Winter sucks out loud, so much so, that it even delayed the beginning of this month’s edition of the Windy City Opry, Wednesday, Feb. 14, which starts at 8 p.m. on the dot usually at the Slice.
I usually never make it to the beginning of the show, due to other 
commitments, and I wasn’t about to drive the coulee to the west side for my usual radio show, so I caught Shaela Miller’s opening set of a few songs I hadn‘t heard before.
I caught the soundcheck of the Rugged Little Thing, a wonderful folk and bluegrass duo from Saskatoon, who plucked banjo and sang beautiful harmonies, but couldn’t stay for their actual set.
I caught Fernie’s Doggone Brothers who braved the blizzard to play for about 20 people though a few more eventually trickled in.
They played a range of music classic country and roots music as well as a few originals, ““Fishing With you” was a highlight as was an excellent cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “16 Tons.”
They also played a Neil Youngish version of Tom Petty’s “Face In the Crowd” and cracked banjo jokes before delving into a little bit of bluegrass.
