A real rock star

• Starfire

The popular area oldies band Starfire plays a wide selection of songs from the 1950s and ’60s. Pictured are (from left) lead vocalist Eldon Larson, drummer Steve Webb, bass guitarist Lloyd Bottin, lead guitarist Dewey Leopold and rhythm guitar player Ed Busch.

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LAKEFIELD — A lifetime of playing the guitar and performing with numerous area bands has earned Lakefield’s Duane “Dewey” Leopold an honor which the self-made musician deeply cherishes.

On Labor Day weekend — Sept. 2 to be exact — Leopold will be inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Music Association (IRRMA) Hall of Fame as a recipient of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award.

“It’s like a dream come true,” summed up Leopold about learning of his selection. “It’s really special to be recognized for working so hard at something which I love to do and have tried to become good at.”

The unique honor comes after 56 years of playing the guitar, including more than four decades as a lead guitarist for either a country western, country rock or oldies rock and roll band.

A native of rural Heron Lake —LaCrosse Township — Leopold became fascinated with the guitar at a young age, beginning to take lessons when he was 13.

“My first experience with a guitar was actually three years earlier when my older brother, Denny, traded a car radio for an acoustic guitar,” Leopold remembered. “After fooling around with that, my parents bought me an electric guitar and I started lessons.”

The lessons didn’t last long, however, but Dewey kept practicing by himself.

“I thought that learning by reading notes was too slow,” he said. “So, I spent hours listening to 45 records at 33 1/3 speed, which slowed the song down, allowing me to hear the notes and chords better. Then, I just practiced and practiced.”

Not deterred by uncle L.T.’s assessment of his attempts at learning the guitar, Leopold continued to make progress.

“L.T. was a dairy farmer and I worked for him for several years,” recalled Dewey. “I’ll never forget one night when helping with milking, he told me ‘if you ever learn to play one song on that guitar, I’ll crawl down Main Street of Heron Lake on my hands and knees.’”

While the elder Leopold never did follow through with that, the nephew did indeed learn to a play a song — hundreds of them.

Currently playing with Starfire, a five-member band which plays only songs from 1954-1969, Leopold —who will be 69 on May 17 — is having more fun than ever.

“I’ve played with a lot of bands, but this is the best time yet,” he exclaimed. “We stick to the ’50s and ’60s era and it’s just more exciting. The guitar chords — minor and major — are more in-depth and challenging.”

Starfire’s song list is

extensive, pure “oldies”

Starfire, which has been playing for a little more than a decade, entertained Sunday at the Grand Falls Casino near Larchwood, Iowa.

Amazingly, the band performed 65 songs in exactly three hours of actual playing time.

“That’s what we do,” explained rhythm guitar player and backup vocalist Ed Busch from Brewster. “We’re not really a show band. We’re a dance band, and we play a lot of songs.”

The oldest song Starfire sang Sunday was “Only You,” a 1955 hit by The Platters, while the newest tune was “This Magic Moment,” performed by Jay & The Americans in 1969.

“Oh, we know well more than 100 songs, probably close to 200,” said lead singer Eldon Larson, a 1962 Westbrook High School graduate, who has lived in the Fulda area for the past three decades.

“Remembering all the lyrics isn’t so hard, it’s easier for me than remembering people’s names.” he joked Sunday after having sang the lead vocals on all but 10 tunes.

“It’s work, but it’s fun, especially when you look out and see people singing along,” said Larson, an archery fanatic, who is an active member of both the Beaver Creek Archers at Slayton and the Southwest Bowbenders in Worthington.

“We do a lot of songs which other bands don’t do. I know the pure ‘oldies’ lovers really appreciate that.”

Joining Larson, Leopold and Busch are long-time drummer Steve Webb and base guitar player Lloyd Bottin.

Steve Webb has been a drummer for 48 years, Ed Busch sings harmony

Webb, Fulda High School Class of 1968, returned to his home town 10 years ago after spending a couple of decades in Oklahoma.

He has played drums since 1964 after first being influenced by his dad, who was a drummer with the dance band Tommy Webb and The Tom-Cats.

