressed the crowd only rarely and briefly between songs. But their audience\u2014which filled every available seat, leaving a dozen or more people standing\u2014didn\u2019t seem to mind.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour chin hits the table when you hear them,\u201d said Louise Jenkins, sitting with her husband, Jim.<\/p>\n<p>Vicki Quick, sitting with her husband, Sam, said \u201cI get goose bumps sometimes because they harmonize so well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sam Quick said they first caught the High Country Cowboys last May, not long after they started playing the Pub at the Pollard, as the tavern is called. How often have the Quicks been back to hear them?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5421\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5421 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-backstage-1-of-11-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Packed\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-backstage-1-of-11.jpg 771w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-backstage-1-of-11-336x224.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">John, left, and Marty sing for a packed pub.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cAbout every time they play,\u201d Vicki said. \u201cWe know they\u2019re getting so good we\u2019re afraid they\u2019re going to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a concern several other fans raised Friday night, and when you see these brothers play\u2014and hear of their other amazing accomplishments\u2014you will understand why their fans are worried.<\/p>\n<p>The Kosel brothers, raised in a family of 12 children on Red Lodge Creek between Luther and Red Lodge, play old-time cowboy and country-western music with a sincerity and authenticity that are a wonder to behold.<\/p>\n<p>Their harmonies are superb, their arrangements spare but compelling, and though they are all in their 20s you could close your eyes and swear you were hearing any of a number of singers who made their mark generations before the brothers were born.<\/p>\n<p>They are all great singers, but Marty in particular has a voice that lives at some mystical intersection between Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins and Elvis Presley. Sometimes he sings with an effortless tremolo, and when he gets into an extended yodel you could imagine him reducing a Swiss mountaineer to tears.<\/p>\n<p>They look the part, too, dressed impeccably in cowboy hats, snap-button shirts, scarf-ties, jeans, leather belts and cowboy boots.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>Did we mention their other accomplishments? On the walls behind the stage are some of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.johnkoselart.com\/\">John\u2019s oil paintings<\/a> of western landscapes and cowboy vignettes. On display just off stage right is one of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.koselsaddlery.com\/page\/page\/8100903.htm\">the beautifully tooled handmade saddles<\/a> that Marty produces for a living.<\/p>\n<p>And the guitars played by Marty and John? They were <a href=\"http:\/\/byjoeguitars.wix.com\/byjoeguitars\">made by Joe<\/a>, the bass-playing brother who says he doesn\u2019t even know how to play a guitar. The instruments, made with exotic wood, look as good as they sound.<\/p>\n<p>The boys grew up listening to country music. Their father, Andy, said his favorites were the Sons of the Pioneers, of which Roy Rogers was a founding member, and Marty Robbins. John said their dad also played guitar and sang some Hank Williams, \u201cjust around the house and that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5423\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5423 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-guitar-1-of-1.jpg\" alt=\"Guitars\" width=\"336\" height=\"507\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joe\u00a0shows off one of his handmade guitars.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The boys played brass instruments when they were younger, playing school-band music. Their careers as country singers began on Christmas Day about 10 years ago, when one of their older brothers (there are five boys and seven girls in the family) received a \u201chow-to-yodel\u201d CD and a DVD with lessons on singing three-part country-music harmonies.<\/p>\n<p>John, the oldest of the trio at 28, said he first practiced harmonizing with his two older brothers, but over time it became a regular activity with Joe, 24, and Marty, 23. Then they took up their new instruments, Joe on bass, Marty on rhythm guitar and John on lead and rhythm guitar.<\/p>\n<p>They figure they\u2019ve been playing together about nine years and have worked up a repertoire of 200 songs or so, including a growing number of originals, but few people outside the family heard them until 2\u00bd years ago, when they played for the lunch crowd at the Red Lodge Senior Center, where one sister is the manager and another runs the thrift store.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re still playing there a few times a month, regularly drawing crowds of 100 or more people, and last March they also started playing twice at month at the Pub at the Pollard. The first night was a big success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople didn\u2019t know what to expect, but when they finished they got a standing ovation,\u201d said Melissa Moore, sales manager for the Pollard Hotel. The acclaim has not died down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had to tear down a wall they were so popular,\u201d Moore said, and she wasn\u2019t kidding. Six months ago, John and Joe, both of them carpenters, removed a wall to the pool room, which is now used for private parties and additional seating during shows at the pub. Moore said the pub, with seating for 85, is usually fully booked in advance when the High Country Cowboys perform.<\/p>\n<p>Friday night, the Kosel boys demonstrated the hold they have on an audience. Marty deployed his awe-inspiring yodel on a handful of songs, did a fair imitation of an Australian on \u201cTie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport,\u201d then did a hyper-fast rendition of \u201cThe Auctioneer\u2019s Song.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5424\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5424 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-saddle1-1-of-1-336x245.jpg\" alt=\"Saddle\" width=\"336\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-saddle1-1-of-1-336x245.jpg 336w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-saddle1-1-of-1.jpg 771w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Marty&#8217;s handmade saddles is displayed in front of the stage at the Pub at the Pollard.