Barry Boyce brings rockin’ polka to Amana Oktoberfest

Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” as a polka sounds surreal. That wild cover is part of the Barry Boyce Band’s set list Saturday at Millstream Brewing Co. during Oktoberfest in the Amana Colonies.

“When we play ‘Crazy Train’ people are surprised,” Boyce said while calling from his Yutan, Neb., home. “People are like, ‘You’re playing Ozzy!’ They love it. It’s unexpected and fun.”

The same goes for Boyce’s take on Meghan Trainor’s “All About that Bass,” which is rearranged as “All About that Beer.”

“That’s what it’s all about at the Oktoberfests that we play,” Boyce said. “It’s a beer fest.”

But polka propels the party. Boyce and his band, which also plays plenty of straight-up, traditional polka, is very busy during autumn.

“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger at this time of year,” Boyce said.

Who would have guessed that polka would boom? It was a very different story when Boyce, 60, became a professional polka player in 1978.

“It was a dying art then,” he said. “At least that’s what I thought. The older crowd was dying out. But something has happened over recent years. The younger generation is looking back at its heritage. It’s surprising but good.”

It’s also surprising how much heavy lifting Boyce does during each show. His accordion is 32 pounds.

“I have strong shoulders after carrying the accordion around all these years,” he said.

But it’s a labor of love.

“Playing these songs and this instrument is so much fun,” he said. “That’s especially so when I look around and I see all of the people out there having so much fun. They hear the beat and it’s just so uplifting that you look out at everyone and they’re all smiling.”

Boyce and his band would only have a handful of gigs a month a generation ago but they’re playing 16 shows a month during peak season of September and October. What’s surprising is that the band performs about nine concerts in January, traditionally the slowest month of the year.

Apparently polka has appeal, particularly the way Boyce and his bandmates play, which is in a spirited manner with plenty of surprises.

“It takes people back when someone in the audience screams ‘Freebird’ and we play it,” Boyce said. “We can handle that.”

Aside from the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic, the Boyce Band does a cool version of the Bill Withers’ classic, “Lean on Me,” and the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

“It’s just so much fun no matter what we play,” Boyce said. “There is something infectious about polka.”

It’s party music as folks dance, drink beer and consume pretzels.

“It's music that’s meant to be experienced live,” Boyce said. “It sounds great recorded, but there is just something about it when a live band is playing these songs.”

It’s not surprising Boyce’s lineage goes back to Eastern Europe, since polkas come from the Slavic regions, Germany and Austria. Boyce grew up with the music, and unlike many of his peers, didn’t abandon the energetic art form for rock ’n’ roll.

“I obviously love it or I wouldn’t have been doing this for all of these years,” Boyce said. “I love that there are so many breweries now. That’s led to more gigs. If there is beer, a polka goes hand in hand with a good brew.”

Polka has a purity that hasn't been altered by American mass culture.

“It’s great that the polka still sounds like it did a half-century or century ago,” Boyce said. “There might be some things that change, like a group like us playing ‘Crazy Train.’ But the traditional polkas still sound like they did back in the day, and that’s a good thing.”