Barrel Stove Combo keeps it jazzy for 20 years and running

Members of the Barrel Stove Combo keep coming back to the jazz group roughly 20 years after the band got its start to play music that feels familiar and refreshing all at the same time. 

It’s a running joke that when Barrel Stove Combo drummer Vinnie Rannazzisi lists all of the bands he’s in (or has been involved with) it’s very possible that he will forget a couple. The musician has been a mainstay in the Flathead music scene for decades now. But, Barrel Stove Combo is one he keeps coming back to after all these years, with his wife Rebecca Nelson on flute and tenor saxophone and Eric Gates playing an eight-string guitar.

“Friendship is the basis of it. We all are really good friends. We communicate and get along really well,” Rannazzisi said.