31 Jul For the Love of Music

It’s a Saturday afternoon in Red Lodge, Montana, and I’m on my fourth cup of coffee as I take my seat in a small room above Black Canyon Bistro. Three songwriters — Montana’s Lena Rich and Tom Catmull, along with Nashville’s Tai Shan — tune their acoustic guitars in preparation for another performance. As they take turns playing songs and telling the stories behind them, the crowd never loses attention, hanging on every word until the last chord resonates throughout the room. By the end of the hour-long session, there isn’t a dry eye in the place, and I can tell that everyone feels the same way: We have just witnessed something truly special. Again.

A few hours earlier I was bellied up at the Snag Bar, where the usual dive bar vibe turned into a listening room for a session with Catmull and Sean Devine, both veterans of Montana’s growing music scene. This time it was laughter, not tears, that brought the packed crowd together, as the two traded stories and songs peppered with self-
deprecation and wit. The experience was certainly different, but no less special.

Montana singer-songwriter Lena Rich belts out a tune at the Red Lodge Songwriter Festival this past June. Rich was part of a select group of up-and-coming musicians who performed at the three-day event. | JENNA KIRBY

This is often the theme when multiple songwriters come together and was evident throughout the three-day Red Lodge Songwriter Festival held in June in the quaint mountain town. The annual festival celebrated its 10th anniversary, proving that even in the days of huge arena concerts and packed stadiums, listening to music is just as important as hearing it.

A decade ago, Red Lodge resident Mike Booth had left his job and was looking for something else to do. With experience running large corporate conventions and gatherings, he thought something like a multiday music festival could add to the town’s already bustling tourism economy. A friend mentioned a songwriter festival as an idea — something Booth hadn’t even heard of — and it resonated. He flew to Florida to attend the well-known 30A Songwriters Festival and returned committed to making something similar happen in Red Lodge.

JENNA KIRBY

JEFFERSON SEES

The first festival in 2016 featured just 10 songwriters and a handful of shows, but the audience loved it.

“Between the few sponsors we had and the people that bought tickets, they all thought it was really cool,” Booth says, adding that he kept getting asked if he’d be doing the event again.

He did, of course, and 10 years later the festival has grown to include 24 songwriters performing nearly 40 shows over three days. Activities are held at nine different venues, each with its own feel, creating a cohesive performance schedule at coffee shops and in conference rooms, wine bars, and watering holes. The 1,000 people that attend each year stroll between shows, walking around downtown morning to night.

“It makes a significant impact on the local economy,” Booth says. “That’s what it was originally designed to do.”

Kat Porco and her husband, Mike, own One Legged Magpie, one of the festival’s central venues, where at the end of each night all the songwriters gather in the restaurant’s upstairs ballroom. It’s a high-energy, fun vibe, and some 200 patrons stay for every last note.

JENNA KIRBY

JENNA KIRBY

“One of the things that first drew us to this building was the possibility of music filling its old brick walls and bringing people together,” says Porco, who has seen her dream come to fruition during the festival. “We had more than 200 people packed into folding chairs, captivated by the stories, humor, and hard-earned wisdom of the songwriters. The room felt alive.”

The festival brings together seasoned, successful songwriters, called Legends, and up-and-coming songwriters, dubbed Troubadours. Events are designed to let everyone mingle, meet, and make music. Legends are those who have written songs for well-known artists, many of whom have become famous around the world and have reached number one on the charts. Three of the six Legends at the 2026 festival — Gary Burr, Gary Nicholson, and Even Stevens — are Nashville Hall of Fame inductees.
The others, including Georgia Middleman and Bridgette Tatum, have written hit songs for stars like Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Gretchen Wilson, and Trisha Yearwood. Each evening, the Legends perform in groups of three — mixing it up for each show — where they tell the stories behind hit songs.

“In Nashville, they really don’t see each other much,” says Booth of the songwriters, who are often busy with work, family, and their daily lives. “Here, they can get together, talk, and play music into the night if they want to. I think they really enjoy that.”

Photo by ADOBE STOCK

The performers also get to see the area, often spending time in nearby Yellowstone National Park, and Booth usually takes a group on a drive to Beartooth Pass and rafting on the Stillwater River.

“It’s pretty magical for them,” Booth says.

The Troubadours are mostly regional songwriters from Montana and Wyoming who are working musicians, often playing hundreds of shows each year. During the festival, they perform together in duos or trios — usually in a “round” format, meaning they take turns playing a song — and keep going late into the night with an all-star jam that adds a louder element to the festival.

“My favorite part of the weekend is trading songs and stories with writers from all over,” says Marcades Carroll, a Montana musician who has performed at the festival for five years. “Getting to know and perform with well-known songwriters is always inspiring.”

Carroll appreciates how the audience pays attention to the words and listens to the songs, something harder and harder to come by these days.

