We're here at the Great Northern, a place that you play a lot and have for, a long time. You've been playing in the Valley for more than 30 years. what are some of those early shows like, well, obviously there wasn't as many people probably attending, because now every all the place is so many more places between Whitefish and Bigfork, and all places in between.

and so, you know, the crowds have always been good. I've always had fun with them. I always really enjoyed all the little venues I played from down in Ferndale. All the way …

We're here at the Great Northern, a place that you play a lot and have for, a long time. You've been playing in the Valley for more than 30 years. what are some of those early shows like, well, obviously there wasn't as many people probably attending, because now every all the place is so many more places between Whitefish and Bigfork, and all places in between.

and so, you know, the crowds have always been good. I've always had fun with them. I always really enjoyed all the little venues I played from down in Ferndale. All the way up into big fucking Kalispell and then and then of course, Whitefish and then on the big mountain just right up the road there. Some really fun stuff.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, I wish I could have been there, but it was a whole different vibe. what got you into playing music? Yeah, and Bigfork had a different vibe than than it does now. So did Whitefish. my father played guitar as a kid. And just like talking to my friend here, the Beatles, probably. I'm one of those guys, you know?

And they played on The Ed Sullivan Show. I was really, really young, obviously, and, kind of changed the world for me. Changed my world. I've said this before. I remember getting on the school bus the next morning, and just like looking around and just thinking, oh my God, it's. And everyone saw what it was like in college with no cell phones or social media.

I don't know how everyone saw that show. You know, but it seemed like the world watched it. And from that moment on, at 7:00 on Sunday night, whatever it was, it just changed. It was amazing. Amazing. Yeah, that's so interesting. Were you able to, like when you went to school that day? Were other people talking? Oh, that's all we talked about.

Yeah, that's all we talked about. And I mean, two other buddies immediately formed a band called The Unbeatable as none of us played instruments. We just I got my dad's a guitar and did the air guitar thing, and that buddy of mine got my mom's old sewing, kit top, and he was the drummer. And then I don't think we knew what a bass guitar was, so.

And we just dreamed of being chased around by girls and still dreaming, and I actually. But that's another story. Yeah, it's aspirational for sure. Yeah. So when did you, actually start being in bands or playing on your own? Because you did your own thing for a while. I actually started doing the folkie, the folkie, you know, Gordon Lightfoot, Simon and Garfunkel thing with a buddy of mine.

We started this little duo thing and, we didn't go out and do gigs. We were young, we were in high school or just maybe just. Yeah, we were in high school and we learned all these kind of really sensitive love songs, you know? And then we kind of got a little band together and then kind of got a little drummer.

And then we just started actually doing gigs, and that was probably in the in the.

Early 70s in Northern California and then Sonoma County and Sebastopol area. Yeah. And, you know, it was genuinely pretty mediocre probably at the time. And, that it was really funny and I sure didn't know that, you know, 40 years later, I would be, you know, still doing this. That is the mind blowing. I really. Yeah. I always like to ask the musicians we bring on for this little concert series.

We have, many of them don't do it as a full time gig. Right. but I think it's interesting that our area, is able to support that. Right, right. Yeah. You know, it's funny, I was talking about that the other day with some friends, you know, in in the day, I mean, this is all I've ever done since moving to Montana.

I did have a couple of waitressing jobs bartending in Bigfork. I worked in the Buffalo Cafe as a waiter, and then, kind of got into this. But I also worked a lot of what they called house band jobs and like, at the Blue Moon or the Paul Bunyan or where you, you know, you set up, like, here, you set up your equipment three or 4 or 5 nights a week, and you left it there, and you played there.

And I did that one on the big mountain for, same amount of time I played here almost. I played up on the big man. I just left my stuff up there all winter long. But there's. Those places don't exist anymore. There, really. There's no such thing. I don't think in my mind right now as a guy that's working five nights a week in the same club or bar, ski resort, whatever, those things just are not there.

And that was a great way to not spend a lot of time loading your equipment, unloading your equipment, driving. You just you came in, you set it up, you had it all there. You took your guitars home at night, of course. And, so it's all different. Yeah, yeah. Does it feel more like, like a 9 to 5 when all your stuff is there and you don't have to pack it and unpack?

