Little Spokane River goes with the flow
The Little Spokane River, consisting of Rusty Jackson and Cassandra Wheeler on guitar and vocals and Harry Batty on bass, is keeping a tradition of classic country music alive while infusing it with some surprising twists.
The three musicians, each with very distinct musical backgrounds, came together recently through a series of fortunate events that has created a unique take on old-school country and Western.
Jackson was raised on country music in a tight-knit community of Okies and Arkies in southern California. At one point as a teen, Jackson says he flirted with the Beatles and rock ‘n roll but "Sgt. Pepper" was just a little too weird for him, so he came back to country. His father was elated and started teaching him songs by truly old-school musicians like the Carter Family.
Jackson joined his first band at the age of 19, singing and playing guitar with a bunch of country musicians all decades older than him. He then fell in love and got married. Both Jackson and his new wife felt that the honkytonk scene in L.A. was a little rough — speculating that one can only sing so many songs about drinking and cheating before he starts trying it himself! The next 25 years found Jackson singing and playing exclusively in church and working day jobs in finance.
Jackson moved to the Inland Northwest and slowly eased back into country music in 2010, playing his first full country gig in Newport, Wash., in 2013. Since then, he has played with various combinations of musicians from North Idaho and Spokane as well as hosted tribute concerts to Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and others. His bandmates describe him as an encyclopedia of classic country music, knowing hundreds of songs by the greatest country musicians. Jackson is also a writer — a local fan favorite is "Livin’ In Idaho," which hilariously contrasts North Idaho and Spokane.
Batty grew up in Spokane and studied at Washington State University and the University of Washington, leading to a career teaching literature and drama at colleges in North Dakota, Wyoming and Maine. He played folk music in high school then picked up an electric guitar in college and played in rock bands for several decades. He spent a summer with Coeur d’Alene’s Carousel Players in the late '70s — the predecessor to today’s Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre — acting and playing 12-string guitar and banjo. In North Dakota, he found bands were in great demand in Canada for family venues that wanted to hear a mix of polkas, the hokey-pokey and rock and roll. His strangest combo was a trio — piano, banjo and tuba — that had a regular sing-along gig at a Shakey’s Pizza. He came back to Spokane in 2015 upon retiring and found that guitar players were everywhere, but bands needed bass players so he switched over. He met Jackson at an open mic in Spokane one night. Both of them were recently without bands, so they formed the Spokane River Band.
Wheeler had never seen herself as a performer. She had played guitar and sang with her kids for years without ever considering doing it in public. In 2016, a relative took a video of her singing at a family Christmas party and posted it online. It was seen by a coffee shop owner in Deer Park who asked her if she would come do two hours of live music. Wheeler decided to give it a shot and filled the two hours with every song she knew at the time. A great response from a crowd of locals and friends and more money in her tip jar than she was expecting convinced her to try the open mic scene. She met Batty at an open mic in Spokane and the two began playing together, eventually landing a regular gig at Prospector’s Bar and Grill. Prosector’s asked Wheeler to book opening acts and she ended up booking Jackson. Wheeler, Batty and Jackson have been together both as a trio and as part of the larger Spokane River Band for the last year.
Jackson claims the Little Spokane River is “all about Rusty,” but admits that the synergy between different musicians is what really makes them special. Wheeler says that one of her favorite songs with the band is a cover of Michael Jackson’s "Billie Jean," which she describes as a true country-Western song, asking what could be more "country" than a song about baby daddy drama. In a recent set, Wheeler sounded right at home moving from Dolly Parton’s "Jolene" to "Billie Jean" and it all fit well with Jackson’s classic Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash songs. Asked to describe their style of music, Jackson simply says that the Little Spokane River is “goin’ with the flow.”
The Little Spokane River can be heard at the following venues:
Saturday — Airway Heights Festival
Thursday and Sept. 3 — Pig Out in the Park, Spokane
Sept. 9 — Honey Eatery, Coeur d'Alene
Sept. 22 and 29 — Relic Smokehouse, Coeur d'Alene
Sept. 30 — Athol Farmer’s Market
Nov. 4 — The Snake Pit, Kingston
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Tom Richards is a music lover, the lead singer in local blues band Dr. Phil & the Enablers and the owner of The Snake Pit.
