“Where are y’all from?” asked a weathered looking hatmaker to the couple that walked through his shop door one rainsoaked summer afternoon in Cody, Wyoming.
They didn’t know what to say.
Life had made a habit of keeping them on the road for so long that the meaning of the question had become almost arbitrary. Their delayed response as they looked towards each other prompted him.
“No matter. You look like you belong right here,” the man said.
Rhett Henry Baxter and Camille Elizabeth hail from America’s heartland but have made homes of various locales in the west over the course of the last decade in pursuit of what they love: traveling, climbing, skiing, alpinism, surfing, and ultimately—storytelling.
Their similar interests in music and songwriting were immediately apparent. Inspired by the folk revival of the 60’s and traditional country music, they’ve long been in love with the freedom of wide open country and the people within it. Music is an extension and expression of the people, the places and all the life lived along the way.
Late one whiskey fueled night, the first time they met, in the parking lot of a ski area, the idea was planted.
Radio Ranch was born on the road.
Hardwood Heart is a string band serving up exploratory bluegrass/rock/jazz/americana to anybody with an open mind.
We are a rock band from Montana. We Started playing together as The Flip Wilsons sometime around 2000. Come watch ups play at The Remington Bar in Whitefish Montana.
Tylor & The Train Robbers debut album “Gravel” is a perfect blend of gritty americana and outlaw honky tonk. This album has been described as honest, inviting and quintessentially western (Micheal Deeds – Idaho Statesman). Released in May of 2017, “Gravel” is a compilation of 10 original songs written by lead singer Tylor Ketchum. Tylor describes this album as a snapshot of the band just as you’d hear them at a live show.
Currently, the Train Robbers are on the road touring throughout the US and are working on recording their second studio album, due out in the summer of 2018.
Ian Thomas performing with his Band Of Drifters; draws on a variety of American roots influences, delivering a captivating raw live performance and distinctive sound from his original compositions on guitar, harmonica and kazoo.
Brent Cobb follows in the footsteps of his country music heroes with his new gospel album, And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…. By offering eight familiar hymns alongside an original song written with his wife, the collection feels reverent as well as rowdy—and completely in his comfort zone. Brent cites a near-death experience as the push he needed to finally make And Now, Let’s Turn to Page…. In July 2020, the vehicle he was driving, with his young son inside, got T-boned at a rural four-way stop. That crash made him think about everything that led up to that moment – the fact that he didn’t have his daughter with him because his mother offered to watch her, or that he took a different way to his parents’ house that day, or that he had to turn around and get something he’d forgotten in the house before heading out. “You just start piecing together how everything is sort of intentional,” he says. “And again, I’d always had it in the back of my mind to make a gospel album. That moment of clarity, of almost getting killed, made me think I should just make the gospel album now.”
Produced by Dave Cobb in RCA Studio A in Nashville, And Now, Let’s Turn to Page… continues a tradition established by legends such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson, and Elvis Presley, who could invoke their spiritual side without losing sight of their musical foundation. “I’ve always wanted to make a southern gospel album because it’s what I come from, but also it used to seem like a rite of passage for country singers to make a gospel album,” Brent says. “It all comes from gospel music. That’s where country music came from. I’m just trying to carry that torch.”
Because Dave and Brent are cousins, there’s an inherent family feeling that runs throughout these nine songs. In a literal sense, with Brent’s parents and sister joining him in the studio for the first time on this heartfelt project. And also in a more symbolic manner, with Brent singing the same hymns passed down through generations of Cobb ancestors. His grandfather, whose loud singing voice still resonates in the family’s memory, led the congregation singing at the Antioch Baptist Church in Ellaville, GA until he passed on that role to his Brent’s father. Brent’s aunts and uncles remain actively involved in the congregation, too. Born and raised in Georgia, Brent returned to his home state a few years ago after establishing a career as one of Nashville’s most creative and compelling songwriters.
Summer Dean knows the value of unvarnished truth. How paths not taken can yield both happiness and heartache. How life doesn’t care about labels. That candor is palpable in every syllable and sound of the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s new record, The Biggest Life, a profound, vivid document of a songwriter cementing her place among the top rank of Texas tunesmiths.
“I’m very proud of myself and this record,” Dean says. “It’s the most real and vulnerable I’ve ever been with my writing.”
In a moment where so much of country music is safe, slick and simple, there is indeed a rawness and a reality to Dean’s songs which sets her apart as a songwriter of substance. It’s no wonder Texas legends like Bruce Robison, who agreed to produce Life on the strength of Dean’s demos, call her work “bracing.”
