Redhawk draws a crowd at The Durham

Redhawk took the stage at The Durham in Polson on St. Patrick’s Day, drawing the crowd in with their versions of five decades of rock music.

Redhawk slides through rock ‘n roll hits like “Runaround Sue” and “Last Kiss,” songs by the Doobie Brothers, Roy Orbison, The Doors, Van Morrison, and the Traveling Wilburys, plus originals by band members. A few blues songs and Americana tunes round out their sizable repertoire.

The band takes its name from guitar player Rory “Redhawk” Haugen. Other members are drummer Keryl Lozar, bass player Tim Krantz, singer Brian Privette, and keyboardist Ryan Mayne.

In a phone interview, Haugen, a proud member of the Blackfeet Nation, said he listened to a lot of country music as a kid.

“I didn’t know there was any other kind of music,” he said, laughing, since country was the music dujour at their house.

Learning to play the guitar, Haugen’s first song was Ghost Riders in the Sky like Johnny Cash to please his dad. When his brother began listening to rock, Haugen segued into early ’70s bands like Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night.

As Haugen’s love of playing the guitar grew, Santana, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd were big influences.

Singer Privette’s musical influences are the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and Earth, Wind and Fire, to name just a few. He met Haugen in 2018 and began playing music with him before the band formed in 2020.

Lozar grew up in Oahu, Hawaii. She practiced playing drums on round oatmeal boxes when she was a child, according to her husband. Keryl and Steve moved back to Montana to raise their family, and she was a teacher in a former life.

Cowboy and rancher Krantz teaches fifth grade. Besides playing bass, he plays the mandolin and banjo and listens to Old and in the Way and Sonic Youth.

Redhawk was formed during the COVID pandemic, and 2023 marks their third year of performing.

Band dynamics either work or they don’t, Haugen explained. Band members need to get along and mesh both musically and personally, and Redhawk musicians accomplish that. Their love of performing and positive attitudes permeate the music they choose.

The band performs at the Polson Cherry Festival again this year.