Nicky Fuchs / Special to the Home News
Bruce Smith, left, and Chet Williams belt out “Oh Suzanna” at the Boulder City Senior Center. Bruce and Chet started their jam band in 2002 when they found out no one was getting together to play music.
Friday, Feb. 6, 2009 | 6:28 p.m.
Cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women — not what you'd expect to find at the Senior Center on Wednesday afternoons?
The Over The Hill Band brings them there weekly in song, at least, when the six-piece ensemble practices "Cigarettes and Whiskey" near the center's entrance.
The group — Bruce Smith on banjo, Chet Williams on accordion, and Jim Schwarzer, D.W. Wilson, Don Courtney and Charles Nicks on guitars — use the Senior Center weekly for practice sessions, a ritual that has evolved into performances.
The group, which plays country-western, folk and bluegrass, starred in the inaugural Boulder City Opry last year at the center and plans to put on another one this spring.
Some members are further over the hill than others. They range from age 62 to 90, and they play a collection of about 60 songs, some that span three generations, Smith said.
The men play whatever anybody wants to play, in whatever key, and everybody can chime in with the words.
"Playing with somebody else is the whole point," Williams said.
Next Wednesday, if you happen to hear someone crooning "I know you're married, but I love you still," don't wonder about the possible implications. Just assume it's the band.
Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected].
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