EVANSTON — At one of the last stops on their final tour, the Bar J Wranglers from Wilson/Jackson entertained a full house in the Evanston High School auditorium on Friday, Dec. 3. The concert was organized by the Evanston Cowboy Days Committee. For a non-stop two hours, the group of six men provided an evening of western music, stellar harmony, comedy and exceptional musicianship. 

The band Bar J Wranglers was founded by Babe Humphrey. Although now retired, he joined the group for a few final songs with his two sons, Scott and Bryan Humphrey, and the other band members: Tim Hodgson, Donnie Cook and Danny Rogers. For 44 years the Wranglers have performed all over the world and are acclaimed as being among the best western musicians.

Babe Humphrey sings baritone and bass and played lead and rhythm guitar. Scott sings tenor and plays rhythm guitar and Bryan is lead vocals, plays “doghouse’ bass and is an accomplished yodeler and “Granny” imitator. 

Hodgson sings tenor and high baritone and is renowned for his fiddle playing — he is a four-time Idaho State Champion fiddler, two-time U.S. Open fiddler, and two-time National Men’s Champion Fiddler. Hodgson has played with the Wranglers for 33 years.

Danny Rogers sings bass and plays rhythm guitar and has been a part of the Wranglers for 12 years.

Donnie Cook is known to be a master of almost every stringed instrument and sat at the corner of the stage with all of his instruments surrounding him.

The group began the evening’s entertainment with popular Christmas songs, including “Christmas for Cowboys,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Jingle Bells,” and a song written by Rogers titled “On Christmas Morn.”

Hodgson demonstrated his vast musical ability in competing with Cook on banjo in a rendition of “The Devil went down to Georgia.” Both men proved their exceptional skills on their stringed instrument of choice to the appreciation of the audience.

Throughout the evening’s performance, the Wranglers injected comedy and light-hearted joking with each other, especially targeting Bryan Humphrey. They sang an old-time country favorite, “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” with a twist by changing the ghost riders to “reindeer in the sky” which brought lots of laughs from the audience.

At one point, Bryan Humphrey left the stage to find their “granny.” Soon, “Granny” appeared on the stage and provided the audience with a butchered telling of the Cinderella story. Granny had the audience laughing uproariously when she used her own special “pig Latin” to tell the story. When Granny left the stage, Bryan Humphrey soon rejoined the group, admitting he couldn’t find Granny; however, when he turned around, one of Granny’s earrings was still in his ear.

Toward the end of an evening filled with laughter and song, Babe Humphrey came on stage and was handed his old guitar.

“I took this very guitar to Korea with me when I was in the military and when I needed new strings over there, I used ‘com’ (short for communication) wire,” Babe said.

He then asked all first responders and military veterans to stand and asked the audience to give them an ovation. Babe Humphrey then played and sang a song for them written by Danny Rogers titled “The Christmas Star.” Led by Rogers, the audience held up their lighted cell phones during the song.

Humphrey was then joined by his two sons, Scott and Bryan, and Rogers and Hodgson and they all sang several songs which included a favorite song of the Humphrey boys’ mother titled, “Mary, Did You Know,” and “The Cowboy Rides Away.”

When the group closed out the performance and walked off stage, they received a rousing call for an encore and returned for one final song, “Christmas Time’s A Comin.”