The Prairie Rockets are three women who enjoy singing and playing music together. With Patty Meehan on the 5-string banjo and harmonica, Aspen Clayton on the mandolin and Shirley Walkey on the guitar, the Rockets tend toward Americana, or bluegrass but also enjoy some rock and roll and Motown. What they really enjoy is harmony – two and three part.
"Fellin' Groovy"
The Prairie Rockets had their first gig at the 2008 High and Dry Bluegrass Festival in Bend, Oregon. They have been playing locally in Bend, Sisters and Redmond since then and have participated in the Bend Roots Festival, the Hoedown For Hunger, which benefits the Bend Community Center, and the Coyote Festival in Summer Lake Oregon. In June, 2011, they were happy to take part in KPOV’s 6th birthday celebration and Beatles Sing-Along, trying to look the part in their 60′s garb as seen to the right.
Patty
Patty Meehan “A Bendite since ’81, can’t say I’ve been playing music all my life. I started playing the marimba (an African wooden xylophone) in the early 90′s. In the band Hearing Voices, I played multi-rhythmic Shona music from Zimbabwe for 12 or 13 years. After that ran its course, one day I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to learn how to play the banjo. I liked the complexities of the instrument. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s so much fun plinking the 5-String and singing harmonies along with my buds.”
Aspen
Aspen Clayton has been hearing harmony all her life. As a young girl she sang along with all her favorites. Her early influences were The Kingston Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. She was given her first guitar, a Sears Silvertone at age ten. She learned to strum a few cords and started singing along. In her teens she became smitten with country rock and bluegrass. Kids, family and some painful shoulder problems pretty much nixed the guitar playing ideas. In 2001 her brother introduced her to Nickel Creek and let her try his mandolin. That was it. She knew she had found the vehicle to get that musical spirit out of her. She started taking music classes at the Cascades Community School of Music where she met other aspiring musician. The next step was forming a band. Since then she has been in several local bands including The Log Jammers, The Living Rumors, 2 good 2 go and now The Prairie Rockets. “This is the fit I have been craving. We are three peas in a pod. We have such a great time playing.”
Shirley
Shirley Walkey “Born and raised in East Detroit, my earliest musical influences were Motown, followed by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. Then there was Paul Simon, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Joni Mitchell. More recently, it’s also Patty Griffin, The Wailin’ Jennys, Buddy and Julie Miller, Nanci Griffith, Blame Sally, and the list goes on. 
Harmony was an early interest also. My girlfriends and I would go to the mall and sing 4-part in the stairwell of the tallest building there (5 stories) because it had such good acoustics. With the Prairie Rockets, we’re all having a good time, and we’re even playing a little Motown now. Barry Gordy would be proud – or at least amused.”
The Prairie Rockets also have a MySpace page and are on Facebook. Please visit. Check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkwIPTt8c4k&feature=player_embedded#! on You-tube of the Prairie Rockets at the 2011 Bend Roots Festival taken by Ben Salmon while managing his 18-month old child. Thus the dissapearing heads!