Rising stars

Young performers chase musical dreams

Though the old adage that those who struggle through their daily practice eventually will appreciate the music lessons of their childhood isn't always the case, there are young people who grow up and truly do want to make music the center of their lives.

It's a tough aspiration, especially in the Flathead Valley, where paying venues are not plentiful and audiences don't always pack the house. But there are a few young local musicians chasing the dream and whether their music is a source of extra income or their livelihood, they are worth keeping an eye on.

Bettreena Jaeger is only 20 and her musical training consists of one year in the Flathead High School choir. But those who hear her sing as a member of the duo Betty and the Boy are still struck by Jaeger's innate talent and onstage presence.

"She gave me chills when I listened to her," said Patrice Manget, vocalist with the local group La Nota Blues and Jazz and organizer of this year's First Night. "She's got an emotional range that's astounding."

"Betty is very much a pro vocalist with a maturity way beyond her years in her delivery and quality," said Christian Johnson, host of Kalispell's Red's Wines & Blues Tuesday-night open microphone night, said. "Josh adds the quirky side to the whole thing with the choice of instruments he plays."

"Josh" is Josh Harvey, 25. He and Jaeger met about a year ago through MySpace after he moved to the Flathead Valley from Oregon. Harvey plays banjo, guitar, bass, harmonica and the African drum known as a djembe, and sings.

The duo plays "a really minimal style music," Harvey said. "Betty's voice is pretty extraordinary. It's very different from a lot of other people's music."

Harvey's family background is quite musical, with grandparents who played fiddle and guitar and parents who played guitar and sang in "random country bands in the Portland area."

Jaeger not only has a musical family background, but a literate one as well. Her father is Lowell Jaeger, an English instructor at Flathead Valley Community College and well-known local author of several books of poetry.

Betty and the Boy provide second incomes for Jaeger and Harvey right now, and they're not sure how the musicians' life will treat them as their careers go. Right now, they play often at Colter Coffee on Main Street in Kalispell and are regulars at the Red's open-microphone night. They shared the stage with Johnson for a benefit at the Christian Center for Child Advocacy last fall, and they were part of this year's First Night lineup.

On their agenda are a few shows at local nursing homes.

"We thought our style would fit," Jaeger said. "It's quiet enough and folky and sort of old-timey."

Betty and the Boy seem to be for all ages, though.

"I think there's a lot of appreciation for original music," Jaegar said. "Kids and adults appreciate hearing something new that they haven't heard before, and I think we can provide that. We're not exactly bar music, or loud upbeat stuff. We're easy listening."

More on Betty and the Boy can be found on their MySpace page.

In the early stages of his music career, Andrew Sweeney has refused to be deterred.

His Columbia Falls High School guidance counselor tried to steer him toward other avenues; he initially was rejected by colleges where he auditioned to be a music major; he didn't have a label backing him when he dove into recording his first CD.

"I started playing gigs my junior year in high school, from then on I've been pursuing music with a vengeance," he said.

Though it can't yet be said that his persistence has paid off, Sweeney has had some successes by age 20 that have given him hope that his dreams of a music career are grounded in something real.

After a year at Flathead Valley Community College, Sweeney spent a year at the University of Montana as a double major in voice and drama. He also was asked to audition with a company in Nashville, where he was praised for his songwriting skills and encouraged to get his music on CD.

He has a meeting this month with Kevin Roentgen, a music producer who married a distant relative, heard Sweeney's music and invited him to Los Angeles to talk.

Thousands in the Flathead Valley saw Sweeney's talent on display during the Christian Center's 2008 Christmas production, "Two From Galilee," where he was in a lead role as Joseph.

In his recently recorded debut pop/alternative acoustic CD, Sweeney wrote every song and played every instrument. He recorded, mixed and produced it himself after investing in his own recording equipment. Sweeney said the style has been described as being that of John Mayer or Jason Mraz.

"It's a little nerve-wracking, the amount of money I put into it, " he said of his first CD project. "At the same time, I have a lot of confidence, there are lots of little things along the way that have encouraged me. There's always a little fear involved, but that's not a good enough reason to not try."

The music business hasn't always been kind to Luke Dowler of Kalispell, but the 27-year-old is still happy to be supporting a family on the wages of a touring musician.

"We're not living the glamorous life of rock stars, but we're doing what we love," Dowler said. "You have to remember it's the music 'business,' and while it's an art form, it's also commerce. If you can figure out how to mix the two and still keep the art without compromising it, that's definitely the trick."

Dowler, known locally from his now split-up alternative Christian band Three Minutes From Home, has patched together a touring and recording career as a soloist. He also fronts a group using various backup musicians that plays as Veteran Greene.

"As an independent artist, it's about building a puzzle, piece by piece," Dowler said.

He tours about two weeks of each month throughout the Northwest, Montana and Canada in colleges, pubs and churches.

Dowler calls his music (he plays guitar, writes and sings' rock and power pop. He's left the "Christian artist" label behind, though he has no fear of throwing a spiritual component into his music.

His time with Three Minutes From Home woke Dowler up to some hard realities of the recording industry. The band made three CDs and played more than 400 shows throughout the United States, Canada and Australia, but the success the band envisioned after signing a development deal with a major label never materialized.

"When you're hoping for a record label to come in and make your wildest fantasies come true, and then they have no intentions of doing anything for you, the morale goes down," Dowler said of the band's breakup.

Dowler has recorded as a soloist, with a CD made in Nashville and a live album, and he will be working on a spiritually themed devotional-type album in Texas in May.

"It has to be about loving music," he said. "There are nights on the road when not as many people show up as you want and the venue isn't exactly what you had hoped to play, but if you love playing music, these are all stepping stones to get me where I want to go."

Visit www.lukedowler.com

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com