Bluegrass Mania In Bozeman!!!

Hey All! It's been too long!!! I've decided to make my return to blogging by giving some sweet links to the recordings from the 12th Annual Bozeman Bluegrass Festival!

The festival has always been a one day event with a couple of national acts but was expanded to two days of exceptional acts hitting the stage at the Emerson Center. 

There were only two, well actually three acts in the Crawford Theater on 11/10/18 the second night of the festival. The evening started out with the sweet americana sounds of Dead Horses. Dead Horses hail from the great state of Wisconsin and have been touring as a duo but occasionally have other musicians sit in with them in the midwest. Singer/Songwriter and guitarist Sarah Vos and bassist Daniel Wolff make up the core.

Their website can be found at:

http://www.deadhorses.net/

Here is a link to my audience recording of their set.

https://archive.org/details/DeadHorses111018

The second act on the stage on that beautiful evening of music were The Travelin' McCourys. A couple of these fellas are the sons of bluegrass legend Del McCoury. They threw down an amazing nine songs from their own catalog and then were joined by the one and only Peter Rowan. Peter Rowan was one of the Bluegrass Boys that played with one of the godfathers of bluegrass, the one and only Bill Monroe. Peter was also a founding member of Old and In The Way, which included other music legends Jerry Garcia and David "Dawg" Grisman. 

Here is a link to my audience recording of The Travelin' McCourys. Peter Rowan joins in on track 10 where they play a special Bill Monroe set with a couple of Old and In The Way and Rowan solo tunes at the end of the set. 

https://archive.org/details/prtm2018-11-10.bozemanbluegrassfestival 

There were many other acts that played the festival that are all amazing, some being local to Bozeman and others just in for the festival. Here are the links to those other shows I managed to tape.

Bozeman Bluegrass Bands

Laney Lou and The Bird Dogs

https://archive.org/details/llbd2018-11-09

Lazy Owl String Band

https://archive.org/details/losb2018-11-10

The Fresh Boys

https://archive.org/details/TheFreshBoys110918

National Acts

Benjamin Jaffe (of Honey, Honey)

https://archive.org/details/BenjaminJaffe111018

The Larry Keel Experience

https://archive.org/details/LK2018-11-10

Hot Buttered Rum

https://archive.org/details/hbr2018-11-10

Whitewater Ramble

https://archive.org/details/wwr2018-11-10

Armchair Boogie

https://archive.org/details/arm2018-11-09

and the

Rumpke Mountain Boys

https://archive.org/details/rmb2018-11-09

Thanks to Chickenjam West Productions and all of the other wonderful people that put this two day event on! Music makes the world go round! Cheers and I hope you enjoy the tunes!

Opening Weekend 2018 Geyser Action

            Once a year there is a time that I personally get very excited for, the opening of the roads into Yellowstone National Park. They close yearly in October or November and re-open towards the middle end of April. During this time the only road that is accessible to regular wheeled vehicles is from Gardiner, Montana to Cooke City, Montana. Not saying this is a bad thing but I have a love that has been built up over the years for one unique feature, geysers.

Beehive Geyser, 4 21 18 10:25 am

            Yellowstone National Park is home to over 14,000 thermal features, the highest concentration on our big blue planet. There are four varieties of thermal features. Hot springs are beautiful to look at but stay constantly the same (although some may become geysers because of the underground working of the Earth). Fumaroles, or steam vents as they are also called have water underground and produce heavy amounts of steam that never reaches the surface; these are the hottest of the features. Mudpots consist of bubbling acidic mud that you would not want to use as a facemask, as the summer moves on they become less active and produce a dried mud shell around their vicinity. Then come geysers.

            Geysers are hot springs that eject water into the air. They come in two varieties, cone geysers and fountain geysers. Cone geysers are the stereotypical geysers you think of like the world famous performer Old Faithful. They water builds up underground and have a cone formation on the surface, this cone is build of siliceous sinter, or geyserite as it is also known. Basically it is a water deposited form of opal that is not gem quality. The cone geysers have beautiful built up cone formations. They will eject water in a single stream with a steam phase to follow. Other examples of cone geysers are Beehive, Giant, Grotto and Riverside.

            Fountain geysers are the other type. They look like your average hot spring pool but there is something different about them. After an eruption the pool will start to fill up until it starts to overflow. Once this happens depending on the geyser an eruption will eventually be attained. The eruptions from a fountain geyser happen in a series of bursts from the pool. Some go for a short time while others go for hours on end. The most famous of these is definitely Grand Geyser, the most predictable of the large fountain geysers.  My personal favorite is Great Fountain Geyser; this was the first geyser that was ever seen by an expedition into Yellowstone in 1869 by the Folsom, Cooke and Peterson party.

