Abilene brought Southern styles to Northeast Pennsylvania

Abilene has a band name that’ll make you think of Texas, but don’t get it twisted: They are among Luzerne County’s greatest musical contributors. And it should be known that Abilene can play those Southern styles just as well, if not better, than any Texas band you can find. The result of Abilene’s ambitious musical fusion was a pair of successful runs. The first began in the 1970s, and the other came about 30 years later. The former was a barnstorming rise to local fame; the latter a burst of nostalgia that was a long time coming.

Formed just before the United States Bicentennial, Abilene combined a number of genres to craft something new. They mixed rock, country, bluegrass, the blues, and cajun, concocting a musical jambalaya unfamiliar to most people living north of the Mason-Dixon line. They had the instrumentation to match, with a fiddle or banjo often taking on a prominent role in the band’s soundscape.

Upon arriving on the local music scene in 1976, Abilene began pumping life back into country music in Luzerne County, which had been in a sort of hibernation in the region. Their sound did begin making waves at an unlikely location, however, when they opened for Billy Joel at the Scranton Catholic Youth Center. It was an unlikely pairing of opening act and headliner, but Abilene certainly made an impression.

Abilene’s stage performance was a draw in and of itself. They brought in massive crowds and kept audiences on their toes by delivering unpredictable, musically diverse sets. Not many country-infused bands can pack a fair and a nightclub, but Abilene was able to pull it off in either setting. During their rise in popularity, the band made local television appearances, and the venues started to become bigger. All of this buzz may undercut a critical truth of Abilene’s story, which is to say that they were a true “musicians’ band,” or one that earned the respect of their musical peers.

Abilene played shows throughout the Northeast United States, including in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Back in their home base of Luzerne County, Abilene boldly stepped up for labor. When disgruntled newspaper workers went on strike in 1978, and subsequently formed The Citizens’ Voice, the young band members helped the new publication raise money as the holiday season approached.

After playing up and down the Northeast for seven years, the members of Abilene began to drift into their own separate endeavors outside of music. The band was largely retired, but they did play occasional shows from 1983 to 1991, and the appearances were often branded as reunions.

Abilene’s setlists over the course of 15 years pulled from different sources of the country music tradition. They could play standards from Hank Williams, and transition smoothly into the counterculture Southern rock of John Fogerty. The bands Abilene opened for often reflected these setlist selections. They naturally shared bills with artists like the Charlie Daniels Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

At the urging of Wilkes-Barre’s then-Mayor Tom Leighton, Abilene reunited once again, years after their most recent performance as a group, to play at Wilkes-Barre’s bicentennial celebration in 2006. The band agreed to play one hour after the Beach Boys, and they successfully captured the energy they brought in 1976. Two years later, Abilene played another anniversary show, this time for The Citizens’ Voice’s 30-year celebration.

Abilene’s career is defined by the threads that were sewn during the 1970s. Their perfectly-timed formation, and later their support for the striking journalists, built their cultural significance in Luzerne County. It all paid off three decades later, after their reconvening became an emphasis point. For a time – or two – a Luzerne County party wouldn’t have been complete without Abilene.