The mission started out simply enough. Our youngest son, Chris, and I merely wanted to give some venison to Jon Hall, the guy who farms the land just to the south of us, as a way of thanking Jon for allowing us to shoot a deer on his land.

We opened the door and quickly discovered that what we heard didn't involve any kind of recorded sound. Jon and his pals were belting out "Crossroads" using only their bare hands -- plus some guitars, amplifies, and a drum set.

I shouldn't have been quite so surprised. I knew that Jon's parents, Wilbur and Margie, had had an old-time fiddler band and that Jon often played with them. But here Jon was, belting out a classic rock tune amidst the grease and used oil filters and split tractors. I'd had no idea that Jon's talents extended so far beyond his flair for straight corn rows.

The "One Nite Only" band members are, from left: Nick Hall, Jeff McGill, Jon Hall, and Steve Carlson, with Mark Nuttbrock on the drums.

I have zero musical ability and can scarcely tell a Stratocaster from a Stradivarius. But as people often say, I know art when I see it. And, this was definitely art.

We chatted with Jon and the other members of his band for an hour or so. Jon said we should drop in and watch them at one of their gigs, and our simple little venison mission suddenly became much more complicated.

"I started playing when I was 5 years old," said Jon as I chatted with him and the band before their gig at a local Elk's Club. "But I can't read music. None of us can."

"One Nite Only" has five members: Jon, who plays rhythm guitar and is the lead vocalist; Jon's 17-year-old son, Nick, who mans the electric guitar and sings a bit; Jeff McGill, who is the lead guitarist and does vocals; Steve Carlson, who plays bass guitar; and Mark Nuttbrock, who is a backup vocalist and is also the band's drummer.

"About two years ago, I had a vision of putting a country band together," continues Jon, "I knew these guys all played, so I asked them to come over to my place one afternoon and try playing together. I told them that if it didn't work, we would simply walk away as friends. But we could tell by the end of the first song that we really had something, that there was some kind of unspoken connection."

Most of the band's members have deep musical roots. For instance, Mark's father played in a jazz band. "I can remember being a little kid and falling asleep behind the amplifier as Dad played," says Mark.

Nick is a bit of a late bloomer by Hall family standards; he didn't start picking out tunes on a guitar until he had reached the ripe old age of 7. Says Jon, "I can recall my grandpa Leonard playing the ocarina, so that makes Nick the fourth generation of musicians in our family."

But no one in "One Nite Only" bloomed later than Jeff, who has been playing for just 5 years. "I had mentioned to my wife, Amy, that it might be fun to have a guitar," recalls Jeff. "Next Christmas, there was a big box under the tree and I thought, 'Alright! Amy got me that Buckmaster 2000 bow I've been wanting!' But, it was an electric guitar. It turned out to be the best present I've ever received."