Sept. 4 | Commons Beach | Tahoe City
Sept. 9-10 | Carson Valley Inn Casino | Minden, Nev.
Sept. 17 | Somersett Music on the Green | Reno, Nev.
Sept. 22 | Street Vibrations | Reno, Nev.
For 32 years, The Blues Monsters have brought world-class blues, funk and soul to the Tahoe Sierra and beyond. Led by local legend Chuckie Dunn, this seven-piece powerhouse returns with special guests to the season’s final night of Concerts at Commons Beach in Tahoe City on Sept. 4. The performance will be followed by a drone show; details are in this edition.
“It’s going to be a party,” says the singer and guitarist Dunn. “We’re gonna make it a big-ass, old blowout for the last day of summer and have a lot of fun.”
Dunn was born in Sacramento in 1951 when the nickname “Cowtown” was still apropos. He grew up the oldest of 10 siblings, listening to cowboy crooners such as Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. His mother was a country-western singer who instructed her children how to harmonize in the style of a barbershop quartet.
“If you’re ever around our band, you’re gonna hear a lot of joking and a lot of laughing. We all get along. We’re on the same page musically. Everyone is just loving life and happy we have what we have.”
–Chuckie Dunn
“She taught me how to yodel when I was 5 years old,” says Dunn. “It’s corny now, but back then it was really something. We were like the original Partridge Family.”
For his first performance at age 6, Dunn sang “Chime Bells” by Elton Britt at the elementary school talent show. He dressed like a cowboy, “Two Gun Dunn,” with Mattel Fanner 50 toy guns on each hip. By age 16, Dunn had picked up his late mother’s acoustic guitar and joined a rock band, The Fifth Row, as their lead singer.
“I’ve been doing it ever since,” he says. “I’ve been really fortunate to play with good musicians and not just good musicians, but good people.”
In 1977, Dunn was living on the North Shore where he started his company, Drywall Magic, which he ran for 38 years.
“It was sheetrock by day, hard rock by night,” he says. “If you gotta be a slave, then be a slave somewhere beautiful.”
The Blues Monsters were born in 1980 when singer and harmonica player Larry Yates booked a summer slate of gigs at Northstar. In need of a backup band, he recruited Dunn on rhythm guitar, Tom Barnes on bass, Barry Slayton on leader guitar and Michael Overhauser on drums. Longtime keyboardist Terry Ogg died in 2020.
At the time, they were known as Larry Yates and The Blues Monsters. When Yates relocated to Los Angeles, he tried to bring the band with him, but they declined. The decision to remain in Tahoe proved instrumental to the group’s staying power.
“We didn’t want to go to L.A., man,” says Dunn. “We love this area. He had these visions of grandeur, being a rock star. We don’t want to be rocks stars, we just want to enjoy our lives and play music.”
When local funk band Groove Foundry broke up, The Blues Monsters added a horn section known as the Groove Monsters featuring Jen Campbell on trumpet, Todd Mather on saxophone and Brian Nakagawa on trombone.
“If you’re ever around our band, you’re gonna hear a lot of joking and a lot of laughing,” says Dunn. “We all get along. We’re on the same page musically. Everyone is just loving life and happy we have what we have.”
Dunn is now retired and gigging more than ever. He performs regularly at local restaurants such as Bar of America and Cottonwood Restaurant in Truckee and River Grill & Bar in Tahoe City with Johnnie Bias in the acoustic duo, Bias & Dunn. Often, he joins “Cowboy” Steve Dick at Gar Woods Grill & Pier in Carnelian Bay. He also hosts the “Choose Blues Hour” radio show on Truckee Tahoe Radio (KTKE 101.5 FM) every Tuesday at 11 a.m. with replay at 7 p.m.
“It’s a good way to go out,” says the 70-year-old. “People say, ‘Look at Mick Jagger, look at Paul McCartney and Willie Nelson.’ Well, they’re not Chuckie Dunn. For me, I kind of feel like I’m in the fourth quarter or the ninth inning. It’s gonna come to an end at some point, so I want to enjoy it to fullest extent at this point in my life.” | concertsatcommonsbeach.com
