Ranch Romance

Deriving their moniker from a 1930s Western pulp publication, the Seattle-based swing ensemble Ranch Romance coalesced toward the end of the 1980s as a genre-spanning outfit. The band’s earliest lineup consisted of an all-female quartet—singer/guitarist Jo Miller, bassist Nancy Katz, fiddler Barbara Lamb, and mandolinist Lisa Theo—who released their first album, Western Dream, in 1989. Following a tour alongside k.d. lang, Lisa Theo exited in 1991; accordionist Nova Karina Devonie and multi-instrumentalist David Keenen, handling guitar, mandolin, and banjo, stepped in to fill the vacancy. Barbara Lamb soon withdrew to launch a solo career, an event that preceded the arrival of the group’s sophomore release, Blue Blazes; Flip City appeared two years later in 1993.