It has been a dozen years now since a Helena-born Missoula musician named Colin Meloy abandoned this Island of Misfit Toys for the City of Roses. Little-known to the outside world before his departure despite some fine records by his alt-country band, Tarkio, Meloy has since emerged as a most unlikely star in the American rock scene: a bespectacled logophile who writes tunes that sound more like old British sea shanties than radio-ready pop songs, built around lyrics that often read like mystical fairy tales, sung in a faux-British accent and dressed up in a mismatched raiment of instruments – bouzoukis and electric guitars, dulcimers and drums.
At least, that was the narrative until early this year, when his band, the Decemberists, released “The King Is Dead,” its sixth studio album since the band was formed in Portland in 2002. [Read More...]
Some decent dough is available to Montana filmmakers for all stages of current projects. Here’s the press release from Humanities Montana… [Read More...]
Just got word that Steel Pulse has cancelled its concert at the Wilma tonight, due to travel issues. No explanation on what those issues were, but here’s what I know, straight from the promoter: [Read More...]
The music of Missoula band Stellarondo often seems to float in a magical space between the realms of folk, classical, and country – referencing familiar landmarks, yet rarely settling long in one place. This weekend, the band itself will float in a magical space that everyone in Western Montana knows and loves.
On Sunday night at 7 p.m. the band will set sail from the Lakeside Marina for a two-hour musical cruise aboard the Far West, a 64-foot ship piloted by Art Burch. Anyone willing to fork over the price of a ticket — $19 for adults; $9.50 for kids age 6-12; under 6 free – can come along for the ride. [Read More...]
Guitarist Marco Littig has never hidden his passion for old-school blues. Despite coming of age in the 1980s heyday of nu-blues rockers like Stevie Ray Vaughn and smooth-ride populists like Robert Cray, Littig’s model music came from a more antiquated era, when guys like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker first fused the rough-and-rural vibe of southern acoustic blues with modern electric instruments.
So it comes as no real shock when the newest CD by Littig’s band, Mudslide Charley, kicks off with a rumbling, four-on-the-floor romp punctuated by vocals that sound like they were recorded through a megaphone with a weak battery. Though the tune is titled “Black Haired Angel,” they could have called it “Back Here Danger” and no listener would have raised an eyebrow: Buried within a growlingly distorted mix and wailing refrain, the lyrics themselves seem secondary to the effect – a dark smear of redaction across a crumpled-up love letter. [Read More...]
For those seeking some good old lazy fun this weekend, it might be worth a ride up to Lolo Hot Springs for the Green Grass Festival, a two-day bluegrass blowout featuring a host of top regional pickers. Acts on tap include Jackstraw, the Shook Twins, Dodgy Mountain Men, Little Smokies, The Acousticals, Crazy Mountain Billies, and apparently more TBA.
Music kicks off at 5 p.m. tonight (Friday) and runs into the dark hours in the night; then resumes at 1 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $30 for the whole weekend, and an array of vendors will be on hand.
Here’s the full schedule as it’s been given to me. [Read More...]
Well-known Missoula jazz singer Eden Atwood and her husband, the Canadian guitarist Claude Pineault, have launched a campaign on the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo to raise money for a new album. As I wrote recently, several local groups have turned to the Internet to raise funds for creative projects — and the local success [...]
I don’t normally post things that seem like ads here, but for the sake of my big-haired brethren of rawk, I’m making this exception: Today’s Deal is offering steeply discounted passes to Rockin the Rivers, which takes place August 12-14 at Three Forks. Pat Benetar and Ace Frehley, dude!
Here’s the info….The offer is good today only. [Read More...]
One-man jam-band Keller Williams (a man not to be confused with the nationwide Keller Williams Realty franchise) will return to Missoula for a show at the Wilma Theatre this September, five years after he last appeared locally for a gig at the UC Ballroom. Here’s the press release with relevant info about the show… [Read More...]
On Sunday, July 10, the Missoula Colony gathering of theatre artists gets down to business with its first event, a day-long discussion and workshop covering the particular challenges of scriptwriting for television. It is a topic known well by workshop leader Ron Fitzgerald, a writer with long-time Missoula connections and a resume stacked with impressive projects, including the Showtime series “Weeds,” NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” and the upcoming NBC series, “Prime Suspect.”
The day’s events culminate with an 8 p.m. staged reading of “Mississippi Queen,” a script for a television pilot by Missoula filmmaker Paige Williams. Based on her own life and autobiographical documentary of the same name, the script – Williams’ first – sets the stage for a fictionalized television series about a young lesbian woman growing up in a fundamentalist family in Mississippi.
As much as the day’s events aim to convey useful professional guidance to participants in this year’s Colony, they also speak directly to the underlying spirit of the annual gathering, now in its 16th year. [Read More...]
It has been a dozen years now since a Helena-born Missoula musician named Colin Meloy abandoned this Island of Misfit Toys for the City of Roses. Little-known to the outside world before his departure despite some fine records by his alt-country band, Tarkio, Meloy has since emerged as a most unlikely star in the American rock scene: a bespectacled logophile who writes tunes that sound more like old British sea shanties than radio-ready pop songs, built around lyrics that often read like mystical fairy tales, sung in a faux-British accent and dressed up in a mismatched raiment of instruments – bouzoukis and electric guitars, dulcimers and drums.
The music of Missoula band 
Guitarist Marco Littig has never hidden his passion for old-school blues. Despite coming of age in the 1980s heyday of nu-blues rockers like Stevie Ray Vaughn and smooth-ride populists like Robert Cray, Littig’s model music came from a more antiquated era, when guys like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker first fused the rough-and-rural vibe of southern acoustic blues with modern electric instruments.
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