“You can hear a pin drop when someone is singing their song,” she says. “The community that supports this festival and listens to our music is tremendous.”

Ben Wilson of the Nashville duo Goldpine fell in love with Red Lodge the first time they came to the festival for its songwriting contest a few years ago. They won the competition in 2022 and have been coming back ever since. Now, they help judge the event while performing throughout the weekend.

“Combine a beautiful place with such great camaraderie, and it’s a really powerful experience for the songwriters and the attendees,” says Wilson, who plays up to 200 shows a year alongside his wife, Kassie. “Montana in the summer will always be a place we want to be.”

The contest is a way for emerging songwriters from around the country to break into the festival. Limited to 100 entries, it’s narrowed down to the top 25 songs, and those songwriters are invited to Red Lodge to play their chosen tune. The winner gets a brand-new Gibson guitar and an invitation to come back the following year as a paid performer.

“Among the hundreds of songs, there are always several that shine like a diamond,” says Wilson. “There’s a lot of musical potential out there with regional songwriters.”

The contest entrants attend the festival on their own dime and just get to play one song, something Booth says speaks volumes about the commitment to their craft.

“They play a four-minute song for a chance to win,” he says. “It’s just amazing to me. They do it for the love of music.”

Award-winning songwriter Georgia Middleman (left) has had songs recorded by country music stars such as Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, and Reba McEntire. Grammy-winner Gary Nicholson (right) is best known for his work with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Garth Brooks, George Strait, Ringo Starr, B.B. King, Fleetwood Mac, and Billy Joe Shaver. | JENNA KIRBY

While contestants certainly come to the festival to engage in their musical passion, Booth puts on the festival for his own love of music as well. It’s clear that throughout the weekend, his efforts combine with the work of more than 60 volunteers and are valued not only by the artists but by the local community. The festival’s success has trickled down in the form of donations to local schools and music programs, totaling nearly $160,000 over the past 10 years. Booth runs the festival through Rocky Mountain Songwriter Festivals — a nonprofit he launched in 2016 to help kids keep music in their lives — and he started an annual music scholarship fund at Montana State University-Billings.

“It’s getting harder and harder in schools to sustain music programs,” Booth says, noting that the Red Lodge School recently lost its music teacher. “I feel like any little bit will help a music program.”

With the festival’s 10th anniversary in the books, Booth is looking forward to the future. He wants to increase the level of talent in the Troubadour category and is intent on creating another version of the festival in a different town as a complement to Red Lodge. He has held one-off festivals in Whitefish, Montana and Cody, Wyoming, and for three years he’s partnered with John Lowell and Joanne Gardner-Lowell to host a festival in Livingston. Just north of Yellowstone, Livingston is home to numerous musicians and has a similar feel to Red Lodge, and Booth is looking forward to the third annual festival there October 1–3.

“To partner with Mike’s successful festivals within a nonprofit structure was the ideal situation for us to get involved,” says Gardner-Lowell, a Livingston resident who has spent decades in the country music industry. “We’re able to do what we love doing, with the result being extraordinary songwriters and a benefit to local schools. It’s a win-win.”

Mike Booth founded the Red Lodge festival in 2016 and it has since become a staple of the town’s summer season. He’s also expanded to hold the third annual Livingston Songwriter Festival this October. | TOM EGENES

This year’s Livingston festival will feature 14 Troubadours playing alongside successful veteran songwriters, including Radney Foster, Will Kimbrough, Matraca Berg, and Gretchen Peters. Like Red Lodge, it’s designed to take place during a typically slower time of year to help stimulate the local economy.

“We scheduled this event for the first weekend in October to miss the busy summer season,” Gardner-Lowell says. “We want the festival to work for the performers, the attendees, the volunteers, and the sponsors. Livingston is standing by to welcome all visitors.”

Back in the listening room above the Red Lodge bistro, Tai Shan finishes a heart-wrenching, deeply personal tune about her husband’s struggle with alcohol. It’s a theme that is familiar to musician Lena Rich, whose own father’s struggles have led to estrangement, a difficult subject for anyone to talk about, much less sing. As she composes herself and tells her story through song, everyone in the room is rapt until the final note rings out. It’s like the audience is one big family, rooting for each other in the good times and bad, lifting everyone up through the power of music.

“The musicians really appreciate people that come and care about their music,” Booth says.

Indeed, the feeling is mutual. As patrons lean into the tune and reflect on the words of the song, the musicians lean in too, embraced in a moment of catharsis.

Big Sky resident Brian Hurlbut is the author of Montana: Skiing the Last Best Place and Insiders’ Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. A former editor at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, his writing has appeared in Big Sky Journal, Montana Quarterly, Mountain Outlaw, Distinctly Montana, The Oregonian, and more.