Bluegrass for the Round-Up

Published 3:00 am Wednesday, September 6, 2023

The EOCenes, who usually play in Pendleton during the Round-Up in September, are giving a special concert on Wednesday, April 5 at Pendleton Center for the Arts.

PENDLETON — One of the rituals of Round-Up Week is catching bluegrass music at Pendleton Center for the Arts, and The EOCenes take the stage Thursday, Sept. 14, at the center, 214 N. Main St.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available at pendletonarts.org or by calling 541-278-9201. Early ticket purchases are recommended.

The performance is supported by the family of Nyla Macomber, and the event is being presented in her memory.

About the band

EOCenes mandolin player Ron Emmons will be joined by classmates Hugh McClellan, Duane Boyer and Hal Spence. Emmons and Boyer met during freshmen orientation week at Eastern Oregon College and connected with Spence and McClellan through their involvement in the Eastern Oregon College Ambassadors, a musical touring group that performed high school assemblies all over the Northwest. Each man went on to have success over the next five decades on the national bluegrass scene, performing with a wide range of groups and ensembles.

Bluegrass musicians tend to mix and match themselves into different arrangements for different performances. The name EOCenes is a play on the college’s monogram, EOC (which later became EOU) and the Eocene epoch, a period on the geological time scale that occurred 55-34 million years ago.

Emmons lives in Hermiston and has played mandolin and sung lead tenor and baritone with the Blue Mountain Crested Wheatgrass Boys, the Muddy Bottom Boys, Blue Heat and The Thatchmasters, as well as Cabbage Hill.

Boyer now lives in Haines and plays banjo and guitar, and sings lead, tenor and baritone. He taught banjo and guitar at EOU and played a major role in bringing national bluegrass acts to that part of the state.

McClellan, of Oregon City, plays rhythm guitar and harmonica, and is known for his low bass voice. He’s also fronted a country-swing band and sang in a gospel quartet.

Spence lives in Dallas, Oregon. He played guitar and sang tenor for 27 years with The Sawtooth Mountain Boys, one of the nation’s best-known bluegrass bands, whose travels included three tours of Europe.

Doug Jenkins first played with the other members at festivals and fiddle contests in the late 1960s. He went on to win many titles with his fiddle, earning the nickname “Lightning.”

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