Lonesome Spurs

Lonesome Spurs came together in Los Angeles in the mid 2000s as the project of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Lynda Kay and Telecaster player Danny B. Harvey. Lynda Kay, originally from Dallas, Texas, had spent the early part of the decade reinventing herself as a solo act called the Lonesome Stranger, shifting her musical style back toward her country roots, teaching herself guitar, writing her own songs, building her signature suitcase kickdrum, and earning money busking on Venice Beach. It was a chance meeting at the Lava Lounge that led her to form the Lonesome Spurs with rockabilly guitarist Danny B. Harvey , a player already known in rockabilly circles. The duo built their sound around a stripped down honky-tonk and rockabilly foundation, with Lynda Kay's voice and stomping suitcase bass drum paired against Harvey's twanging lead guitar, and they billed themselves as a true duo, insisting their recordings were made live in the studio with just the two of them performing, with no percussion, guitar, bass, or vocal overdubs. The band's breakthrough came with their self-titled debut album, released in 2006 on Cleopatra Records' subsidiary Rock-A-Billy Records. The record was praised for its raw, honest sound, with one reviewer noting that the group consisted of Parker on vocals and guitar and electric guitarist and backup singer Danny B. Harvey, and that with little more instrumentation than that, they made a big, driving sound that was instantly enjoyable, moody and clever by bits. The album featured eleven original compositions highlighted by songs like "Lovesick" and "Jack & Coke," plus a special guest appearance by rockabilly icon Glen Glenn. Their profile rose quickly within the roots and rockabilly scene, and the band performed at SXSW and flew to Cincinnati at the invitation of Jack White of The White Stripes, who was already a fan of the group. Much of Lonesome Spurs' notability rested on Danny B. Harvey's standing in the wider rockabilly world. Alongside his work with Lynda Kay, Harvey was also the guitarist in The Head Cat, an American rockabilly supergroup formed by vocalist and bassist Lemmy of Motörhead, drummer Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats, and guitarist Danny B. Harvey of Lonesome Spurs and the Rockats. That connection linked the duo, however loosely, to a lineage of rockabilly royalty and helped keep them visible on the club and festival circuit through the second half of the 2000s. Lynda Kay herself would go on to further projects after the Spurs, eventually collaborating internationally, including a 2014 duet with Bela B, drummer of the German punk band Die Ärzte, titled "My Soul/Dein Herz," which reached number 5 in Billboard Germany. By the end of the 2000s, Lonesome Spurs had largely wound down as an active touring act, with both members moving on to other projects, though their lone album remains a small, well-regarded artifact of the era's rockabilly and alt-country revival. Their reputation endures mostly among devoted fans of Americana and rockabilly who prize the duo's stripped-down, no-overdubs authenticity, and the record still circulates on streaming platforms as a document of a genuinely handmade sound. It is exactly the kind of unpolished, regional live act that Wayne Dennon gravitated toward with his camera. Wayne photographed Lonesome Spurs at a single show in 2007, and the resulting 19 photographs remain part of this archive, images that have drawn 14,322 views from visitors over the years who come looking for a glimpse of a duo that never sought the spotlight but earned a devoted following one small stage at a time.