            We did have a good geyser day but no fountains in our experience on the second day that the park roads were opened. We did catch a rare performance of the unpredictable Beehive geyser just as we drove up. The beehive has a small geyser that is attached to its plumbing system ironically called Beehive’s Indicator (although its not always associated with an eruption of the big guy), which was going off. It went two minutes after arrival as I scooted as close as possible to get a look, some photos and a bit of video footage.

Old Faithful Geyser, 4 21 18, 10:35 am

            After we watched Beehive do it’s thing we headed towards the visitors center to check on the predictions of other geysers Old Faithful gave us a show, less than ten minutes after Beehive. We then headed into the visitors center where they have a screen that has predictions for the major geysers on it. I always like to take a photo of that so I can look back at it and try to make my way around the Upper Geyser Basin in an orderly fashion to see as many of these wonders of the world as possible.

            We started heading out towards Daisy Geyser and ended up waiting there for about an hour but it gave a good show, we think that the prediction was an hour off, but it was the second day the roads were open. After Daisy we headed towards Riverside Geyser, which is always beautiful, especially when you get the rainbow effect when the sun is at the right angle (which we did not). We waited there for about another half hour and it gave us a show.

Daisy Geyser performs on 4 21 118

            After these beauties danced in the sunlight for us we started making our way back along the boardwalks towards the Old Faithful Inn where or car was parked. We stopped at Spasmodic, which is really fun to watch if it’s going, small but furious. We headed back towards Castle Geyser and saw a second Old Faithful from the bridge over the Firehole River. This was a great first geyser day for the 2018 season. We are hoping that there are many more days just like this or better.

Riverside Geyser 4 21 18

            As we made our way back towards Livingston we took it slow and enjoyed moving along the roads of the park that we love. There is a bit of snow till up there but that never stops those that have a love for this place. The best part of the whole ordeal is that the National Park Service made it possible for us to get thru after they said a couple days previous that the construction zone was impassible. Thanks NPS for protecting these special places and making them accessible. See you in the park!

            

Three Days in the Cascade Corner of Yellowstone National Park

Do you know the best part of Yellowstone National Park? Well, that’s a trick question. Everything is great about this park! Most recently we took some clients on a rather large, epic-backpacking trip into the southwestern region of the park, the Bechler, or otherwise referred, Cascade Corner. This area is known for it’s large concentration of waterfalls, open meadows, epic fishing and wonderful thermal features. Lets take a quick version of our long walk and dip our toes in the waters of the Bechler.

The Beginning

The first day of the trip we met up in West Yellowstone where we hopped in our van. From West Yellowstone we headed south to Ashton, Idaho where a dirt road heads towards the Bechler Ranger Station. It was a nice road where we only met a couple vehicles before we reached the station. When we got to the trailhead we readjusted our backpacks, divvying out the group gear and food amongst all of the participants including yours truly.

Once we got all adjusted we stopped to check in with the ranger in the station.  The original Bechler Ranger Station was built during the army’s residence in Yellowstone from 1886 to 1918, it was built in 1911. There are two more ranger stations that date to that era left in Yellowstone including the Tower Ranger Station and Museum of the National Park Ranger at the entrance to the Norris Campground.

Our first day was very short, just less than 4 miles; it was a flat hike thru some beautiful woods that paralleled the Bechler River at points. We got to base camp and hung out and got acquainted a bit while we set up camp. This was the only campsite of the trip that a fire was allowed at so we took advantage of that. Wood was not too easy to come by as this is a very popular area of the park but we managed enough to have a nice blaze.

Day Two

We woke and broke camp in the morning. Our friends from England saw a moose in the morning that the rest of us missed. The early bird gets the worm as they say. Today was our first big hike of the trip.  As we made our way towards Bechler Meadows we had to cross our first stream. There are many fords of this trip. Where you must cross the river on foot with all of your gear on you.  The major reason that backpacking the Bechler is not advised until later in the summer is high water from spring melt off.

The Bechler Meadows were very large and beautiful but quite brown at this point. It was very dry which is good for hiking this trail. If you hike it in the fall you avoid the high water and also the bugs, mosquitoes and biting flies. After crossing the meadows we came to the Bechler River ford. This was the first of a few fords on this trip. Being the guide I took the lead and found the best route. All made it across with no mishaps.