The Continental Co-ets, an all-girl band from Fulda — inducted into IRRMA in 2002 — were also an inspiration for Webb, who later drummed for The Banditos, The Drifters (’73-78) and Solid Oak (’78-’81) in southwestern Minnesota before moving south.

Webb played with at least four different bands during his 20 years in Oklahoma, including a 10-member group called Bagus and with Contagious, a band that opened for country music star Vince Gill.

“I have been playing drums for 48 years and I still love it,” declared Webb, who also sings backup vocals for Starfire. “I’ll go until I drop.”

Webb is really happy for Leopold and his Hall of Fame induction.

“Dewey’s earned IRRMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s been playing a long time and works hard at learning new songs and playing them the way they originally sounded.”

Busch, who is the Nobles County highway maintenance superintendent and the youngest member of the band — he’ll be 61 June 3, agrees with Webb.

“What’s really neat about Dewey is his desire to make the songs sound as much like the original as possible. We try to do to them in the same key, with the same runs and chord changes. He is very good on lead guitar.”

A high school sprinter for the Bulldogs (Brewster, Class of 1969), Busch began playing with a band in Staples while attending vocational school there in the fall of ’69.

He played with several different area bands, including Justus, The Misfits and Sound Advice.

Busch sings the lead on “No Particular Place To Go” (Chuck Berry) and “Little Sister” (Elvis Presley), while teaming with Bottin on “I’ve Had It” (Bell Notes) and “Baby Talk” (Jan and Dean).

“Ed’s such a good backup vocalist,” praises Larson about his colleague. “He does a great job singing harmony and, along with Lloyd and Steve, gives a lot of our songs a real good sound.”

While Leopold doesn’t do any singing for Starfire, his lead guitar is at the forefront of most songs, including several instrumentals —such as “Pipeline” (Chantays, 1960) and “Telstar” (Tornadoes, 1963).

“I’ve known Dewey for years,” summed up Larson about Leopold. “I thought he was a good guitar player when he played with country bands, but he’s even better now that he is playing with a rock and roll band. I think it just feels right for him.

“I sure appreciate Dewey and all that he has done for Starfire. He plays so many songs so well. Dewey deserves recognition by the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I know that he is thrilled by the honor.”

Lloyd Bottin joins band

in the summer of 2010

The band’s most recent addition is the multi-talented Bottin, who joined Starfire in July of 2010 as a bass guitar player and backup vocalist.

Bottin grew up near Mountain Lake (Class of 1963) and learned to play the guitar in 1965 while stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Missouri.

“I had two buddies who were in bands and sometimes we would play for 10-12 hours straight on our off-duty days,” he remembered. “Our fingers would often be bleeding when we quit.”

For several years, Lloyd played either six-string lead or rhythm guitar with the Mavericks — a two-man duet — at various clubs at or near Air Force bases.

“In 1970, we added a real lead guitar player and expanded to a quartet, so I switched to bass and have been playing four strings ever since,” said Bottin, whose group played on the “Mississippi Hayride” television show, while he was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi.

After finishing his eight-year stint in the Air Force, Bottin moved to Lakefield in 1973 and within five days joined Pete Byam (from Windom) and the Sidekicks, as a bass player.

A year later, Lloyd played with Leopold in a primarily country band called Orange Blossom Special. A few years after that, Bottin founded the band Silver Blue, which included his wife, Linda, as a lead vocalist.

“She has a great voice,” praised Lloyd. “Linda sang Patsy Cline and Linda Ronstadt songs especially well.”

Along with lead guitarist Bill Terry and drummer Alan Salzwedel, Silver Blue stayed active through 1993 when they decided they were “too old” to keep playing.

Then in 2010, Bottin came out of musical retirement and began playing bass for Starfire.

“I will always be grateful to Dewey and the rest of the Starfire guys for giving me the opportunity to play again,” he exclaimed. “This has really been enjoyable, I am amazed at how many people love the old rock ‘n music.”

Bottin, who has the ability to sing both high and low, does the lead vocals on several Starfire tunes, including Jack Scott’s “What In The World’s Come Over You,” Johnny Rivers’ “Poor Side of Town” and Roy Orbison’s “Only The Lonely.”

