By Aaron Parrett
One of Montana’s best kept secrets is the Hardtimes Bluegrass Festival, now in its 16th year. If you like traditional, old-time bluegrass (think: Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and the Stanley Brothers), you’ll want to mark the weekend of July 25-27th on your calendar and take the whole family down highway 93 out of Missoula and go 10 miles south of Hamilton to Forest Hill Road.
Mike and Tari Conroy started the Hardtimes Bluegrass Festival in 2009. “When you play or like to listen to bluegrass, you learn how hard it is to find a festival that has only the old-time bluegrass,” Mike said. “Tari and I were thinking, wouldn’t it be super cool to call our bluegrass friends and start an old-time festival, like they would have had back in the early days of bluegrass music. We wanted it back up in the hills with a cabin porch as a stage, and people and campers crammed in next to the porch with all the bands playing the old-time way, on just one microphone.” With the 2008 financial crash in mind, they decided to call it “Hardtimes,” a name that also evokes the era of the 1930s, when bluegrass music started to emerge from the old-time tradition in Appalachia.
Mike and Tari talked with two long-time Bitterroot valley families—Pat and Mary Thomas, and their neighbors Janice and Tom Heiland—to ask if they would be ok with having a festival on their ranches. “They said, ‘well, heck yes! That sounds like lots of fun,’” Mike said. “So we were off and running.”
The Heiland family donates some ground for camping and the stage, Mike explained. “It’s a community event,” he said. “It takes the whole village to put this on—a lot of people working a lot of hours. It’s December, but we’re working on T-shirts and posters and getting things set up now.” One of the main considerations for the Conroys as they developed the festival was that it would be an event for all ages. “We wanted the Hardtimes Bluegrass Festival to be family oriented, and family affordable, with lots of kids running around and lots of happy smiling folks sitting back in the trees enjoying the music.” Mike explained. At the same time, many bluegrass players and fans are senior citizens. “We welcome everyone,” Mike said. “We’re all about the seniors!”
The Conroys are some of Montana’s most revered bluegrass players. “I’ve lived my whole life here in the Bitterroot,” Mike told me. “Tari came out here at 16 from Minnesota but has been a Bitterrooter ever since.” They play the old hard-core, “three-chords-and-a-cloud-of-dust” style of bluegrass, much as Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass originally conceived of it: fiddle and banjo and mandolin backed with guitar and upright “doghouse” bass. The duo has recorded a CD of traditional duets, done in the style of the earliest forerunners of the Bluegrass sound as exemplified by the Monroe Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, and the Delmore Brothers. “I started I guess when I was 12 or so,” Mike said. “When I was 16, my dad had to sign a waiver so I could play in the bars. I was making $25 a night—more money than I knew what to do with.” Tari plays mainly guitar and fiddle, and Mike has played all the instruments at different times over the years. “You know how it is with this music—you play whatever instrument the band needs at the time.”
The Hardtimes Bluegrass Festival is a throwback to simpler times, when local communities had to supply their own entertainment. Old time music and bluegrass festivals have their roots in harvest parties—pea shellings and corn shuckings, where entire communities would come together to process crops. Often they would invite musicians to play dances for entertainment. In fact, when it came time to choose an annual date for the festival (always the 4th weekend in July), the Heilands suggested they plan it for right after haying was finished.
“We usually get 150 campers,” Mike said. “People camp right among the trees and we keep it very family friendly. We even allow dogs (on a leash), which is unusual for a festival. But we welcome everyone.” The festival is alcohol-free, which helps keep things family friendly.
When I asked him what makes “traditional bluegrass” traditional, Mike said, “Well, first thing I think of is what Ralph Stanley said: ‘If you’re playing more than three chords, you’re showing off.’ But I think the main thing is a respect for the melody. You just play the song the way it was originally meant to be played. And no fancy electrical set-up on stage, just one old radio style microphone. Simple.”
Though the Thomas family is no longer involved with the festival, Mike and Tari are quick to give credit to the Heiland family for their support and contributions to making the event a success. “Mrs. Heiland is awesome,” Mike said. “She not only gives us the ground to use, but she brings flowers and manages the stage. Her son Ted manages the grounds and keeps everything nice and green.”
In the last 15 years the festival has grown from its humble origins and now features 14 bands from as far away as Nashville Tennessee. There’s an informal band contest, too: the winner will get a jar of Tari’s homemade jam, and a t-shirt that says, “I dun won.”
The festival is appropriately inexpensive: Admission for the whole weekend is $40, with day passes about half that. If you want to camp, it’s only $15 a night (Dry Camping only—no RV hookups). There’s a two-hour gospel show on Sunday that anyone can sign up to play in, with Mike and Tari doing backup if anyone needs a band. The Sunday show day ticket is only $15 / $7 for kids. The festival has food vendors on site. Bring your own lawn chairs for seating. To get to the festival, drive south on Highway 93 from Hamilton about 10 miles and turn at mile marker 37 for 424 Forest Hill Road. If you get lost, call 406-821-3777. There’s also a website for details and information: hardtimesbluegrass.com. MSN
