Country music at Carson City Flatbed series Saturday

Keith Alan Barnett & The Lonesome Polecat Band bring their style of country rock to the Flatbed Concert series Saturday. The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. and is hosted by the Brewery Arts Center.

Barnett grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, then spent 25-plus years in the Atlanta area. He moved to Carson City 15 years ago and he said he’s been happy to be here since then.

“I absolutely fell in love with Carson City when I got here,” he said.

He said he enjoys how Carson feels like small town because he’s always lived in big cities. He has played in the area for many years with a band called Mixed Company. He started to do more solo shows for a couple years and then two of his friends suggested they put a band together, and that is how the Lonesome Polecat Band was formed.

Barnett describes the music they play as mostly traditional country and country rock. The band has a few originals they play, but for this type of show there will be plenty of covers too. He said they also like to take a few rock songs and put their country twist on them.

The band includes: Lou Werlinger on drums; Ned Chaney on bass guitar; Jim Park on pedal steel guitar; Michael “Doc” Holiday plays lead guitar; and Barnett does the vocals and acoustic guitar.

The band hasn’t been able to play in front of live audiences much due to the pandemic. They formed about a year and a half ago and were gaining some momentum with some shows booked for 2020.

“It took us a while, but the first of this year we were ready to go,” Barnett said. “Of course everything came to a screeching halt, so we haven’t gotten out to do much yet.”

Barnett said the only time they really played as a group was in December for a small show for his birthday. He’s really happy to get the band together and making music.

“It feels awesome — seriously,” he said. “It’s been a lot of nothing for a long time before we even got together to practice.”

The flatbed experience is a different environment for Barnett, but he said he played in Douglas County with another band, Mixed Company, on a flatbed recently. He described people walking out of their houses and recording them with their cellphones.

“It was pretty awesome,” he said. “It’s kind of an usual thing, and I’m really looking forward to that here in Carson City.”