Iris Falls, Yellowstone National Park. 

Once across the Bechler we started making our way up the canyon where an abundance of waterfalls can be found. The three falls that are seen from the trail are Ouzel, Columnade and Iris Falls in that order. Ouzel is barely seen from the trail but the others are seen more easily in their entirety.

After making our way along the river we came to our next ford of the day, this was the toughest of them all on this trip. The rocks were larger and there were a few deeper holes in the Bechler to avoid. We got advice from some fellow hikers on where the best place to ford would be to our advantage.  Everyone made it across with no problems.

After this ford we made our way further north and uphill on the west side of the Bechler River until we made our way to the final ford of the trip. This was the easiest of the fords and very close to our campsite at Albright Falls. It was a long day of meadows, fords, uphill hiking and waterfalls, well worth every second. We ended the day with some nice freeze-dried meals, which are super light and pack a good caloric punch.  I hope you like a lot of white noise, because the water tumbling down the 260-foot Albright Falls is right in the campsite and rushing like crazy.

Day Three

We woke up early this morning and made our way thru the fog and cool air towards our breakfast destination.   As we hike north we are getting further into the super volcano caldera, which erupted a mere 640,000 years ago and continues to fuel the unique thermal features we see along the trail.  Geologic processes are the reason that Yellowstone as we know it is here.

The Ferris, Gregg, and Phillips Forks create the Bechler River at the Three Rivers Junction. Right near this junction is our breakfast spot of choice, Mr. Bubbles. This legal soaking spot, (one of very few in Yellowstone) is located on the Ferris Fork to the east of the Bechler River Trail on a spur, which is about a half mile in length.

There are some wonderful thermal features along this spur trail on the Ferris Fork.

Most are VERY hot and dangerous.  Mr. Bubbles is a big bubbler type thermal feature in a little cove on the river, there is also a thermal stream that feeds into the same cove, and it’s pretty awesome! These both mix with cold water making it legal to soak in, just like the world famous Boiling River.

Mr Bubbles.

 Mr Bubbles area.

After soaking and making freeze dried eggs burritos with coffee for breakfast we started heading north for another long day hike. We made our way up and out of the Bechler River Canyon and stopped to see Twister Falls on the way. We made our way thru the forests of mostly lodgepole pines and obsidian coated ground where a few mushrooms dotted the forest. Eventually we made our way to a wet meadow that we had to cross. At the far end of the meadow we pumped water from a stream and made our way back into the forest to our campsite which was not too far from the next days destination of Shoshone Lake and Geyser Basin.

Day Four

We woke up and had some breakfast and coffee per regular routine and hit the trail on our shortest day to the campsite nearest the Shoshone Geyser Basin, Basin Bay Point. It was a great campsite located to the east of the basin across a small shallow bay. We were glad to be at Shoshone Lake as everyone took a dip in the waters to cleanse ourselves.

This was the most relaxing and chilled out day on the trail. We took the short trip to the geyser basin and saw some wonderful geysers in actions and other thermal actions. It was very hot so we found a couple of small shaded spots and watched for a bit then headed back to camp. There was more swimming that ensued because to the warmth of the day.

The campsite has a great view to the west over Basin Bay therefore affords nice sunsets. We had a few clouds in the sky and got some pinks and purples, it was nice and pastel like. After sunset we all sank into our tents with an early wakeup call to head out in the morning for an early hike of around nine miles.

Shoshone Geyser Basin.

Make sure to stay on established trails in the geyser basins.

Final Day

We woke up early and broke down camp for the last time on this adventure. Life is different when your house is on your back. If your desire is to get out and see these places that are tucked away deep in the backcountry this is how it happens. You carry your tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, snacks, meals, headlamps, batteries, and everything you need on your back. It’s quite the ordeal but well worth it.

We made our way up and over Grants Pass for the last major uphill of the journey.  There was no sign to designate where the pass itself was but once you start going downhill you know you’ve been to the top.  We made our way thru some more lodgepole forests and eventually met up with the Firehole River.

The Firehole River runs thru the Upper, Middle and Lower Geyser Basins and then meets the Gibbon at Madison Junction to form the Madison River. The Madison is one of the tributaries that eventually becomes the much larger Missouri River. Any how this is way further down river than we actually are near Lone Star Geyser.

We eventually make our way to the geyser after passing a few campsites, going across some swampy meadows on wooden boardwalks and walking by a solo very large bull bison. He was not too close to where we were, but if he had been you know we would have used an alternative route to get around him.  All animals in Yellowstone are wild and should be treated that way.