Yeah, it was a it was a great feeling. I really missed I missed I missed those days because, you know, obviously as you saw, I come in here hours early to set all my stuff up to these, to these gigs and, I mean, it's just what I do. It's part of my job. And I like to come in early, like I was telling you, you know, there's nobody here.

It's really light I can focus on, you know, on my little things I have to do. And, Yeah, yeah. So even playing, you said the northern, you know, for more than 30 years, I imagine some of the other venues in the Valley for a while. What, keeps you coming back to these places? Oh, the crowds, you know, they're really fun.

And I get to do at the northern here. This is this is the place where I get to do almost anything I want. Any kind of music I really want. When I go to the more restaurant oriented, you know, kind of venues, you know, you got to kind of mind your P's and Q's a little more. Not that I ever get really raunchy.

I got a couple of adult songs that I would probably do here more than I would do, like at the Grouse Mountain Lodge, or when there's children present or young or younger people and, you know, 12:00 at night on a Thursday snowy night and at the Great Northern, anything pretty much goes, you know, within reason, you know, what draws you to music?

Oh, I don't know. That's a good that's a really good question. it's something I just enjoyed from when I, when I first started playing. I mean, it's just, you know, I mentioned the Gordon Lightfoot, Simon and Garfunkel, you know, James Taylor kind of, just from that 60s folk world, you know, and it was just so powerful then, you know, even though the folk music that I say was more commercialized, there's another level even below the Gordon Lightfoot and the James Taylor, those guys are almost like pop pop singers.

You know, there's, you know, real folk singers that most people are probably not hardly not even aware of that, you know, they didn't make the big break like, I mean, Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor, those get those guys are huge, huge artists in today's world and always and have been since the 60s. And, I just it was lovely music.

I just really liked it and still do. And I do a lot of those songs that I learned back in the, you know, in the 70. I'll do those tonight. I'll do the same song. Some of my obviously do lots of other tunes, of course, but yeah. What's your, favorite deep cut? I'm curious. My favorite one. deep cut.

Like a folk artist from back in that era. Oh, well, I mean, deep cut. Good, good trim. I write that down, so I know. And, let me think about that. Well, you know, you could you could throw in there, you know, of course Bob Dylan would be right in there with all his his deep cuts. I mean, a lot of people are hip to Dylan, obviously.

and even Jimmy Buffett back in the day, you know, he he got so popular, he kind of blew out of the whole circuit. But he was with those guys, too, in the 70s. He was doing the same thing is like Steve Goodman and John Prine and, he just got phenomenally famous. And I think when you get really famous like that, a lot of your, your fans kind of, you know, they kind of know what she's what she doing now.

And you just think to yourself, Gotti just got released like John Denver. You know, there's a guy that was I mean, he was a folkie from the beginning, wrote those songs for Peter, Paul and Mary and then just got huge, just like, but I loved all those guys I mentioned. I mean, John Denver, I can sit up here and do 20 John Denver songs, and it was out doing The Country Roads and all his famous songs.

You know, it's those deep cuts like, you know, if you wanted to know one song, I would maybe think of a song called poems, Prayers and Promises of John Denver. Some beautiful song. Just probably won't do it tonight. But, and in this gig here, I, I'm looking around the room, you know, this is the norther now. It's nice and quiet, but as you know, you've been here at 11:00 tonight.

This place has a whole different energy to it at 11:00. And I kind of get caught up in that energy. I'm not sure I create the energy or they create it and it takes me on the ride. It's kind of a 5050 deal. I just see where I go. I never know what's going to happen in here. that's so fun.

So it is fun. Thanks for saying I. Yeah, yeah. What are what are your some of, like, musical your musical inspirations these days. Like people you listen to. Oh my gosh I just one of my most favorite things and I didn't last night a lot was, you know, obviously there was no there was no YouTube when I was at, when I was a younger man.

But I go home at night, listen to YouTube videos, which is all these new people and people always are suggesting, you know, artists that I should, you know, be listening to, you know, and there's just so many you can't keep up. I mean, and especially a guy like me who does play kind of a variety, I kind of dabble in a little bit of the bluegrass.

I played banjo and and my son, his band, he's thrown a lot of really big names at me. If people I should listen to, and then playing electric guitar, I love, you know, I love Jimi Hendrix. And, you know, I love Merle Haggard. So I kind of have a pretty good variety of. And that's, I think what's kept me endeared to the Great Northern, because I look around at this crowd and I just when I walk in tonight through this back door here, I'll walk in here and I'll just go, okay.