You can hear hard-earned humanity in “Big Ol Truck,” a wry ode to reality not always matching expectations, just as you can hear it in the woozy cantina swirl of “She’s in His Arms, But I’m in the Palm of His Hand,” and particularly in the album’s shattering closer, “Lonely Girl’s Lament,” Dean’s most formidable moment on record to date.
“It’s a human story she’s telling,” Robison says. “She’s showcasing life from her perspective. There are things in Summer’s songs that can resonate with people, even if they’ve never lived anything she’s talking about.”
Igor started Red Elvises in 1995, following a dream he had that Elvis Presley came to him and told him to start playing rock’n’roll. Not one to say no to the King, Igor and his Russian friends started playing on Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade. Their street musician days did not last long, however, as they drew such huge crowds that the City of Santa Monica brought them to court and ordered them off the streets. Since then Red Elvises have been constantly touring, with occasional breaks from the road to record an album or take part in film and television projects. This constant work for the last 15 years has led to them gaining a world-wide following, with successful tours all over North America, Europe and Russia (Red Elvises bootlegs have been found in Siberia).
Boderline Lucid, an alternative reggae singer/songwriter, is the official 2023 winner of Flatheads Got Talent! Come see them perform live at the Remington.
The Barn Swallows is a band based in Bisbee Az, formed in 2022. With an EP available at live shows and a brand new Live in studio album released May 13th 2023, recorded with Max Harms at The Garage. Though only together for a short time, they have a national tour Kicking off May 19th this summer they will be playing from Texas to Virginia, through the midwest and on the west coast. Some highlights include performing At the Camel in Richmond VA, The Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City SD, Matthews Opera House in Spearfish SD, at The Britt Festival in Jacksonville OR and The Cotati Accordion Fest in Cotati CA.
With a full schedule and new songs The BarnSwallows are on a roll. Their instrumentation is comprised of guitars, mandolin, clarinet, tenor banjo, violin, accordion and upright bass. Featuring original compositions and vocal harmonies, the sound ranges from American folk to traditional jazz. Committed to authentic expression and having a good time while lamenting the tragic world, The Barn Swallows deliver a healthy helping of heart-full honesty with a contagious melodic sensibility and soaring harmonies.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire — and with New Smoke Show, country artist Kimberly Dunn is ready to ignite. The 11-track album, produced by Grammy Award winner Chad Carlson (Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood), should mark Dunn’s explosion into mainstream music, after several years of burning up the charts in her native Texas. Her attitude is summed up in “Stand on It,” the album’s third track.
“I don’t walk the line, I dance on it,” Dunn sings. “I don’t fit in a box. … I stand on it.”
The album defiantly shows off all of Dunn’s various musical influences — country, pop and rock ‘n’ roll. “What I’ve learned over time that I have to be true to myself, and in being true to myself, I have to pay attention to all of the music I grew up listening to — rock ‘n’ roll, pop, classic country, bluegrass. But above all else, Dunn is thrilled that New Smoke Show will translate into even more high-energy stage performances for the fans. “I feel so much more comfortable on stage with the new album material in the set alongside our favorites from Forever on the Run. The show is more fun than ever and the more comfortable the band and I are on stage, the more fun it is for the audience,” she says. “The cool thing is we can only go up from here!” Sounds like The New Smoke Show is heating up and we can wait to watch her light it up on tour this year.
We are two individuals that like to make heavy music.
GENRE: Roots Folk-Rock, Western, Americana
Hailing from the deep woods of northern Minnesota, Wild Horses makes a home between the traditions of folk, western, and rock music.
With roots in the Minnesota bluegrass music community, frontman Jed LaPlant draws inspiration from the simple storytelling of traditional music, but offers a more dynamic and driving approach sonically. Wild Horses crafts the ability to draw listeners in with both captivating melodies and a hard-hitting drive in the same live experience. Their debut record, Runaway, was released in the summer of 2022 followed by a Western US tour to bring the songs back to the place from which they were inspired.
Wild Horses’ core consists of Jed LaPlant (vocals, guitar), Ariana LaPlant (vocals, keys, fiddle), McKeon Hugh Roberts (bass), and JJ Snell (drums)
Come watch the Pedacter Project at the Remintgon in downtown Whitefish.
Eric Broesel – visuals, attitude
Chris Arndt – bass, vocals
Ryan Witt – guitar, vocals
Vincent Rannazzisi – precussionist
20 Grand is a local funk/hip-hop band with a lot of energy on stage. All Stars, Galactic and many other inspiring musicians with their various brass instruments, guitars, drums and vocal.
The Wizzerd and The Sufrbat will be playing live at the Remington!
