“You’re never too old to rock and roll.”

Earl Halladay, 68, and the other members of local band Loose Cannon practice what they preach. Though they’re all into their golden years, instead of sitting in rocking chairs, they rock the Grand Valley on stage with golden oldies.

“We’re the only rock and roll group composed of people our age,” said guitarist Andy Brinkley, 65.

The band’s members bring together their diverse life experiences and musical backgrounds to create music they’re proud of.

“We can relate to each other, and they play my songs!” Brinkley said, referring to pieces he has written.

He and Halladay are the songwriters. Brinkley has been a career musician since 1968, playing lead and rhythm guitar as well as bass and occasional stints at the keyboard. After attending high school in northern Louisiana, he started playing in nightclub bands. He got in his first band in 1968 and hit the road in 1973, playing in 35 states and Canada.

Brinkley penned “Back to Louisiana” and Halladay wrote “Didn’t See It Coming,” a piece inspired by a woman whom he dated.

“She dumped me to go back to a man who beat her,” Halladay explained.

Both those songs, plus eight more originals will be on the band’s first album to be completed by the first of next year.

A company of talent

Halladay, the band’s founder, was born with music in his blood. His parents met on stage, where his mother played drums and his father was a vocalist. His older brother, James, inspired him to play the guitar and sing. At 27, he started performing professionally with the band PALLEDEN, touring the Great Lakes region.

Three years later, he moved to Colorado and founded the band Close to the Border. Halladay toured for 18 years, then did a one-eighty—switching from playing music to operating heavy equipment.

He retired in 2015 and started Loose Cannon in 2018.

Why the name Loose Cannon?

“Because sometimes the members are loose cannons,” Halladay said. “They do the unexpected.”

Bassist Christopher Krabacher, 66, expanded on that thought.

“We play what we love but we stretch it out and make it our own,” he said.

“Any genre, any time” seems to be Krabacher’s motto. Playing music since age 4, he plays anything that has strings: fiddle/violin, bass, sitar and mandolin for starters. Over time, he waltzed through classical pieces, jazzed up his music with ragtime, bebop and anything in between, fiddled around with bluegrass and threw reggae, pop, folk, blues and rock into the mix in the course of his 58-year-long musical journey.

Krabacher’s favorite thing about Loose Cannon is the release that music provides from the “drudgery” of his day job as an architect.

“Our personalities meld, and we all give 100 percent,” Krabacher said regarding his fellow band members.

Drummer Pat Olson, 70, agreed.

“I love these guys. We all like the same music, and playing with them is the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” he said.

Olson, the “old guy” at 70, is a semi-retired artist with several works around town, including the statues of Chief Ouray and Chipeta in the Grand Junction City Hall. Drumming became his passion 60 years ago, and he also plays the piano. He started playing in his native town of Appleton, Minnesota and continued to play folk, rock, country, jazz, and classical music after moving to Colorado.

While at Colorado State University, Olson joined a band called The Dean Davis Company. The group flew the West Coast director of the USO to see one of their concerts and was selected to go on tour. The band performed in Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as some Pacific island bases and Australia. Venues included a wide variety of U.S. military installations, from small hospital wards to large auditoriums to fire support bases.

“We weren’t on the level of Bob Hope, but did receive the highest rating given to groups other than the Hope tours,” Olson said.

To return to those thrilling rock and roll days of yesteryear, catch up with Loose Cannon on stage and follow them on Facebook for information on upcoming performances.