I see that and kind of, you know I have my certain, my certain songs that I do, you know, my shtick you know, but yeah. Then I just ask for requests and see where they want to go with this, you know like once again, I, I kind of just put the seat belt on and go, here we go.

We'll see what happens. Do you remember, a request that you that you got was, like, really off the wall, but it ended up being a really fun. Oh, that's a well, another really good question. Yeah. I'm kind of almost embarrassed to say some of the songs people go, do you know how to play, you know, Pina colada or something, you know, or, and, and songs that I have learned and just thought, gosh, what a great song.

You know, I never thought about it. And it's so I cater my music here at the Great Northern to people. I'm not trying to shoot over their heads with all this eclectic, original stuff, which I'll probably do at the at the show for you guys, that would be more original. I mean, totally original stuff. But here, like tonight, I'll just maybe do a handful of originals, if even that.

Sometimes I like to play songs to have to make people have fun with. That's my gig tonight, is to have make people have fun. I've just really got one more question for you. Okay. since this is going to be your show is coming up right at the new year, what are you looking forward to the most in 2024?

Oh, well, you talked about. I'm just so glad we're all back on track now. The Covid thing was just just horrendous for musicians. I mean, it just absolutely. I remember playing here and playing at the at the Whitefish Lake Lodge and on a Saturday night, and the guy handed me my check and we kind of made some jokes about, you know, Corona beer.

I remember nobody was thinking it's serious. Not really knowing this would have been 20 would have been March at 20, I think. Was that when it kind of and then the next morning, Sunday morning, I realized, hey, I read they closed the big mountain ski resort down and they canceled the final four. And I just went and then, you know, I then I realized that maybe later that day that, oh my gosh, all my gigs just stopped.

I mean, there was no income. It was a really intense time for not just me, but I mean, all the people who work here, this place was closed for, I don't know how long. You know, a couple of months. Six months. Five months. I don't remember exactly, but, it was a whole new world. So I'm really happy that that's behind us.

And the crowds came back, and, that was really fun to, you know, have people dancing and enjoying themselves again. That was a long time that nobody wanted to go out. And I don't blame, I'm, you know, I, I'm on that side of the coin where I, you know, I listen to what my doctor said, and he was telling me, you know, at my age and what I do for a living like you, you should stay out of those places for a while.

And I did. Yeah. And and on my son's band again, the little Smokies, they they just were dead in the water. All those touring bands, they really took it hard. I got back into it a little easier because local, you know, and I'm, you know, I wasn't going on airplanes or traveling in busses with people are going to be, you know, my joke was my son's band, those guys need 5000 screaming hippie people in a you know, I don't really I can have a pretty good time down here with 50, 50 people or even 15, you know, whatever.

And, so I'm just thankful that we're back on track and health is everyone has success and health and and I love playing in Whitefish and the Flathead. You know, I don't have to travel anymore. I used to travel a lot, you know, in the summers. In fact, I'd leave all these jobs. I just, I go off and do these fair gigs in state and county fairs.

I don't do many of those anymore. The jobs are so nice here. And so I just want to stay around here. And just who wants to leave the Flathead Valley in July, right? Nobody. Nobody. If you got gigs here, I mean, I'm know that's when I think I'm the luckiest musician on planet Earth. And I just get to stay right here and go anywhere.

Yeah. Amazing. Well, and the crowds never get tired of hearing you here, you know, that's amazing. And that's. I know I get a lot of my musician friends asking me that. How do you how do you play the same place for 35 years or whatever? And I just go, it's I do a lot of the same songs, but my presentation is always different.

It's always, you know, upbeat, kind of keep it fun and lively. I'm not trying to change the world. My what's my line here? I just want to I just want to go home with my chicken wings and watch ESPN. I don't have any agendas or anything. Not trying to change anything. and I think people kind of get that, get the drift to that, you know, a little bit.

Yeah. And and learn fun songs. I have a lot of fun songs I like to do with people. And so it's fun. Yeah. Well, we're so excited to hear you, Play it. Press play. All right. It's going to be such a fun time. and thanks for joining me today. Oh, you're so welcome, Taylor. Yeah. Thank you.