I neglected to blog our Thusday evening visit to Rosita’s and then the Little Red Hen in the seventies of Woodlawn, hard by Greenlake.

We had a couple of margaritas at Rosita’s along with dinner, and judging by the scope and scale of my hangover, they were much stronger than I thought they were at the time I consumed them.

The reason for venturing out of Capitol Hill into the uncharted Teva-and-Bjirkenstock reaches of furthest Greenlake, within eyeshot of the former Honey Bear, was dear former bandmate Barry Semple, formerly of the Bare Knuckle Boxers, The Hammerdowns, and occasionally also of Faith and Disease.

Barry is a precise, disciplined drummer who is also reliable as the sunrise, and this makes him an in-demand commodity in the Seattle music community. He’s been playing with the Souvenirs for some time as well, and that country gig landed him the one that saw him on the stage of the Little Red Hen with The Swains. Although the band mentioned their website onstage, I couldn’t raise it via Google; here are some tracks from a show on KEXP, without Barry, alas.

It was great to see Bear, and to hear this band; they play straight up honky-tonk country. In fact, the other big news of the night to me was the bar: it’s a straight-up honky tonk itself, apparently airdropped into the wilder reaches of our fair and Nader-lovin’ city from Concrete, or maybe Amarillo, circa 1972.

For me, this is great news. While it’s odd that I really enjoy seeing music in clubs where I’m likely to actually bump into the same rednecks that beat the crap out of me in high school, I vastly prefer the hipster-free vibe of a place like the Little Red Hen to the cooler-than-thou, let’s all stand around and frown scene that can develop at venues like the impeccably pedigreed Tractor Tavern.

Not to knock the Tractor – it’s a great place to play, and a great place to see a show. But it’s great to know about a joint that offers country music in its’ native environment, giant hats, dancing, torn red vinyl upholstery, and all.

No Lone Star, though, sorry to say.