Jennifer Markey and Her Buckboard Boys

My mother says I was a genius baby. At two years old, at about five in the morning, before my parents would get up, I'd pick out a 45 record from my vast collection and throw it on the Fisher-Price turntable (labeled RECORD PLAYER by my mother in giant Sharpie letters), fire that baby up and get on my squeaky hobby horse. I'd do that for about two hours until I got lonely (or hungry)and wanted my Mom, at which time I would crawl into her bed and wake her up.

Some of my first memories are of singing with my mom, but it was when my friend and roommate at the time, Kris, suggested I sing karaoke at Waldo's, a biker bar in the Camden neighborhood in North Minneapolis, that I caught the bug. That night I sang "Me and Bobby McGee", Janis-style, for a bunch of Hell's Angels. They freaked out! I couldn't believe THAT came out of ME! I sang karaoke anywhere I could.

I settled down and got married in 2001 and laid it to rest. My husband and I rarely went out, but in January 2003 I discovered the Country Jam at the Hexagon Bar in South Minneapolis and was talked into singng "Walkin' After Midnight". I was there every week for several months-I drove there in a snowstorm to sing one week. Finally, Dan Gaarder got fed up with me not knowing what keys my songs were in; he asked me if I owned a guitar. I did but I hadn't played it in years. He encouraged me to pick it up again. I started learning how to play and sing simultaneously!

I divorced my husband that spring, and met Jon (see Jennifer's friends). We started going to all the Mayslack's open stage Mondays, performing and meeting many well-respected local musicians. It was there that I met Rich Mattson, Sherwin Linton and Wain McFarlane, people I still am proud to associate myself with to this day.

While performing at the Hexagon, I met Richard Gunderson, bass player for the Dieselfitters, who were just getting a jam started at the Eagles' club in South Mineapolis. I started showing up to that, too, working on my stage presence, guitar playing and vocal skills. About a year later, Richard asked me to join the band.

I began writing songs in late 2005, with the help of Mr. Dan Gaarder. His assistance with chord structuring and lyric-writing gave me just the push I needed to begin writing songs on my own; then I asked him to be my guitar player. My friend Kevin's band, the Twin City Playboys, had this great upright bass player named Eric Paulson, who Kevin said would be thrilled to play with me too. My good friend Bill Quinn was enlisted to play steel guitar and dobros. In the fall of '07, Zach Benson started attending the Acoustic Sunday Jam, and wowed us all with his washboard skills. After hearing Eric say "I just love playin' with that guy!" enough times, we asked Zach to add some percussion. He played his first show with us in January '08 at the Cedar Cultural Center.

"... this past Saturday night, I ventured into the 331 Club in Minneapolis and encountered Jennifer Markey and her Buckboard Boys, a four-piece roots country band who played original music, covers of Charley Pride and Patsy Cline and an impressive number of countrified covers of the Thompson Twins ("Hold Me Now"), Journey ("Lights") and even Gonzo from The Muppet Movie ("I'm Going to Go Back There Someday"). Lead singer Jennifer Markey's lugubrious voice packs a lot of power and endurance, while the Buckboard Boys enhance her rhythm guitar with plucked-out passing tones, a strong bassline and expressive fiddle fills."

"Jennifer Markey is a wonderful singer/songwriter who along with her Buckboard Boys play original songs and a bevy of tradtional material making the familiar all her own."

"I really enjoy your singing and song selection. You are very dedicated and have a special talent."

"Thanks to my ipod and your music among others, helped me through a bad flight to Vegas. "Old Crow" really mellowed me out. I had screaming children behind me during the flight."

Praise for the Acoustic Sunday Jam at the 331 Club
"I've come to really like the atmosphere you create there (at the Acoustic Sunday Jam), and although I didn't perform I had a great time. Much to my surprise, I ran across an old friend whom I haven't seen in 20 years... Jim is now the third person I have run across at the 331 from my musical past. I think you have a magical situation going on there and it's great to be a part of it. Make no mistake, you have created this, GOOD JOB JEN !!!