Bill Junior & the Montana Rangers, With Special Guest Star, Michael Cleveland! June 11, 2012

 

Bill Junior & the Montana Rangers, With Special Guest Star, Michael Cleveland!

Bill Junior & the Montana Rangers, a dynamic, traditional band that features "high-lonesome" bluegrass singing, will give a concert on Monday, June 11, 2012, at 7:30 pm, at the Myrna Loy Performing Arts Center.  The concert will feature special guest star, Michael Cleveland, on the fiddle.  Cleveland, a native of Indiana, is a nine-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association's Fiddle Player of the Year award and performs all over the world with his band, ‘Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.’  His appearance on June 11 at the Myrna Loy will likely be his only performance in Montana this year. 

In 2011, the Montana Rangers were invited to appear at the Jerusalem Ridge Festival, the largest traditional bluegrass festival in the Nation, which takes place at Bill Monroe’s home place in Rosine, Kentucky.  The late Monroe, known as the ‘Father of Bluegrass,’ was born at this site in 1911, and the 2011 festival was billed as his 100th Birthday Celebration.  The Rangers felt it was important to attend and represent Montana.  Because of conflicting schedules, however, several Montana pickers could not make the trip.  As a result, Bill Junior conscripted two great Kentucky musicians, Matt Phelps and Murrell Thixton, to stand in for the weekend.  Matt played the guitar and Murrell picked the banjo, while Helena’s Doc Harwell manned the bass and Bill Junior the mandolin. This is the configuration that appeared on the Cumberland Highlanders TV Show on RFD-TV in April 2012.  By popular demand, this is the same line-up that will appear at the Myrna Loy on the second Monday in June--with the addition of the great Michael Cleveland, of course.  Please be sure to join us for an evening of traditional bluegrass music and help celebrate “Mondays at the Myrna!”

Call For Information:  406-443-0287

$20 Adults/ $15 Students