MONROE — With two 76-year-old members and one in his mid-sixties, the group — known as ‘Sunshine’ in these parts — couldn’t really be a rock and roll outfit, could it?
Indeed, it is not only rock — from hard to soft — that they play, but also healthy doses of country. And it is a commitment to playing what their audiences want to hear that have turned those listeners into fans.
They are not to be confused with the famous KC and the Sunshine Band; or even Sunshine Band. It’s just “Sunshine” say the boys in the band, and it’s all about the music.
“We couldn’t do it without the fans,” said Sunshine’s Bill Eaton. “We play for them.”
Sunshine includes just three members: Eaton, Tom Bussan and Mike Dunbar. That’s basically the way it’s been for decades now. Eaton estimates that he and his group have played an unthinkable 3,500 shows. Their goal is to play just about every weekend. Some shows were for crowds of a thousand or more, plenty were in bars and clubs, and countless others at weddings and private events.
“In the course of 50 years, there has only been about eight people in the band,” he said in a phone interview on a Monday afternoon, a little hoarse from having played two gigs over the weekend — the way it is for him most every weekend. “It’s been an unbelievably long run, and we don’t have any plan to stop now.”
In reality, Eaton and Bussan have been playing guitars together in some form since 1963. At one point, in the sixties, they were known as “The Natives.” A few years after there was a variation on the band, “Country Sunshine”, which featured Eaton and Bussan’s Wives, Jane and Peg.
Some old-timers still remember the early incarnation of the band playing at Apple River Park House. These days, though, music lovers can find them at bars and events throughout southern Wisconsin and beyond — places like Kings in Monticello or Cork Down Saloon in Blanchardville. Sometimes there’s a cover charge, but it’s never expensive to hear “Sunshine.”
“Some of those smaller places are our favorite places to play,” Eaton said.
In about 1976, “Sunshine” was born, as a quartet at first, until bandmate Will’s death of cancer in 1996. Yet, they have forged on, and Eaton estimates that they now have two hundred or more songs in their catalog, “most of which we can play by heart.”
That includes a huge catalog of classic rock and top 40 hits — everything from Lynyrd Skynyrd to U2 and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
“You have to play what people want to hear or you won’t last very long,” Eaton said. “We like people to dance and have a good time. That’s why we do it, but it’s a major commitment for all of us.”
How do they do it at their age? For starters, they know that they are blessed to still be doing what they love in relative good health.
Eaton attributes his health, in part, to being sober for 32 years. And while they are often found in bars, they aren’t party animals anymore.
“Nobody in the band really drinks much,” he said. “You have to be professional.”