“Lloyd’s really been good for the band,” praised Larson. “He’s terrific at singing the ballads and slower songs.”

Bottin is happy about Leopold’s upcoming induction.

“I am really pleased that Dewey’s guitar-playing ability and his dedication to music are formally being recognized,” he said.. “I had fun playing country music with him in Orange Blossom Special back in the ‘70s. But, I enjoy playing the ‘oldies’ with Starfire even more.”

Larson played with

Posse, Four of a Kind

A Seven-Star Conference champion in the 440-yard dash as a senior in ’62, Larson was surrounded by rock’n and roll music when he was a young man.

The ever-popular Vultures — Roger Sondergaard, John Pederson, Wally Bloch and Jim Pederson — were all from Larson’s home town of Westbrook.

“We would be in town at the drive-in and hear the Vultures practicing out at Bloch’s farm about a mile away,” he remembered. “Many times, a bunch of us would drive on out there and listen to them play.”

But it would be many years before Larson would seriously sing many of the same tunes that the Vultures were playing nearly five decades ago.

He began playing with The Posse, a three-piece country western band in the winter of 1969.

Expanding from three members to five, The Posse began playing more and more ‘50s rock ’n roll — and the crowds loved it.

“That was fun, when the crowd got into the oldies and really started dancing,” he recalled.

Larson later formed a band called Four of a Kind, which featured three guys, along with a girl singer.

“We really weren’t ‘four of a kind,’ but we had a fun time and did a mix of country and old rock’n and roll.”

After taking a few years off, Larson played with Darvin Johnson in Ruff-cut during the middle 1990s, a band that also mixed in some oldies with a blend of country music.

“I suppose it was about 1998 when we (Ruff-cut) quit playing,” recalled Larson. “Then a few years later, I ran into Dewey at a gun show and we talked about starting up a band and just playing old rock ’n roll.

“Darvin played bass, Dewey was on lead guitar, Ron Getting was our drummer, and I did most of the singing,” said Larson about the early days of Starfire in 2002.

A bit later, Webb moved back to Fulda and became Starfire’s drummer and Busch joined the band, making the group a quintet.

“We have had a great time over the years and have picked up a nice following, including folks who come all the way from the Mankato area, and as far away as Storm Lake, Iowa to hear us play.”

With upcoming gigs at the Lakefield VFW, Key Largo, The Roof Garden and Wilmont VFW, along with several trips back to Larchwood, Starfire is again facing a busy summer schedule.

“It gets hectic, but it’s still fun,” summed up Larson, who said the band will be recording a new CD in Sioux Falls during June.

Getting to meet and know rock stars — one of Leopold’s highlights

After years and years of practicing (including while completing a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy) Leopold was asked — in 1967 — to play lead guitar for The Sundowners, a local country band, which later changed their name to The Siestas.

Becoming one of the area’s most popular bands, The Siestas cut a pair of records at the IGL Studio in Milford, Iowa and also opened for the Minnie Pearl and Kitty Wells Show at Jackson’s Appreciation Days — at the fairgrounds grandstand — in the summer of 1969.

Through the years, Dewey played with other bands, including Orange Blossom Special, Northern Lights, and The Rock and Roll Review.

In 1998, Leopold was playing with an 11-member group known as the Blackstead Brothers and the Royal Flush Band.

“We opened for Bobby Vee in New Ulm that year,” remembered Leopold, who has been able to meet many stars from the rock ’n roll era. “Meeting Bobby Vee and getting to know him very well was such a thrill.

“I have always been intrigued by big stars who have made their living through music. To have those chances to meet lots of them is something that I owe to my staying involved with bands and playing the guitar.”

Among those being inducted to IRRMA in September is Tommy Roe, who recorded numerous hit songs during the 1960s, including a 1962 classic “Sheila” — one of the many songs that Starfire performs.

Pipestone’s Mylan Ray, a long-time disc jockey for KISD Radio, is also being inducted into IRRMA this year in the disc jockey category.

“It’s been a rewarding career, playing guitar with so many bands and great people over all the years,” concluded Leopold. “To be recognized for doing well at what I’ve always loved doing is really special. I’ve been blessed.”

Tags: lifestyle, people, music