The all-female band, Patches, was a regional hit for an 18-year span starting in 1977 and their unique stage shows and unmistakable harmony is still resonating with fans.

In October, Patches will be inducted into the Nebraska Country Music Hall of Fame and six of its members - Jeanie Anderson and Viv Lackas of Wausa, Neb., Eunice Palu and Laurie Larsen of Bloomfield, Neb., Marj O’Leske of Martin and Babs (Shirley) Wolfgram (deceased) formerly of Plainview, Neb. — will be honored for their talent and dedication to live music.

Laurie, a founding member of the band said it all started in Lamaze class.

“Beth Greeno and I took Lamaze classes together and somehow it came up that we both played 12-string guitar,” she said. “So we started getting together to play just waiting for our babies to come. One day Vivian walked by and we asked her to come sing with us.”

“I had just moved to town and it was such a welcomed thing to be with the girls,” Viv recalled. “We ended up playing at Ed’s Bar with Beth and Laurie on their guitars and me playing the tambourine. We sang 10 songs and got paid $10 a piece. And that’s how we got started.”

As more and more gigs were scheduled at area bars, local churches and schools, it was decided to add more members to the band and Jeanie was asked to “audition” at Viv’s house.

“I had a guitar with a magnetic pickup and a tiny amp, but I could play a run and they said I was in,” Jeanie said. “We had a gig at a school the next Saturday and we decided what were singing on the way to the show. We were always winging it, which was different for me as I was used to preparing a bit more. Eventually, I learned to play lead.”

Viv also switched from the tambourine to the bass. A drummer was needed at one point and Laurie played softball with Eunice and heard through the grapevine that Eunice played the drums.

“She asked if I would sit in,” Eunice said. “I told her I didn’t have a drum set but she said she had that handled. I drove to a farmhouse and picked up the drum set and drove to this house way out in the country and tried out. They said, ‘You’re hired, here are your clothes, we play on Saturday,’ I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do it, but I did.”

Speaking of clothes, Patches was almost as famous for their matching outfits as their music.

“We never made any money because we spent it all on clothes,” Laurie said. “Barb Kinkaid made all our clothes. I must have watched too much Lawrence Welk when I was younger, because I thought we should always match.”

No one in the group could read music at the time and they figured out how to play the popular songs of the time by ear.

“We did it all by ear, if it didn’t sound right we’d just keep trying until we figured it out,” Viv said.

When they wanted a new song they would sit by the radio with a tape recorder for it to come on then they would record it so they could rewind and play and dissect the lyrics and the chords.

“We would write it all out, sometimes it was interesting because we would all interpret the lyrics different,” she said.

The group was chosen to represent Nebraska in the Wrangler Country Showdown in Nashville in 1984.

The Patches band members were flown to Nashville to perform and compete on the new Grand Ole Opry stage.

Amazingly a bus full of 96 people followed them to support them as they performed for five minutes.

“Our parents, grandparents, husbands and a bunch of other people from the area showed up all dressed in red for Cornhuskers to support us,” Laurie said. “Some of the other performers had a handful of fans and we had an entire bus load. They rode the bus all the way down watched us for five minutes and then rode all the way back the next day. It was really awesome.”

While in Nashville they got to walk onto the original Grand Ole Opry stage and they only had a few minutes but they knew they had to sing something.

“We sang an a cappella version of ‘Rocky Top,’ it was really amazing,” Laurie said.

The grand prize of the contest was a recording contract and although it was a wonderful dream, not everyone was hoping to win.

“After we were eliminated we found out Viv was praying we wouldn’t win,” Laurie said.

“I had six kids and a husband who was a truck driver at home,” Viv said. “I couldn’t be on the road for a year. I really was praying we wouldn’t win.”

Although it was an exciting competition, everyone agrees now they are happy they didn’t win.

“Musicians who make it nationally are plagued by constant worry because there is so much competition and pressure to have that next hit,” Laurie said. “It really can’t be all that fun.”

“And fun was what we were all about,” Eunice chimed in. “We were really having fun interacting with the crowd and each other.”

“We had a lot of fun, we were goofy with the crowd,” Laurie said. “We had regulars who followed us around to all our shows and we would send cards to people when they were sick or got married. We did a lot of wedding dances and a lot of funerals, too. “

The women said they didn’t just put on a concert, they performed an entire show.

“We worked hard at having fun,” Viv said.

“We’d write and perform skits and we’d change costumes between each set. Some people would come watch us set up, watch the whole show and then watch us tear down.”

“We were popular in the heyday of the steakhouse,”

Laurie said. “It was a time when people appreciated live music and actually danced. We used to teach line dances and everyone would dance.”

“We would make it a point to go out and talk to each table,” Jeanie said. “At first I was intimidated about approaching people but before long I figured out the trick was to ask them something about themselves and go from there.”

They not only bonded with the crowd but with each other and with each other’s families.

“They’re not my sisters, but they’re my sisters,” Viv said.

“Our husbands were very supportive in the early years they drove the van to the shows,” Laurie said. “Then we started having so many they had to stay home with the kids while we traveled around every Friday and Saturday night.

All our parents became friends and our kids all grew up together. We went camping with all our families and really spent a lot of time together.”

Even though Patches was an all-girl band that traveled late at night by themselves in an era before cell phones and GPS, the women said they were never intimidated and never gave it a thought.

“We always acted like mothers and made references to our families a lot,” Viv said. “We were respectful and professional and no one ever treated us any different.”

“I think the novelty of the all-girl band was really the driving force of our limited success,” Laurie said. “Even today there are women in their 30s and 40s who will approach me and say they remember the band and recall how much they looked up to us and how much they wanted to be like us.”

Being inducted into the Hall of Fame on Oct. 20 at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Hastings are Viv Lackas, Wausa; Marj (Carlson) O’Leske, Martin, S.D.; Jeanie Anderson, Wausa; Eunice Palu, Bloomfield; Babs Wolfgram (deceased), formerly of Plainview; and Laurie Larsen, Bloomfield.

Scheduled to receive honorable mention also are Beth Greeno, Colorado; Deb Bloomquist, Wausa; Brian Clinton, Clearwater; Ken Crisp, address unknown; and Mike Peck, Yankton.

For more information about the Patches, visit www.patchesband.com/.