Let summer begin! Festivals this weekend in Three Forks and Helena
Published: June 23, 2011
Looking for fun this weekend? The summer festival season gets underway with two music-filled events: Headwaters County Jam and Mount Helena Music Festival.
Headwaters Country Jam
Twenty bands perform on two stages during the fourth annual country music fest, Headwaters Country Jam, June 23-25 at the Bridge in the Jefferson River Canyon near Three Forks.
Music begins Thursday with the Crazy White Boys tour, featuring Mark Wills and Mark Chesnutt, and the Bellamy Brothers. Wills’s hits include “Jacob’s Ladder” and “19 Something”; while Chesnutt has tallied 14 number-one songs and three platinum records. The Bellamy Brothers hit the music scene in the 1970s, with their songs topping both country and pop charts.
On Friday, Jason Michael Carroll – an up-and-coming country star who has opened for Brooks and Dunn, Trace Adkins and Alan Jackson – joins Little Texas, whose high-energy show has made them a favorite with Headwaters’ fans. Saturday’s line-up includes Lonestar, whose number-one hits include “No News,” “Amazed” and “Mr. Mom,” and the high-octane Eli Young Band.
Ten Regional bands perform, including the Cold Hard Cash Show, Teka Brock, Dirty Shame, 10 Foot Tall and 80 Proof, and Western Skies.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, a partner in this year’s event, brings its Great Elk Tour to the festival, and sponsors Military Appreciation Night on Friday. Concert-goers may also partake in horseshoe tournaments, dance contests, mechanical bull riding, karaoke, darts, pool, and helicopter rides of the Jefferson Canyon.
Tickets are $50 per day or $120 for a three-day pass; call 800-555-8989 or visit http://www.headwaterscountryjam.com.
Mount Helena Music Festival
The Mount Helena Music Festival delivers an eclectic mix of music to the Queen City June 24-25.
At 6 p.m. Friday, Taj Weekes, of St. Lucia, and his band, Adowa, kick off the festival with their blend of social consciousness and a reggae groove; Rockin' Jake from New Orleans provides a power-packed mix of rock 'n roll and hard-driving blues, and Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble deliver a Mardi Gras party sound, seasoning their edgy Zydeco stew with blues and R&B.
Music begins at 1 p.m. Saturday with The Headwaters, a professional jazz/folk trio based in Denton Texas; Mike Bader and the Bear Jam, from Missoula, mix Chicago-style blues with Memphis soul; and the Rick Earl Band and Cherise deliver blues, soul and R&B. Saturday’s roster also includes the honky-tonk country-western sounds of Halden Wofford and the Hi Beams, and Levee Town, a rockin’ blues band from Kansas City.
Headliner is guitarist Mato Nanji with his South Dakota-based blues rock band Indigenous. Nanji, writes Gibson magazine, “plays like a Texas blues die-hard, making his Stratocaster wail and keen.”
Tickets to the 12th annual festival are $7-$22 for a weekend pass (free for kids seven and under, accompanied by a paying adult); or $7-$12 per days.
The Sidewalk Art Market, a food court and beer garden are also part of the music marathon. For details, call 406-447-1535 or visit http://www.downtownhelena.com.
