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Montanas Priorities

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Anonymous

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Now I like Ken Overcast-- both to talk to and his singing...Have known him for years...Not a bad idea-- but I wonder how many hours and dollars the State Legislature will piddle away to decide if we need a "Montana Lullaby" :roll: Maybe the break is what they need to bring them out of their overly abundant backstabbing this year....Be something if both the Dems and Pubs agreed on anything......
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Chinook man's tune could become Montana's lullaby
By GWEN FLORIO
Tribune Capitol Bureau

HELENA — The state Capitol, where laws are fought into existence and budgets wrestled into submission, has heard its share of wailing and moaning and gnashing of teeth.

But almost certainly never yodeling — until Wednesday.

Cowboy singer-songwriter Ken Overcast accomplished the seemingly impossible by holding the attention of the entire state House of Representatives as he performed his "Montana Lullaby."

The occasion was a pending hearing on a bill by Rep. Wayne Stahl, R-Saco, to proclaim Overcast's haunting tune the state's official lullaby.
Montana already has a state song, "Montana," and a state ballad, "Montana Melody." Several states have more than one song; in fact, Tennessee has six. Massachusetts (but not Wisconsin) has a state polka, and New Jersey has an official Unofficial Youth Anthem, Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run."

But no other state appears to have a lullaby.

Overcast, 59, wrote the lyrics to go with a melody by Wylie Gustafson of Conrad.

Like more than a few of the lawmakers, he came to the Capitol Wednesday in boots and a broad-brimmed hat. Unlike them, he carried a guitar and wore an eye patch, the legacy of a long-ago accident involving stirrup leathers and a pair of needle-nose pliers.

Before he sang, Overcast — who said he's performed at venues in every state west of the Mississippi River and several east of it — confessed to nervousness.

"What an honor. I'm blown away," he said.

The impetus for a state lullaby, specifically Overcast's "Montana Lullaby," comes from Billings disc jockey Lonnie Bell, who kept getting requests for it on KGHL, Overcast said. Bell teamed up with Maurice Deverill of the Yellowstone County Museum, and the two of them convinced Stahl to sponsor the bill.

That's how, on Wednesday, Overcast came to be singing:

"The sun's sinking low

In the West that I know

Another day on the range has gone by..."

A House chamber, several of its members still edgy from a morning of bitter wrangling over the state budget bill, eased into a rare moment of peace.

In between verses, Overcast yodeled, low and sweet, making it sounds almost like something anyone could do.

Overcast, the 1996 Western Music Association Yodeler of the Year, assured listeners afterward that "you can sing it without the yodeling."

"It's optional," he said.

For more information on Overcast, visit: www.kenovercast.com

To read the full text of House Bill 594, visit:

http://laws.leg.mt.gov/pls/laws07/law0203w$.startup
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Hanta Yo said:
Seems to me we have a few issues that are just a little bit more important :roll:

Lullabies and sleep are important. :wink: Old Jules Sandoz was a crusty early day pioneer and homesteader. Even as salty and unkempt as he was, his advice was, "Buy the best mattress that you can afford. After all, you spend a third of your life in bed."

Thus, a lullaby would be important to get a person in the proper mood to go to sleep. :wink: :)

Now I feel bad, because Nebraska isn't even considering having a state lullaby song. :( How can I ever get to sleep? :???: :shock: :shock: :shock: :wink: :)
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Hanta Yo said:
Oh, I can visualize this....putting our Legislators to sleep while they are in session :shock: :roll:

That would probably be a blessing in disguise.

"That government is best that governs least." :)
 

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