Chip Jasmin, Sleeping Child String Band, & The Stringaderos

Details:

Friday, Oct. 23
Where: Downtown Dance Collective (121 West Main Street)
Time: Doors open at 7:30 pm, concert starts at 8 pm
Cost: $10, tickets available at Rockin Rudy’s (237 Blaine), or at the door from 7:30-8 pm on the night of the concert.

Band Info:

Unlike many musicians, Chip Jasmin, who takes the stage Friday, October 23, for the MFS 25th anniversary concert series, came late to music. Chip didn’t procure his first guitar-a gift from a girlfriend--until he reached the age of 25. “I think music was always in me,” he said, “but I was a late bloomer. But once I started, I knew I wanted to sing and play music.”

Chip focused on how music interpreted culture and history. Eventually he developed a series of programs using, song, story, movement and folk dance--which he has presented in schools throughout Montana and the region.

This year marks Chip’s 27th season of performing in schools and communities. He continues to offer a variety of programs to students: “Join Hands Around the World”, celebrating cultural diversity; “Happy Feet”, introduction to folk dance; “Natural Rhythms”, study of our natural environment; “An American Folksong Journey”; and “A Song for Montana”.

“I’ve met thousands and thousands of kids,” he said. “I’ve performed at one-room schoolhouses and schools with several classes at each grade level.” Needless to say, Chip often runs into people who remember his visits.

“One night I was driving through Florence,” Chip recalled, “and I saw a guy pushing his car which had broken down. His wife and a child were sitting inside the car, and I stopped to help. Before we parted he told me: ‘When I was in the second grade you came to my classroom.’ “

Roundabout Route to Montana

Born and raised in Rhode Island, Chip embarked on a traditional career in teaching. Just about the time he acquired his first guitar, he moved to Australia to teach school in Sydney. He eventually drifted to the small village of Kuranda which offered easy access to the Great Barrier Reef. “Kuranda was like Shangri-la,” Chip said, “a sleepy little town in the rain forest in the midst of the mountains.”

By 1977 Chip joined his first band, the Rainbow House Country Band. In Kuranda he also met his future wife Amy. After beating around the world for a while, the two landed in Missoula in 1981. A couple of years later they moved to Amy’s family farm south of Hamilton.

Eventually he hooked up with a variety of performing arts associations such as Artists in Schools, Montana Arts Council, and Young Audiences. Since then, he’s earned his living singing songs, telling stories and teaching dances to children or performing music at various arts series throughout western Montana, including Out to Lunch, First Night, Sweet Pea Festival and Tuesday at Twelve in Hamilton.

Chip also started playing for MFS contra dances “a long time ago.” He first teamed up with Denny Wilson and Greg Lakes, playing guitar, and later joined Fairweather, Homemade Jam and Wild Abandon. In 1990, the same year Cove was born, he decided to study the fiddle.

“I bought a fiddle, but it sat and sat,” Chip said. “When I finally picked it up, I taught myself how to play. I always liked the instrument.” Since then Chip has been a regular on the contra dance circuit throughout Montana, teaming up with Bill LaCroix on banjo and Cove on piano to form the Sleeping Child String Band.

A Songwriter, Too

Those who attend the concert on Oct. 23 at the Downtown Dance Collective can expect a special treat as Chip plans to sing many of his original compositions. He’ll also play some dance music on fiddle and accordion--at some point being joined by Bill LaCroix and Cove.

For the second set Chip will be joined by friends, Pam and Clem Small, who once played for Sleeping Child. With the addition of Bill and Cove the group will perform as the Swingaderos. “At that point we’ll feature stuff that Clem and Pam like to do, such as some swing music,” Chip said.

Chip appreciates the chance to showcase his talents in front of the MFS “family…I’ve really enjoyed meeting all the people involved with MFS through the dances and other functions. We’ve become like a family, although we might not see each other regularly. Montana is a big place, but the folk music and dance community is a fairly close knit family.”