7 Day Forecast
Music is more than just a melody to the Brueggen family who all hail from the from Cashton area originally. For band members of the country music band, Leather N' Lace, music is in their souls and harmony pumps through all of their veins. To show their gratitude the band will be hosting a fan appreciation concert on Friday evening.
Steve Brueggen of Westby and his sister, MaryBeth (Brueggen) Smith, of Cashton, have been performing on stage together for the past 50 years. Steve was 10 year's old and MaryBeth was only eight, when they first took to the music stage with their parents, Chuck and Therese Brueggen in the 1960s.
The name of the family band has changed three times through the years as more family members joined and other departed. The original band was called Chuck and the Woodchucks, and featured Chuck playing bass and Therese on the accordion. The band grew in size when the Brueggen siblings joined them on stage and eventually the band became known as, The Woodchucks.
People are also reading…
In the early 1980s, Chuck and Therese retired from the stage leaving their children to carry on the family musical tradition. In the late 1980s, the sibling band including guitarist/fiddler Steve Brueggen; bass guitarist Jean Geier; drummer/banjo player Pat Brueggen; and keyboardist/accordion player MaryBeth Smith, changed its name to Leather 'N Lace, with all family members sharing in vocals. They also added pedal steel guitar player Dan Chroninger of Sparta to the fold.
"He's like our adopted brother and he's always fit the mold," Steve said.
Leather 'N Lace performs country and country rock music, but they also play some bluegrass, 1950s and 1960s tunes, as well as old-time music including foxtrots and waltzes. The band has performed for more weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, festivals, church functions and concerts than they care to count.
The band still performs together when time allows, but time has been limited these days after a sound and stage business brother's Steve and Pat launched 27 years ago has grown tenfold keeping them behind the stage more than on it.
To pay tribute to all the music lovers who have followed the Brueggen family through the decades Leather N' Lace will be hosting a free concert from 6-9 p.m., on Friday, June 16, at the Cashton Community Hall.
On Saturday, June 17, eight live bands will be performing, on two stages throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. (more on the Cashton Live on Main Concert in the Westby Times, June 15 issue and online).