She was a miniature mother to her siblings and did a lot of chores around her family’s farm, from milking the cows to building the fires on which they would cook. In the army, he learned about building roads and rail lines.įern Hanson was born in 1907 to Danish immigrants in Bear River City, Utah, growing up the oldest of nine children living in a two-room log cabin heated by a cast-iron wood-burning stove. In 1917, Jack was drafted into the army to fight in Europe after the United States’ entry into World War I. Coal mining, not surprisingly, was a dangerous profession – the work included digging tunnels and laying track for mine cars, among other tasks. While still a young man, Jack caught a train to Wyoming to work in the coal mines there. It was a difficult time for Morrison’s family.

His mother died when he was only 8 years old. It’s really an incredible thing.The Thunderbird’s founders were Jack and Fern Morrison. “Sometimes when I’m playing live,” he said, “I stop and just listen to the band. I’ve never been part of something that transforms stuff I’ve written in that way,” he said.Īt the show, audience members should check to see if Elkington plays the entire time, because he said sometimes he gets too wrapped up in the music around him to continue. It’s like the band has a real sense of identity.

“Janet and I write these songs, and by the time the band is finished with them, it transforms into something very different.

The other band members “are quite expressive, and the music is very fluid,” he added. “Some songs are pretty traditional, and we’re all acoustic, but everything we do sort of gets warped by this jazz filter.” “I am appalling at describing my own music - anything I’m involved in, I’m just awful,” he said. Though he can play a mean acoustic guitar, don’t ask Elkington to concisely describe the band’s musical style. In between bouts of solo projects and collaborating with The Horse’s Ha vocalist Janet Beveridge Bean, they assembled a number of other musicians and formed the group as it is known today. I made friends here and started coming quite a bit, and I finally decided to stay.” “When I came, I felt immediately attracted to it - unlike anywhere I’ve ever been. “I have always been a big fan of Chicago music since I was in my late teens, and I was really curious to visit,” he said. Though Elkington has been to Pittsburgh to perform with musician Edith Frost at the Andy Warhol Museum in the North Side, he said he has not gotten the chance to explore, and that because of a next-day engagement in Arlington, Va., the band will have little time to experience the city.Įlkington said he has low expectations for the concert, but is just happy to be performing with a group of musicians for whom he cares a great deal. I’m sure the next time we talk I will have some stories for you.” “When you are in strange towns, eating strange foods, that’s when things start getting weird. I mean, we’ve played quite a few shows, but this is the first time we’ve actually left town to do a string of performances,” he said.

The band is based in Chicago, and Elkington said, it has not had enough exposure outside the Windy City to accumulate any wealth of humorous touring stories. Pittsburgh lovers of music that is “sort of folk, but not really,” according to Elkington, can decide for themselves when The Horse’s Ha makes its premier stop in Pittsburgh next Monday at The Thunderbird Cafe, the first show on its first-ever tour.

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