Allison Farole
Staff Writer

For the perfect escape, singer/songwriter Rick Shea called upon his honky-tonk roots Friday night at The Press in Claremont.

Rocking out in typical country attire –  jeans and a jeans jacket – Shea performed a three-hour set for the classy Claremont crowd.

At first, the type of music Shea performed was reminiscent of an earlier time; however, after an hour the crowd started to get into the soft-twang sound and hopped on the dance floor to show their moves.

“I really enjoyed their music,” said Colleen Torres, an on-looker from La Verne. “They are fabulous.”

Rick Shea and the Losin End are composed of him and two other members – Dave Hall on guitar and Shaun Nourse on drums. This group is not an everyday thing; Shea performs solo at times as well as with other musicians. Hall has been playing with Shea for about 15 years now.

Shea grew up in San Bernardino where his honky-tonk influences were started. He played in folk and coffeehouses after high school and from there he fell into the country scene. His education consisted of Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell and Buck Owens.

“I think playing here is fun,” said Shea. “They treat us nice here at The Press.”

“It was a great atmosphere and the entertainment went great along with my glass of wine,” said Pamela Levy, on-looker and ULV alumna.

Overall the crowd took a while to get into the honky-tonk mood.

“They need to play more top 10 most popular songs and play to the crowd,” said Pierre Fraunzwaeu, on-looker from La Verne.

They perform at The Press twice a year. Shea performs a solo acoustic act every Thursday at The Arcadia Blues Club.

Allison Farole can be reached at allison.farole@yahoo.com.