Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

is the 41st state to enter the United States, and has a culturally-diverse population representing a broad spectrum of music genre, style, and instrumentation.c Due to its migration patterns and place in the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

, Montana has a heritage of pioneer

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

and

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

songs and poetry. The state also has a tradition of baroque, classical, and romantic era music: two prominent musical institutions, both classical, are the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra, which was established in 1958, and the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra, which was established in 1963. The Helena Symphony was founded in 1955 and is known to be one of the premier symphonies of Montana and the Northwest. The Billings Symphony and Chorus is the premier symphony in Montana, performing for the community throughout the year. Visit their websites Montana has two official

state song Forty-eight of the fifty U.S. states have one or more state songs, a type of regional anthem, which are selected by each state legislature as a symbol (or emblem) of that particular U.S. state. Some U.S. states have more than one official state ...

s: "

" and " Montana Melody."

Native American music

Montana is home to several

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

s and traditionally to more than two dozen distinct tribes, each with their own forms of music. These include the

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...

, Flathead,

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

Chippewa-Cree The Chippewa Cree Tribe (Officially in cr, italics=no, ᐅᒋᐻᐤ ᓀᐃᔭᐤ, translit=''ocipwêw nêiyaw'')Montana Department of Justice, Official Tribally issued license plate of Chippewa Cree TriLink/ref> is a federally recognized tribe ...

Gros Ventre The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

, and

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

. An example of the modern synthesis of popular and traditional Native music in Montana is

Jack Gladstone Jack Gladstone was an enslaved Guianese man who led the Demerara rebellion of 1823, one of the large slave rebellions in the British Empire. He was captured and tried after the rebellion, and deported. Biography Jack and his father, Quamina, a ...

, a folk musician and lecturer/presenter who embraces Native themes, and who has collaborated with fellow Montana musician

Rob Quist Robert Ernest Quist (born January 5, 1948) is an American singer, instrumentalist (playing guitar and banjo), songwriter, and politician. Originally a founding member of the Mission Mountain Wood Band, his songs have also been recorded by artist ...

Popular Music & Musicians

Montana country musicians include

, formerly of the Mission Mountain Wood Band
The Bridger Creek Boys
of Bozeman, are a Bluegrass band that were finalists at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's 2007 Best New Band Contest. Other popular musicians from Montana include Seattle's

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

bassist

Jeff Ament Jeffrey Allen Ament (born March 10, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter who is best known as the bassist of the American rock band Pearl Jam, which he co-founded alongside Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder. Prior to his wo ...

(who attended the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

), and guitarist/producer

Steve Albini Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...

. Grunge pioneer

Bruce Fairweather Bruce Ian Fairweather (born December 12, 1960) is an American guitarist/bassist based in Seattle. Biography Fairweather grew up in Hawaii and moved to Montana for college where he met Jeff Ament skateboarding the brick banks at the University of ...

is also from Montana. Another well known band includes Helena and Missoula's

The Skoidats The Skoidats was an American band that played music combining elements of ska, Oi!, jazz, and punk rock. History The Skoidats formed in the summer of 1995 in Helena, Montana, and soon after their inception, they relocated to Missoula, Montana ...

, who recorded on New York City's

Moon Ska Moon Ska World, formerly known as Moon Ska Europe, is a ska record label based in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1998 as the European sister label of the defunct American label Moon Ska Records, which was owned by Robert "Bucket" Hingley ...

label in the late 1990s. Lead singer

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...

and members of the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

band

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...

are from Montana, and were in a band named after the small town of Tarkio, in Mineral County. Meloy graduated from the

in 1998. Seattle's

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced ...

lead singer

Isaac Brock Major-General Sir Isaac Brock KB (6 October 1769 – 13 October 1812) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Guernsey. Brock was assigned to Lower Canada in 1802. Despite facing desertions and near-mutinies, he c ...

