(Shoshoni, WY) – The Hot Notes Cool Nites concert series came to Shoshoni for the first time of the year on Monday night. The bands were scheduled to play outside in the town square, but the wind forced the concert into the senior center as the Riverton Community Band couldn’t hold practice beforehand without their music blowing off their stands.
The Community Band played a medley of Beatles classics, including “Hey Jude” and “Get Back.” They transitioned into a medley of Beach Boys songs in honor of late Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson, which started with “I Get Around,” continued to shuffle through other hits, and later came back to the chorus of “I Get Around.” They finished with a rendition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way.”
The South Pass Jass band, a seven-piece band made up of a piano, bass, banjo, trumpet, clarinet, trombone, and drums, played a selection of old-time jazz songs by Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, and original songs by their trumpet player, Keegan Thacker.
Thacker talked about how he was inspired by the beautiful spring landscape around Shoshoni during COVID. “People were saying the world seemed like it was ending, but during the springtime with the beautiful Yellow-eyed Susans blooming, it felt like we were just getting a new beginning.”
Hot Notes Cool Nites will continue on into late July with a show in Riverton on the 21st featuring Lights Along The Shore, and in Lander on the 28th featuring Davis and Mavrik.