The Saddle Sores is a Bay Area country band serving up an eclectic mix of classic country, country-rock, Americana and familiar favorites reimagined with a little twang. With strong lead vocals, rich harmonies and seasoned musicianship, their music ranges from heartfelt ballads and old-school country to songs that get an audience singing along. The band was founded in 2013 by longtime musical partners Elliot “Lonesome Eddie” Aronson and Austin Hurst, after the two had already spent more than three decades playing together in the rock & roll band Soft Touch. As Lonesome Eddie & The Saddle Sores, they built a band around their shared love of great songs — Eddie on pedal steel and piano, and Austin on lead guitar, mandolin and vocals — surrounded by a group of longtime friends and accomplished Bay Area musicians. Following Eddie’s death in August 2026, the band continues as The Saddle Sores, with co-founder Austin Hurst carrying the band forward while preserving the musical spirit he and Eddie created together.
Today, The Saddle Sores remain what they have always been: a band of friends who love playing good music together — a little country, a little rock & roll, plenty of harmony, and never taking themselves too seriously.
The name has changed. The music rides on.
Regularly chosen out of hundreds of applicants to perform at the Lafayette Art & Wine Festival, the band also lights up pubs, street festivals, breweries, and private parties with their playful energy and exceptional musicianship.​
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Austin Hurst, lead guitar, mandolin and vocalsAustin grew up on the country music of America’s heartland in the late '50s - early '60s, picked up guitar in the folk and rock rebellion of San Francisco in the '60s, and by the '70s was playing, singing, and writing his own songs in a Berkeley bluegrass group. In the late '70s he formed the rock & roll band, Soft Touch, that performed for over 30 years. In Lonesome Eddie and the Saddle Sores he plays lead guitar, mandolin, sings, and writes some of the band’s original material. Austin is involved with the bluegrass scene in Berkeley and is part of a weekly jam.
Dave Buchanan, rhythm guitar, bass, vocals
Dave is a recovering classic rock musician, now happily playing country. Most recently he played with Juice, and before that with The Extremities, The Megatones, and The Cadillac Kids (Chicago, 1970s). He thanks Gene (the band's bass player) for lending him a guitar and Austin for tuning it. If he had not serendipitously volunteered to babysit Gene's dog a few years ago, he would likely never have connected with Lonesome Eddie and the Saddle Sores. Funny how life works.
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Tenaya Conklin, vocals
As Austin's daughter, Tenaya was raised in a household infused with bluegrass, folk, country, rock & roll, r & b, zydeco, and dancing, with the Soft Touch band regularly coming to the family home to play music. She has been singing casually from an early age but took it up more rigorously when she undertook an acting career including musicals and cabaret. With a natural voice for country music, she was fated for Lonesome Eddie and the Saddle Sores. In her spare time, she teaches musical theatre with the South Bay Children’s Musical Theater group and teaches wearable technology classes and other maker skills around the bay area. You can sometimes catch her lighting up the band’s performances with her wearable technology.
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Andrée Hurst, vocals and rhythm guitar, violin
Andrée and Austin married in 2021, making her Tenaya's "Momandree". Driven by the folk and folk-rock music of the 70s, Andrée commandeered her brother’s prized 1950s-era rosewood flattop Guild, locked herself away, and woodshedded until she emerged an accomplished singer and guitar player. She is a member of the Berkeley-based performance club HOOT, and together with Austin, launched Front Porch Open Mic five years ago to support the hobby acoustic music scene. They added Front Porch Presents in collaboration with Town Hall Theatre to feature talent for the public four times a year. Andrée was recently selected to take part in the Premier Vocals and SharpRadio vocal groups on Smule, where she has more than 3,800 followers as @AndieTunes.
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John Rafferty, guest harmonica (as often as he's available!)Bay Area native John Rafferty is a lifelong singer and blues harmonica player whose musical journey spans a decade and a half of collaboration with exceptional artists. Steeped in the traditions of roots music, John's performances are infused with diverse cultural influences, lending a distinctive touch to every song he interprets.
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Gene Seltzer, bass, rhythm guitar, vocalsGene kicked off his performance career playing bass and guitar with the bluegrass and country swing band I’ll Be Right Home, Honey in Berkeley in the '70s and '80s. He also played for 30 years with our precursor rock & roll cover band Soft Touch. He has the distinction of actually having studied music (at The Jazzschool, Berkeley). He played with the jazz quartet Swing and can currently be heard in his jazz persona with the combos The Astronauts and Second Opinion.
Gerald Turetzky, drums
Gerald Turetzky comes from a long line of musicians and started drumming at age 5. He studied Music at San Diego State University and started touring and recording with Trowsers and Borracho y Loco opening up for Ziggy Marley, Third World and Steel Pulse to name a few. Gerald loves all kinds of music, with a special fondness for country... and he has the wardrobe to prove it.​