Lone Star Geyser, (no named for the Lone Star State, but for being such an outlier of a large geyser) erupts about every three or so hours. We got there and no one seemed to actually know when the geyser had last had a major eruption. It does have smaller eruptions called minors as well. We waited around for quite a while with some action but none major happening and had to meet our shuttle at 3 pm. We finally decided that it was time to go and a minor eruption happened. It was great to see.

The last lag of the trail is an old partially paved service road that meanders along the Firehole River. It is very easy going and serene to be walking by such a nice river. There were some swimming holes that looked like they could be perfect for a scorching summer day or filled with trout of world renown. This was a perfect way to end the hike, meeting many people along the trail was a great way to ease back into society after being immersed in the wilderness for four nights and five days.

Lone Star Geyser. 

Yellowstone National Park's Boiling River Closed Until Further Notice

This is not the actual sign, but you get the point.

Yesterday marked the time of year that college students from Bozeman loathe, the Spring closing of the Boiling River. No, the super volcano is not getting hotter. The reasoning for the closure is very easy to figure out if you have ever lived in a place that has four seasons, Spring runoff. The rivers are rising which makes them more dangerous. They are being fed by all of that snow that is melting and running down the mountains.

The thing that I find funny is that people will drive 75 miles to soak in an overcrowded place which is only 3 miles from the North Entrance to the park and not go past. A friend of mine said that she had only been to the Boiling River previous to her visit this last week. This saddens me because  Yellowstone National Park (YNP) is one of the most special places in the world in my view.

 The National Park Service does not close this because they fell like it, there are always legitimate reasons for any closure in Yellowstone. In this case it is high water, sometimes there is a animal carcass on a trail, etc. If you are caught in this area while it is closed you will most likely be fined.

YNP is home to over 10,000 thermal features including the highest concentration of geysers on planet Earth. Actually it has more than all of the other geyser fields combined. It is also home to the largest free roaming herds of elk and bison in the world, which is quite amazing. There are also pronghorn antelope, white tail and mule deer and many other small mammals. Not to mention the grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, bobcat, lynx, and many other predators.

If this is not enough for you I'll also mention that there are over 1,100 miles of hiking trails in the park and many more in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem  that surrounds the park.

So if this is not enough for you then I don't know what to say.

Yellowstone National Park is unique and beautiful as well as captivating and dangerous. This place should not be taken lightly. If you live in this region take a trip to the park, watch some wildlife, get the geyser predictions from the Old Faithful Visitors Center or get the NPS Geyser APP for you "smart phone" users.

Yellowstone National Park was set aside "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people" on March 1, 1892 because it is so unique and full of wonder and danger.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. They are pushing the Find Your Park campaign to get people out. Is this your park or are you gonna just drive 3 miles in?

The decision is yours but I beg of you, take a cruise and see what it's all about. It is in fact your heritage!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you Find Your Park! #findyourpark




The Boiling River in 1900

Emmylou Harris and John Prine To Headline "An Evening at the Arch: Yellowstone Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial" August 25th, 2016 in Gardiner, Montana

 

This is a copy of the news release that came out yesterday.

 

Grammy award winning singer-songwriters, Emmylou Harris and John Prine will headline “An Evening at the Arch: Yellowstone Celebrates the National Park Service Centennial” on Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 7 p.m. MT in Gardiner, Montana. The event will be broadcast live online.

 

“This very special event will kick off the second century for the National Park Service, highlight the importance of public/private partnerships, and recognize the completion of the Gardiner Gateway Project Phase One,” said Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk.

 

The event features a talented line-up of performers: Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Leyla McCalla, the children’s chorus The Singing Angels from Cleveland, Ohio, and Teddy Roosevelt reenactor, Joe Wiegand, with more performances and details to be announced in the coming months. Local, state, and national dignitaries will also speak at the event.

 

Advance tickets are required. Tickets are free, but limited. The first ticket release will be on Sunday, May 15 at noon MT on https://www.ticketriver.com/event/19359. Additional ticket releases will occur on June 15 and July 15. Event organizers strongly recommend that people secure lodging BEFORE getting a ticket because area lodging is limited. Residents of Gardiner and Jardine are encouraged to get tickets from the Gardiner Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber will distribute tickets held especially for local residents as a thank you for their patience and flexibility during the Gardiner Gateway Project construction.

