SAN DIEGO - Dan McLain, who as  "Country Dick Montana"
led the band the Beat Farmers, died of an apparent heart
attack during a concert in Canada. He was 40.

Mr. McLain suddenly fell back onto the drum set and
collapsed during the performance Wednesday about 60
miles outside Vancouver. He was pronounced dead soon
thereafter.

"They (band members) said he was having problems
breathing during the second song, but he looked healthier
than I've ever seen him,"  said David Gilroy, general
manager of the Longhorn Cabaret in Whistler, B.C., where
Mr. McLain died in front of a sold-out audience of 250.

Autopsy results were not available Friday.

The Beat Farmers, whose sound is a blend of rock, country
and blues, began 12 years ago playing to audiences in the
obscure Spring Valley Inn in east San Diego County. They
soon gained wider recognition, in part because of Mr.
McLain's rambunctious, charged nightclub performances.

"He would stand on people's tables and kick drinks in
their laps,"  said Buddy Blue, one of the Beat Farmers'
original guitarists.  "I could never understand how he
could get away with it. But people loved it."


KEN (kdrew@nd.edu)
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*The Beat Farmers : WWW page at:           *
*http://www.ucsd.edu/sdam/artists/bf/   *
*Webb Wilder : check these guys out!        *
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