Barley Brown’s celebrates 27 years with music and more
Published 7:00 am Wednesday, June 4, 2025
- Sum People, based in La Grande, plays regionally and they’ll be the final band to play for Barley Brown’s anniversary party on Saturday, June 14. (Marshall Turner/Contributed Photo)
Baker City brewery celebration is June 13-14
BAKER CITY — Barley Brown’s Brewpub turns 27 this year and celebrates the milestone with a weekend of music, food and, of course, beer.
The celebration is June 13-14 and will be outside on Church Street, between the restaurant and taphouse.
Friday starts at 4 p.m., and Saturday at 2 p.m. Each day includes music, food, beer, cocktails, soda, water and new 27th anniversary merchandise.
This is a family-friendly event, although minors are not allowed inside the taphouse, or at the restaurant bar. Activities close at 10:30 p.m. each night.
For music, Friday features Marshall Falcon from 7-10 p.m.
Saturday’s music starts with Leo Moon from 2:30-4:30 p.m., The Brutal Bridges Band from 5-7 p.m. and Sum People from 7:30-10:30 p.m.
The stage, sound system and lights will be handled by Rocky Mountain Audio Visual.
“He is fantastic, and the reason these bands will sound so great,” said Marshall Turner of Sum People.
Marshall Falcon
Marshall Falcon and The Midnight Bazaar, from Eugene, have been described as “Cosmic Tex-Mex,” “Border Rock” and “CountryPunkSoul.”
“We tend to describe the music as barnburners, tearjerkers and toetappers,” Falcon said.
The band tours across North America and Europe, regularly adding new cities and countries to their schedule.
Falcon has been a musician for most of his life, and started The Midnight Bazaar a couple of years ago.
“We’ve toured coast to coast,” he said. “I’m having so much fun.”
After playing in Baker City, Falcon plays near Huntington at Oasis on the Snake on June 14, HQ in La Grande on June 20 (8 p.m.; $15 at lagrandehq.com) and in Heppner on June 21 for the Ruckus in the Boonies music festival.
Leo Moon
Leo Moon is Brian Koch, founding member of Blitzen Trapper. He often tours as a solo artist and has performed at Barley Brown’s as well as Churchill School.
He started playing clarinet at age 6. Fast forward a decade and he was joining bands.
“I learned bass, drums, guitar, harmonica all on my own,” he said.
The Brutal Bridges Band
The Brutal Bridges Band, based in Corvallis, started in 2012 as a four-piece acoustic folk group, and has grown bigger — and less acoustic — over time.
The band primarily performs original music and has released three albums, including “Light Falling” in 2024. Current members are guitar-strumming lead singer-songwriters Karen DeWolfe and Adrian Kriz, Tim Schrautemeier on drums, Chuck Forbes on electric guitar, Eric Henry on banjo and pedal steel, and Carl Swanson on bass.
The band describes their music as a “genre-bending mix of folk Americana and rock with hints of rockabilly, country, blues, funk and more.”
They might play some covers too — Nirvana, Tom Petty, Everclear, Alice in Chains and more.
Sum People
Sum People has played regionally for about 18 years, with a rotating roster of members.
“We had as many as seven members with a horn section,” said Marshall Turner, lead guitar and backing vocals.
For the Baker City show, the four-piece band includes Turner, Scott Nearing (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeff Carman (bass, backing vocals) and Jayce Keffer (drums).
“We are a blend of reggae, ska, rock, pop music,” Turner said. “A lot of our fans talk about us as ‘90s era pop/rock/punk.”
They don’t, he said, play country or classic rock.