 

For the safety and comfort of all attendees, no alcohol, coolers, umbrellas, or dogs will be allowed at this event. Qualified service animals are welcome; however, they must be leashed and under your control at all times. Additional information about coverage logistics for news media will be released at a later date. For more information, visit https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/evening-arch.htm.

 

The event sponsors include: Yellowstone Association, Yellowstone Park Foundation, Yellowstone National Park Lodges, Yellowstone Park Service Stations, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Cool Works, D&R Coffee, First Interstate Bank, Gardiner Chamber of Commerce, Kendeda Fund, National Parks Conservation Association, National Park Foundation, Sinclair, State of Montana, State of Wyoming, and Yellowstone Country.

 

“An Evening at the Arch” is a great example of the countless ways there are to find your park. Launched in March 2015, Find Your Park / Encuentra Tu Parque is a public awareness and education movement to inspire people to connect with, celebrate, and support America’s national parks and community-based programs. Celebrating the National Park Service Centennial and setting the stage for the Service's next 100 years, Find Your Park invites people to discover and share their own unique connections to our nation's natural landscapes, vibrant culture, and rich history.

 

 

Yellowstone Roads Open And Geyser Mania Ensues

So every year we have lived in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem we have made it a tradition to head to the park on the opening weekend. This year we took a couple of new friends and headed to Old Faithful. As always it was amazing but this year we had an amazing geyser day in the Upper Geyser Basin (where we spent our whole day).

We pulled up below the Old Faithful Inn and there were maybe ten vehicles. We headed into the visitors center to get the predicted times for the geysers and headed out.

It's always good to know when the predicted times are so you can plan your route through the Upper Geyser Basin.

So we started out on our journey and headed out to get up to Observation Point thinking that it would be a great place to see Old Faithful from. We got to the bridge and our friend noticed that Beehive was erupting! As normal I ran to get next to it and WOW what a great first geyser of the National Park Service Centennial year! After that we caught an amazing show from Old Faithful.

BEEHIVE!!!

OLD FAITHFUL!

After this we headed out towards Morning Glory from Geyser Hill. The boardwalk from Castle to Sawmill Geyser is being redone so you could access the trails from Old Faithful and Grotto Geysers. We did the round and made it to Artemisia and sat there for a while. We decided to head to Biscuit Basin and caught Jewel from the other side of the lollipop loop. We watched some ravens eat a cormorant at Black Diamond Pool and headed back to the trail. I was the first to get back to Artemisia which started erupting upon my arrival. This was my first time as well as all my companions to see this geyser. It erupted for 24 minutes, we stayed the whole time.

Artemisia on the first pass.

Ephydrid Flies on a bacteria mat at Biscuit Basin.

BOOM! ARTEMISIA!!!

Great times with great friends!

After watching this amazing geyser action we headed back towards the main basin area to Riverside which had not gone. It was in overflow when we got there so we waited, it must have just started so we waited almost an hour in hopes that Grand had not gone yet. It was worth the wait because you can see Grotto from the Riverside viewing area. We finally got a show, it was amazing as always.

RIVERSIDE!

We stayed for the majority of the show and headed out to Grand because we had not seen any steam plumes from that area. We waited for two turbans and on the third we got the wave and Grand gave us an amazing show. It had quite a few bursts then paused for an amazingly large explosion of water from below! One of the local Geyser Gazers was super vocal and excited. That made me excited because these people live for these amazing unique features! It was awesome!

This is the large burst! WOW!

On the way back to Old Faithful geyser we were near the Lion Group when Castle Geyser let off a little steam, well and a ton of water. It's always great to see the big, predictable geysers erupt. They are so unique and we should not take them for granted.

Castle Geyser, one of the greats!

After this, on the way back to the car we caught another Old Faithful eruption.

What? No one else is at Old Faithful, this is very strange...

This was the end of our geyser day at Old Faithful but one that will go down in our personal history books as, well an EPIC geyser day.

On the way back home we got another show, thermal in some way but not the same.

Electric Peak at sunset!

The park is opening the roads at the normal rate. Happy hunting!

Thanks for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed it!

Midwest Music Invades Montana!

Once again it's time for bands to hit the road on their Spring tours! And there are a lot of good ones out there. Obviously I have biased towards certain genres and musicians because everyone does. Most of the music that I listen to is based on local tastes of where I have lived in the past and present and is roots based, eg not mainstream. So here are a few shows that I would recommend people attend in and around Park and Gallatin Counties in Montana.