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>John, when he sang lead vocals, displayed a clear, plaintive style reminiscent of Hank Williams. Joe, like Marty, impressed with his tremolo and his broad range. At one point, when Joe was singing Marty Robbins\u2019 \u201cBig Iron,\u201d he suddenly forgot the words.<\/p>\n<p>The boys kept strumming as they silently conferred and then, without missing a beat, Joe picked up where he left off. The packed pub erupted into cheers and applause. That\u2019s how good the High Country Cowboys are: their fans even applaud their mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>But when the boys sang their three-part harmonies, the crowd really responded. You could look around the room and see ear-to-ear grins, people laughing with delight, couples exchanging looks of wonderment.<\/p>\n<p>Six of the boys\u2019 sisters were there Friday, along with their parents, Andy and Margaret. Their mother said they don\u2019t take in every show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe come out every month or so,\u201d she said. \u201cWe hear them at home all the time. They have to sing for their Sunday breakfast.\u201d As for their skills, she said, \u201cit\u2019s a natural, God-given talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But even God-given talents must be honed. Margaret acknowledged it was something of a trial when four or five of her sons were all trying to learn how to yodel at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was painful to hear them learn it,\u201d she said, \u201cWe told them, if you\u2019re gonna yodel, you go outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Kosels moved from Washington state to the Red Lodge area 35 years ago. Andy was a Chevrolet mechanic in town for many years and these days he does chainsaw carvings. The children all attended public school until 17 or 18 years ago, when Andy and Margaret decided to home-school them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5425\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-5425 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Paintings-1-of-11.jpg\" alt=\"Hi-Country-Paintings (1 of 1)\" width=\"771\" height=\"461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Paintings-1-of-11.jpg 771w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Hi-Country-Paintings-1-of-11-336x201.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A couple of John&#8217;s oil paintings hang behind the stage where the High Country Cowboys play.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Margaret said they are strong Catholics, and they eventually couldn\u2019t tolerate what the public schools were offering, morally or educationally. In addition to regular subjects, the children were always working on crafts of one kind or another in a big shop attached to their house.<\/p>\n<p>The brothers like to brag that their sister, Joan\u2014they\u2019re pretty sure she\u2019s 31; they couldn\u2019t quite agree on that\u2014is the most talented member of the clan. She is an accomplished woodcarver, \u201cwhat they call an award-winning artist,\u201d in John\u2019s words.<\/p>\n<p>John, Joe and Marty all talk about their craftsmanship they way they speak of their music, saying they just picked it up, learning by doing, trial and error.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were just born into it, you might say,\u201d John said.<\/p>\n<p>Joe\u00a0has sold 11 or 12 guitars for $1,500 to $2,000 each, John regularly sells his oil paintings and Marty makes a living off his saddle-making. John and Joe supplement their incomes doing carpentry. At the moment they\u2019re engaged in building a big addition on the senior center, which will house a much larger thrift store.<\/p>\n<p>They also record their own music at their home studio, having produced four CDs so far, and they\u2019ve got two videos, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ylBQx4kUnf0#t=11\">one filmed at the Pub at the Pollard<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JJ9muKAoRaA\">other<\/a> features an original song of theirs.<\/p>\n<p>There are still eight children at home. John said \u201ceverybody gets along good,\u201d and they are also inclined to stay home because their mother has Lyme disease and uses a wheelchair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt works out, everybody living at home,\u201d John said, \u201cbecause we can take turns taking her where she needs to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re willing to play music outside of Red Lodge, as long as it\u2019s close to home. They\u2019ve performed at a few private parties in Billings and at a few events, including the Cowboy &amp; Cowgirl Reunion, sponsored last weekend by the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame in Billings.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re booked to play the Joliet Community Center on March 14, and their next show at the Pub at the Pollard is set for Feb. 14, Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p>The music, as their fans in Red Lodge would agree, seems destined to take the boys wherever they want to go, despite their reluctance to stray far from home. For now, they\u2019re just enjoying how much people in Red Lodge enjoy their music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m pleased that they appreciate what the boys can do,\u201d their mother said. \u201cAnd the more they appreciate it, the more the boys can do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RED LODGE\u2014A little before the High Country Cowboys took to the stage Friday night at the Pollard Hotel, lead singer Marty Kosel was talking about the kind of show they put on. \u201cIt\u2019s like sing a song and sing another song,\u201d he said. \u201cNot a lot in between.\u201d Sure enough, in the course of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[42,2031,2037,2036,2038,2034,386,2035,2033,2032],"class_list":["post-5408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-montana","tag-hank-williams","tag-high-country-cowboys","tag-joe-kosel","tag-john-kosel","tag-marty-kosel","tag-marty-robbins","tag-red-lodge","tag-roy-rogers","tag-sons-of-the-pioneers","tag-the-pub-at-the-pollard-hotel","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}