was born in Helena. Country singer

Doug Adkins Douglas Martin Adkins (born October 3, 1963) is an Americana/country musician and songwriter who grew up in Montana, United States. In 2020 Adkins chose Samu Haber and Rea Garvey, the coaches from Team Samu Rea for the anniversary of ''The Voi ...

was born in Havre. Country singer Randy Rhoads was born in Wolf Point, Montana and lived in Malta throughout most of his career as a recording artist for Blue Ridge Records. He appeared on TNN's ''

Nashville Now ''Nashville Now'' was an American talk show that focused on country music performers in the style of ''The Tonight Show''. The show aired live on weeknights on TNN from 1983–1993. The host was Nashville TV/radio personality Ralph Emery. The sho ...

'' with

Ralph Emery Walter Ralph Emery (March 10, 1933 – January 15, 2022) was an American country music disc jockey, radio and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. Emery promoted numerous stars on his radio and TV shows, and was called the Dick Clark o ...

twice.

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

visited and fell in love with

Bozeman Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

, where he bought a house and re-settled in the spring of 2012. His album '' Paradise Valley'' is named for where he lives in Montana and features country music influences. One of Montana's favorite modern era rock bands is Dawghouse from Helena. Jared Blake, Nashville singer/songwriter, finalist from season 1 of ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'', sings about the beautiful Montana Skies in his song "Oak Tree" and the video was filmed in Montana. It features the Montana based Bikers Against Bullies USA non-profit organization and their national anti-bullying campaign. The largest, indoor concert venue in Montana is the

MetraPark Arena First Interstate Arena (colloquially known as The Metra) is a multi-purpose arena located at MetraPark, the fairgrounds of Billings, Montana. The arena has a capacity of 8,700 for ice hockey and Indoor American football, indoor football games, 10, ...

, which opened in 1975 in Billings. Songs about Montana: * Wild Montana Skies by John Denver * Montana Lullaby by Ken Overcast * Me and My Gang by Rascal Flatts * Montana by Frank Zappa * Livingston Saturday Night by Jimmy Buffet * Montana on My Mind by Shane Close * Cut Bank Montana by Hank Williams Jr * Meet Me in Montana by Dan Seals * Big City by Merle Haggard * Home is Where Montana Is by Bruce Anfison * Montana by Charles C. Cohan * I’ll Wait for You by Joe Nichols * Goodnight, Montana by Dave Walburn * Montana Rodeo by Chris LeDoux * Midnight in Missoula by Nanci Griffith * Montana by Sons of the Pioneers * Showdown At Big Sky by Robbie Robertson * Montana by John Linnell * Big Sky Country by Acoustic Alchemy * Blue Mountain Skies by Riders In The Sky * Montana Sky by White Heart * Hey Montana by Eve 6 * Girl From Montana by The Henderson Sisters

Electronic

Electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

composer Ruth Anderson was born in

Kalispell Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region, ...

Independent music scene

In the Flathead Valley, some of the more popular acts are Marshall Catch (country tinged-rock),

Luke Dowler Luke Dowler (born July 18, 1981) is an American songwriter, performer, and producer based in northwest Montana. Dowler has released a large catalogue of EPs, LPs and singles. In 2014, '' Paste'' magazine called Dowler ‘a Montana artist you nee ...

(rock/singer-songwriter), God Fearing Women, and The Rockaholics.

Music education

Post-secondary educational institutions which offer a program or major in music include the

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

Montana State University Billings Montana State University Billings (or MSU Billings) is a public university in Billings, Montana. It is the state's third largest university. Its campus is located on 110 acres in downtown Billings. Formerly Eastern Montana Normal School at its ...

, and

Rocky Mountain College Rocky Mountain College (Rocky or RMC) is a private college in Billings, Montana. It offers 50 liberal arts and professional majors in 24 undergraduate disciplines. In fall 2013, the college had 1069 enrolled students. It is affiliated with the ...

References

{{Montana Montana culture