Charlie Parr 4/2/16 @ The Filling Station

First up is the immortal Charlie Parr! Charlie will be headlining the Filling Station on Saturday, April 2nd with Russ Chapman opening the show. The Filling Station is the quintessential Bozeman music venue. The décor is a reminder of past oil changes and neon signs. The place is ragged and dirty and the crowd eclectic.

Click the link below for a taste of Charlie from 2014 at The Filling Station.

https://archive.org/details/cp2014-04-03

Pert Near Sandstone and Head For The Hills

4/14/16 @ The Filling Station

Next up on the agenda is Pert Near Sandstone and Head For The Hills. These bands both rock! Pert Near Sandstone hails from Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota with an outlier that lives in Los Angeles (Hey Nate!). They have been playing together for over 10 years and have been here there and everywhere. This past year they threw one hell of a festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin dubbed the Blue Ox Festival, very fitting for the north woods of the Midwest. Pert Near Sandstone has always focused on old time and bluegrass music, playing standards and their own originals as well as DEEP tracks. 

Head For The Hills is a great Colorado group that is also super fun! They definitely throw down in yo town. I'm not as familiar with H4TH but they never disappoint!

Click the link below for my recording of Pert Near Sandstone from last fall in Bozeman.

 https://archive.org/details/pns2015-11-03

Click the link below for my recording of Head For The Hills from Ed's(no name)Bar in Winona, Minnesota.

https://archive.org/details/hfth2013-03-02

The Last Revel and Lil Smokies @ The Filling Station 4/28/16

The Last Revel became an instant smash in Montana when they won the Best New Band title at the Red Ants Pants Festival a couple years back. They have been gaining steam in the Midwest as a new band on the scene and we hope they keep gaining and gaining and gaining. They will be playing with The Lil Smokies from Missoula who won an even more prestigious title of Best New Band at Telluride Bluegrass Festival last summer. This is one not to miss!

The Last Revel!

Here is a recording of The Last Revel from The Turf Club in Saint Paul from Tommy The Beard

https://archive.org/details/LR2016-02-25

The Lil Smokies are HOT!

Here is a recording of The Lil Smokies from Seattle.

https://archive.org/details/TheLilSmokies2014-07-16.akg481.flac24

The Lowest Pair 5/11/16 @ Live From The Divide

Some of my favorite people are playing at Live From The Divide on May 11th. The Lowest Pair consists of Kendl Winter and Palmer T Lee are who I would consider the second family of the banjo (behind Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn and little Juno Fleck) These two are an amazing duo and should not be missed with dual banjo action and amazing harmonies. The Lowest Pair's debut album 36cents was produced by the one and only Dave Simonett, front man  of Trampled By Turtles. There is super limited seating for this show so get your tickets early.

How could you not trust a man with morels on his hat?

Here's a link to my recording of The Lowest Pair when they played The Filling Station from 4/7/14:

https://archive.org/details/TheLowestPairLiveAtTheFillingStation

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 6/2/16 @ The Eagles Club

w/Special Guests TBA

If there was ever a show in Bozeman not to miss it's this one! Horseshoes and Hand Grenades have been on one hell of a roll. They have recently toured with Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass and are about to jump on with Yonder Mountain String Band for a series of shows. These fellas hail from Stevens Point, Wisconsin and WOW do they have some fun. Just last year they released their third album Middle Western which pretty much sums them up! One thing you might want to beware of is they like to run around topless in the middle of winter.

 

Here is a link to my recording from Horseshoes and Hand Grenades first show in Bozeman!

https://archive.org/details/hhg2014-07-10

Last but definitely least we have our good friends Joe and Vicki Price!

Joe and Vicki Price @ The Murray Bar 6/9/16

Joe and Vicki Price hail from Decorah, Iowa and they have definitely made a name for themselves. Joe had been on the circuit for many years when he was picked up by Vicki and they became this immortal duo. Joe and Vicki are some of the most genuine people you will ever meet, and they will rock your socks off! Joe has been called Little Buddha by the legendary Greg Brown who also hails from Iowa. If you love the blues then make sure not to miss this one, as Joe reiterates, "I just came to play the blues!"

Here is a copy of Joe and Vicki live at Weber's Deck in French Lake, Minnesota recorded by Tommy The Beard and transferred by yours truly.

https://archive.org/details/jv2011-08-28

If you are from the Midwest and have a hankering for a taste of home here are a few options to cure the blues. All of these bands and musicians are world class artists and people so come on out and support them and the culture that they are a part of! Midwest music is on the horizon so get some while you can!