What we do
Let The Horses Run
It's Good To See Your Dancin' Feet!
Let The Horses Run is the name of the album and the band. The concept, for live performances in particular, is to have each player ‘run’ with their own creativity and awesome instrumental skills, as well as provide a reliable dance groove for the dancers. The players enjoy opportunities to stretch their improvisational skills and still serve the song.
LTHR is: Greg Brooding on bass, Charlie Nickrenz on drums and vocals, Ronnie Elkan on fiddle and vocals, Joe Ybarra on pedal steel guitar, Olen Dillingham on fiddle, mandolin and vocals, and Rob Shotwell on guitar and vocals. Ronnie, Olen, Joe, Charlie and Rob are inductees into the Sacramento Western Swing Society Hall of Fame.
We perform classic country, Western swing, rockabilly, shuffles and other styles that were born in the mid- to late-20th century featuring the work of pioneer artists such as Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Sr., Merle Haggard, George Jones and some more obscure artists.
We have fun covering Vince Gill, George Strait, Randy Travis, Rodney Crowell, Waylon Jennings, Marty Stuart, Delbert McClinton, Brooks and Dunn, Dwight Yoakam, Alan Jackson as well as some originals in the mix.
To show that country can encompass other genres, we even throw in some Junior Parker, Tony Joe White, Beatles and Eagles!
We want folks to have fun when they come to see Let The Horses Run, whether it's dancing, listening or both.
Charlie Nickrenz
Drums, percussion, vocals
In his career, Charlie has backed up touring and recording acts from many genres of music including Toy Caldwell of the Marshall Tucker Band, English Beat and the Old Californios. He is well-known and in-demand for his tempo skills having played with the Sacramento Bros, L.A. country band Big City, blues greats Jimmy Thackeray and Tinsley Ellis, Big Iron, Fortunate Few, Rhonda Lynn and Edgewood Station and Robby James and the Streets of Bakersfield.
He joined the Western Swing Society a few years ago and has supported the monthly dances and played in the jam room ever since. He is the drum artist for ‘Let The Horses Run’ and was deeply involved with Rob Shotwell’s same-named recent CD.
On October 4, 2025, Charlie Nickrenz was inducted into the Sacramento Western Swing Society Hall of Fame.
Greg Brooding
Bass, booking manager
Greg's musical journey started playing in black gospel and southern gospel bands in the Bay area. In his early years of playing, he was fortunate to share the stage with The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Ron Kenoly, and Dennis Agajanian (at the time, Dennis was the Guinness World Record holder as the world's fastest flat picker.)
From there, his focus dialed in on the Bakersfield Sound. As a founding member, bassist and manager of Robby James and the Streets of Bakersfield since 2013, Greg has been able to share stage time with Lacy J Dalton, James Wesley, The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, and Lonestar.
Greg is a well-respected musician and band manager and has spent time with the Jessica Rose Band, Bite the Bullet, and is now excited to be a part of ‘Let The Horses Run’. He also laid down excellent bass tracks on Rob Shotwell’s CD, ‘Let The Horses Run’.
Ronnie Elkan
Fiddle, vocals
Ronnie took up the violin in his growing up years, later joined the Navy and revived his skills through traditional fiddle music and country. He is the 1979 California State Fiddle Champion, and has long standing with bands such as Private Stock, Buck Ford, Bite The Bullet, Stardust Cowboys, Cousin Cricket, Mae McCoy and Her Neon All-Stars and the House Band at the Western Swing Society in Sacramento every month, among others. He has played with bands ranging from Texas to L.A. in his long career. At one high point a few years ago at a casino in Lake Tahoe, he was asked to sit in with Asleep at the Wheel for his friend Jason Roberts.
Olen Dillingham
Fiddle, 5-string Mandolin, vocals
Olen is an accomplished 5-string mandolinist, fiddler and accordionist, among other instruments. His pedigree includes playing with bands such as Ron Bombardier and The Bayou Boys, Igor’s Jazz Cowboys, Cousin Cricket, the Carolyn Martin Swing Band, Fortunate Few, Stardust Cowboys, Dave Stuckey’s Hoot Owls and Bite The Bullet. He sometimes plays in the house band at the Western Swing Society every month.
He has an extensive history and friendship with former Texas Playboy the late Tiny Moore, beginning as a student of Tiny’s and later teaching fiddle and mandolin at Tiny’s music studio. Recently he was very instrumental in recording Rob Shotwell's CD, 'Let The Horses Run'. He is an in-demand string musician and is now part of the LTHR outfit. Olen adds his distinct creative swing improvisation to our repertoire.
Joseph 'Joe' Ybarra
Pedal Steel guitar
During his career in the Sacramento region, Joe has founded or joined many bands including Buckwheat, Tokpela, Dusty Rustlers, Hot’l Sacto, and Silver City Band. His pedal steel sound, especially with Tokpela and Dusty Rustlers, was significant in continuing the western swing genre in the Sacramento area.
Joe was the pedal steel man for the Dusty Rustlers when that group joined renowned swing mandolinist Tiny Moore and Joe’s friend and fiddler Richard Casanova on Ron Smeck’s Easy Livin’ Country Show on Channel 40 in the late ‘70’s. Joe served on pedal steel in the house bands at the Detour Inn and Showcase Lounge, and in his career has opened for Taj Majal, Tower of Power and Commander Cody a couple of times, all during the ‘70’s.
He is also an accomplished guitarist with a bluesy/jazzy style and played alongside brother Rudy in the instrumental jazz group, Prizm from 1997-2016. He has recorded for several groups in his career. He is holding down the pedal steel for ‘Let The Horses Run’ and recently added his outstanding steel sound to Rob Shotwell’s recent CD.
Rob Shotwell
Guitar, vocals
Putting himself through school in the ‘70’s as a folk singer, playing with folk and bluegrass groups such as Kactus and Risin’. He then migrated to the oil fields of Central California and he experienced a seismic shift to country, honky-tonk and western swing styles and began jamming with local country bands in the San Luis Obispo area.
Coming home to Northern California around 1980, he immersed himself in all manner of country music in bands and recordings. He founded Bite The Bullet in 1979 along with Ronnie Elkan. A few years later Shelley Elkan (then Whitney) joined up and greatly enhanced the show; the combination of Rob singing with Shelley (and Ronnie!) brought Bite The Bullet to a new level. The band played for years together, highlighted with house band status at the venerable dance club Yellow Rose.
He has written songs for decades and believes the best songs are created from life experiences (either personal or someone else's ...) such as joys, tragedies, heartbreaks and achievements. New band ‘Let The Horses Run’ performs a few of his songs, as well as many familiar classic and traditional tunes in the country genre; all of which touch on the concepts of leaving and being left, the working man and woman, facing mortality, the Saturday night dance, whimsy, family joy and wild horses.
For a few years he played five-string banjo and guitar with bluegrass bands On The Loose and the Banner Mountain Boys, recording with each. He joined the Jessica Rose Band in 2019 for a couple of years, and continued the 45+ years streak of playing with Bite The Bullet.