Summer is hiking and concert season in Big Sky.
This year, freedom proved to be an even greater draw to the area for families from all over the country wanting to appreciate nature and happiness in the traditional way...maskless.
River levels were low and tempertures cooler than normal for July and August. In addition, fires in the west obscured the usual big sky but didn't stop us from enjoying our hikes.
I don't think we've ever been in town for Big Sky's Professional Bull Riders (PBR) event. Julie repeatedly corrected me by saying it wasn't a rodeo, which may technically be true, but it is a bunch of cowboys, horses and bucking bulls, so...whatever. Anyway, we never attended, though we did see our neighbors duded out in western clothes to attend the festivities.
We were surprised by how many out-of-towners arrived for the event, making the restaurants --- which unlike most blue cities allowed diners indoors without masks --- busier than normal.
When we walked over to the PBR big top tent constructed next to the Wilson Hotel to check out the hats, replica guns and other souvenirs being sold, we found that venue surprisingly empty. A cowboy with a guitar performed country-western music including some terrific originals and his take on songs like Waylon's "Luckenbach, Texas," but I didn't catch his name. That is emblematic of a problem I have writing weeks later regarding all the great music acts we saw. I can, however, recall enough to paint in broad strokes, which is probably more than anyone besides me and possibly Julie really cares to know.
One highlight was a symphony performance in the park, featuring violist Angela Ahn.
An amazing and truly unusual act, Futureman Silverman, followed the classical music. They spun in a totally different direction, with a virtuoso six-string violinist accompanied by Grammy-winning percuasionist fusing classical with jazz and rock.
Another night, John Roberts y Pan Blanco played some great Latin jazz rock, contributing to the diverse musical programming we've come to expect and love in Big Sky.
With not only concerts in the park on Thursdays but Friday Afternoon Club events on the porch of the Blue Buddha, the occasional special events and of course my own guitar strumming in my yard, there was no shortage of live music during our stay.
In addition to the wide variety of touring acts, there were also touches of the familiar with local artists, including Madeline Hawthorne who took the big stage in the park to debut her album of great original music that proved to be a hybrid of Sheryl Crow and Stevie Nix (check out the video at the bottom of this page). We saw her play covers three times at Acre, the small venue where we went for live music and drinks on Friday evenings in the winter. It was great to see this other side of her art, unveiling songs she wrote during the pandemic when her band was forced into hiatus which became break-up.
Of course, this being Montana there were also some great blue grass acts, including the opening band at the well-attended Soul Shine event that honored the late owner of the Hungry Moose. That band's highlight was a wailing fiddle and banjo version of "Purple Haze," the Jimi Hendrix classic.
On the last show we saw, another blue grass band played a fun version the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" as the rain poured down. In case you don't know it by name, that's the rocker with the lyrics, "Out here in the fields. I fight for my meals. I get my back into my living. I don't need to fight to prove I'm right. I don't need to be forgiven....Teenage wasteland."
Jay, Sasha and Jojo were in town for that concert, which included free beer and food, the second such generous spread by a concert sponsor this summer. I don't recall this sponsor, but the earlier one was First Security Bank, which also had free wine.
Darlene and Brooks were also in town at the tail end of our stay in Big Sky, hosting Julie and me for happy hour including a bucket of fried chicken at the BB&G, an elegant restaurant where we were the only customers. Jay and Sasha had made it clear they didn't want to go inside any restaurants, so that's why we went out before they finished their remote-workdays. After happy hour, I returned to pick Jay and Sasha up at our condo, after which we all enjoyed drinks, chips and toppings at the YC fire ring, as well as the fried chicken that we had only sampled before Jay and Sasha arrived.
The next day, Darlene hosted one of her fantastic homemade meals including brown-sugar-and-spice-glazed ham, Caprese Salad and two kinds of savory potatoes.
While summer in Big Sky concluded, all of us would head over to South Dakota for more fun in the sun, meeting Gina, Laszlo, Emma and BG3.
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