Jack Gladstone | Blackfeet Legends of Glacier National Park

Published: August 12, 2009

Blackfeet storyteller Jack Gladstone, dubbed “Montana’s Troubadour” by the governor, has released two albums, both bearing the imprint of co-producer and Flathead Valley multi-instrumentalist Dave Griffith.

The new album, Blackfeet Legends of Glacier National Park, features 12 pieces equally split between Gladstone songs and narratives written by James Willard Schultz (1859-1947). Schultz lived among and wrote about the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana more than a century ago.

It’s an interesting mix that makes the album flow. The pieces all delve into Blackfeet mythology, and Gladstone puts his excellent oratory skills and fine singing voice to good use here. His breathy inflections in the narrations tint the voices of his protagonists, bringing them to life. Two children have speaking parts – Mariah Gladstone on “Story of Running Eagle,” and Scot Gladstone on “White Fur’s Beaver Clan.”

One character in particular, Napi (the trickster), is a mythic Blackfeet creature who can shape-shift. Napi stars in several selections, notably Schultz’s “Old Man Napi and the Woman”; and in two of Gladstone’s compositions, “When Napi Becomes a Wolf” and the hilarious “When Napi Roasted Gophers.”

Kids will love the latter. It’s bell-like intro segues into a funny storyline about gophers throwing campfire ash on each other. (“What a goofy goober gopher thing to do”). Napi shows up and wants to play, and the gophers agree. With “supper as his goal,” you can guess the rest.

The final song “Speak to me Grandma,” is one Gladstone wrote the morning of his grandmother’s funeral almost 30 years ago. It’s emotive and plaintive, with lovely fiddle accents.

Overall production is spot-on (album producer Lloyd Maines also works with the Dixie Chicks), and Gladstone is in fine voice and style.

His Mountain West Christmas is a re-release of Christmas music, but it contains the Christmas tree ballad he wrote in 2008 called “Heart of Montana” for the magnificent Bitterroot ponderosa pine that made its way to Washington, D.C., in December as Montana’s offering for the national Christmas celebration.

Gladstone traveled with the tree, and as it stopped at events across the country (and at the nationally televised lighting ceremony), performed his song. It’s a pretty ballad in which Gladstone shows his vocal range. It also features nice harmony singing from Kendall Flint and Jessica Kilroy, and the country lilt of Griffith’s instrumental touches.

Visit the artist at www.jackgladstone.com.

– Mariss McTucker