Country Band Spur 9 to Perform at Dexter Daze

The Dexter country music band Spur 9 will perform a free concert from 3:30-5 p.m. Friday at Monument Park as part of the Dexter Daze festival. The band will play a wide variety of country music sprinked with classic rock, blues and rockabilly.

“We’re really looking forward to playing music for the hometown folks,” bass guitarist Rick Lee said. “We take great pride in our community and the people that comprise it.”

Band members range in age from the early 20s to 50s, and their music represents their broad range of experience, Lee said.

“The music in our set will touch on great country songs from every decade, from the 1950s through 2011. People can look forward to hearing a variety of songs ranging from Hank Snow to Johnny Cash and from Hank Williams Jr. to the Zach Brown Band.”

Lee, who started performing in bands as a teenager, played original rock and metal throughout Washtenaw County for 15 years and was a studio musician at Studio 814 in Inkster in the early 1990s. That's where he did tracking for local artists and tracking bass for radio and TV commercials.

His bands have been on the same bill as Bruce Dickensen, Accept, Arcade, Quiet Riot, Motorhead, Lifehouse, Nazareth and others and have also appeared in radio shows and on PBS. He did stints in classic rock, modern rock and pop rock with The Cohort Band, Billy Mack and Sugar Trampoline from the late 1990s through 2007.

Dan Chisolm (drummer/vocalist) began playing at the age of 9, and at 15, he joined a rock and blues band that played at weddings and parties. Later, as a member of the West Texas Wind Band, Chisolm shared stages with David Allen Coe, John Barry, Martin Del Ray, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. In 2010, Chisolm met Lee and teamed up to form Spur 9.

New York native Mark Hoffman (lead vocals) was introduced to Motown, oldies and classic rock in college, where he also joined an a cappella group, The Dutch Pipers. After relocating to Michigan, he became a popular performer at local karaoke bars, where he caught
the attention of Spur 9 members.

Josh Koch (lead guitar) is schooled in many styles of guitar playing and was influenced by his late grandfather, a country music performer. Koch also performs rock and pop with Something Strange, a band in the Ann Arbor area.

Ann Arbor native Kevin Winters (rhythm guitar and vocals) has been performing for more than 30 years, most recently with Billy Mack and The 4Fi Band. Last year, he was on the bill with Eddie Money.

“We love the small-town feel and country atmosphere in Dexter,” Lee said. “We play many gigs away from Dexter but look forward to getting more opportunities to play here at home.

“We’ve done benefits for local wounded vets, the latest being at the Dexter Pub for David Ray Lack, who was wounded by an attack in Afghanistan in November. We played the Dexter Legion in the spring, and we’ve recently been approached by the ‘Jam For Vets’ project,” Lee said.

For more information or to view a schedule of events at Dexter Daze, visit the festival's website.