The Dennis Boys have a sister up front. Not that you wouldn’t notice either. But while her big, likeable brothers roll out their hard-hitting country rock, Leah Dennis has a high, lonesome country contralto to match.
She’s not the youngest of the clan but certainly the best looking.
Eight generations in the Hunter Family, the Dennis family are all full-time ringers, drivers or in Leah’s case, jewelers. But their music is a genetic force and when they’re on stage, brothers Lyle, Erle and Shane own that venue.
The result owes as much to (insert name of favourite rock band) as it does to Hank Williams and Elvis, its unmistakeable country twang tempered by vicious guitars and a rollicking beat that’s flipped wigs in city venues as righteously as in the Muswellbrook Pub.
They’ve worked up a set of original songs that burn their own brand on the genre.
“It’s ball-tearing country rock and roll, as savage as anything we can pull out,” says Mick Daley, of the Re-Mains, who’ve played with the Boys in Sydney and Tamworth.
With family friend Dave Bourke on drums, the current line-up, Erle on bass, Lyle and Shane on guitars and vocals, Leah on fire, has been playing for nearly two years.
Erle’s won a Golden Harp at Tamworth Country Music Festival and the band, in various incarnations, have played there for the last 25 years. Shane, being the senior party and the best talker, is the spokesman and plays a mean telecaster, Lyle duplicating the feat on an upside down left-hander.
Experience The Dennis Boys Band this Tamworth Country Music Festival and remember what it’s like to be knocked out cold and enjoy it.
Mick Daley - Travelling musician and author 