If it weren’t for the music, the Tractor Tavern would seem like a run-of-the-mill country-themed bar, but with irregular hours and no chicken-fried steak. The unofficial motto of the Tractor might be “nothing fancy.” The place is small and divided into two rooms. The front room features a small bar and faux sheet metal walls. The back room houses the stage and a wide-open floor space that might function as a dance floor if the audience were sparse enough to permit dancing. (It usually isn’t.) Strung along the black walls is an assortment of old tractor tires and small farm implements. A row of cowboy boots and red Christmas lights stretch across the divide between the two rooms, and a strange orange light hovers in the air.
The menu at the Tractor is limited. The menu consists of a rotating assortment of TV dinners. The beer selection is decent, including Budweiser, Bud Lite, Miller High Life, and Rainer in bottles ($2.75) and a solid array of microbrews, such as Mirror Pond, Alaskan Amber, Mac & Jack’s African Amber, Maritime Nightwatch, and Elysian IPA, on tap ($4). The liquor shelf is varied, though you’re reminded not to order anything too fancy: “We have no blender, no blue stuff, we don't muddle, and we rarely strain. Martinis are coming in a plastic picnic cup, just like everything else. If we were any farther east, we'd have sawdust on the floor and a mechanical bull in the corner.”
Furthermore, you can never count on the Tractor being open. They set up shop between five and seven nights a week, but only for shows. Doors open between 30 and 60 minutes before a show is scheduled to start, and close shortly after the end of the performance.
In spite of all this, every show the Tractor books is almost guaranteed to be packed. Why? Because there is no better place in Seattle to go for roots music.
The Tractor showcases its fair share of talented area bands, such as Billy Joe and the Dusty 45’s, Captain Gravel, the Tallboys, and Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers. Besides that, the Tractor features an impressive array of national acts, including jazzmen John Scofield and Sex Mob; bluegrass stalwarts Del McCoury, Chris Thile, and Bryan Sutton; honky-tonk purist Dale Watson; alt-country rockers Cross Canadian Ragweed and the Drive-by Truckers; country legend Charlie Louvin; and the Celtic supergroup Solas.
As impressive as the selection of performers is the way the Tractor allows you to listen to them play. Because it’s so small, you get to hear these acts in a much more intimate setting than you would find elsewhere. Shows at the Tractor are engaging and inclusive; interaction with and participation by the audience is frequent. After coming off a performance on the vaulted stage of Carnegie Hall in March, Chris Thile found himself no more than three feet off the floor at the Tractor, at spitting distance from the front of the crowd.
The atmosphere lends vibrancy to whatever music is being played. There is an aura of seriousness surrounding many of the Tractor’s acts, but in so much of the way the Tractor is organized—the farm equipment strapped to black walls, the hokey name, the notion of an unabashedly country joint in the heart of Seattle—there is a touch of self-mockery that cloaks the venue in an unassailable coolness, like Ashton Kutcher wearing a trucker hat.
Musicians credit owner Dan Cowan with creating the Tractor’s unique vibe. “Dan is probably the single most reason that the club has such a great vibe,” says Billy Joe Huels of Billy Joe and the Dusty 45’s.
“It’s like a family; there are no beefy security guards.” He paused. “Well, Ryan the door guy could probably take me down, but Kelly the bartender would nurse me back to health.”
If you want to hear a great selection of roots music, or if you’re just interested in a quality show in an intimate atmosphere, check out the Tractor. Just remember to eat before you get there.
