The Tale of Bub and His Boys

Do you remember Bub and His Boys?

I hope there are others who remember this popular little country-dance band that played at Long’s Barn on Lasher Road in Kaneville on many long-ago Saturday nights. It seemed a long way to go, over really bad roads, but still families from Montgomery and surrounding areas flocked out there to meet friends and neighbors.

Long’s Barn was built in 1932 and was the scene of weekend dances for 24 years. Arthur Long and his wife, Lulu Buerer Long, staged the dances at 50 cents a head. During the war years, when so many young men were drafted, there was a shortage of available dance partners for the girls.

As luck would have it, the country boys had an edge. They were eligible for deferments since their work was critical to the war effort, and they were happy to do their part. After a hard day of plowing fields and planting crops, the young men in their best blue jeans and farmer tans would attend the dances for a bit of recreation.

They might find themselves dancing with a city girl, or just as often a buddy’s mother. It was the luck of the draw. Everybody came to forget his or her troubles, laugh and enjoy the music. The best part was that parents were able to chaperone their young girls and provide a safe ride home after the dance. It was a great place to be on a Saturday night.

Although the dances were family affairs, that’s not to say that romances didn’t result from these chance meetings, because some did. Many married couples first met there. At Long’s Barn the evening consisted of circle-two steps, polkas and waltzes.

The circle-two step worked this way. Ladies would start dancing in one direction inside the circle, and men would circle outside in the opposite direction. When the band stopped playing they turned to grab a new partner, and the music would continue. The unlucky extras would saunter around the dance floor looking for any available partner. It was strictly trick or treat, but if a young man was determined he might manipulate the outcome.

The musicians were really good and large crowds of dancers and non-dancers alike were there just to listen and be part of the fun.

It was a sad day when Long’s Barn closed in 1956. One of the Longs' three sons was killed in an automobile accident on his way to work at the barn. The family closed it up and it never saw another dance.

Bub and His Boys, however, continued to play around the area. Harold ‘Bub’ Goodwick started his musical career with the Glen Victorian Band in the 1920s. In the 1930s he went to the WLS Barn Dance and ran into Tom Owens. Together they formed a group called the Tom Owens Cowboys in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They became wildly popular and were together until 1949, when Bub sold his interest and moved to Leland, Illinois.

Over the next two years he rebuilt his band with three original members: Goodwick, his son Donavon, and Ernie Basler. He added many talented local people over the years. Jack Curran joined them in 1953 as a bass player.

They played at the Sandwich Fair from the back of a 1937 GMC truck. They circled the grounds as people called out requests. They would stop and couples gathered around and danced in the gravel.

Then Baker’s Feed hired them to play in their tent at the Sandwich Fair. They were so popular that soon Baker’s sponsored them to do a live show from the gym in Leland on Saturday mornings, and the public was invited. The picture postcard above shows them in their Sandwich Fair days. Later they dressed in casual suits with white shirts and string ties.

They went on to play at the Blue Moon in Elgin to crowds of 1200, and once to an all-time record 1,800 people. A steak house in Ottawa drew a more sophisticated crowd. But gymnasiums and barns from Beloit, Wisconsin to Pecatonica to Coal City would be packed when Bub’s Boys came to town.

He kept the music fresh with an ever-changing cast of young musicians, and many of the older regulars continued to the end. The men worked very hard at their craft and were disciplined professionals. It was an honor to be chosen by Bub. The younger musicians learned valuable skills from him.

Harold “Bub” Goodwick passed away in 1991 at 92 years of age. The band played on without him for another 3 years when they finally played their last gig. They belonged to a gentler, more relaxed era that quietly faded away as the world kept on spinning.