Gladstone performs in Superior

Andrew Waite

Mineral Independent

Jack Gladstone is not a musician. At least, he doesn’t identify as one.

But talk to any of the people who came to see the singer/songwriter perform on the courthouse lawn in Superior on Sunday, and they would tell you they came for the music. Well, if not for the music, then for the ice cream.

Donna Davis, a De Borgia resident, traveled to the outdoor concert because her friend recommended Gladstone’s music.

"Besides, I get to eat ice cream," she said, licking a strawberry cone that she purchased from the Mineral County Performance Arts Council’s stand. "When you can’t get huckleberry, strawberry’s fine."

Don Felstet was a fan of Gladstone’s even before Sunday’s event. He said was planning on buying one of the performer’s albums after the show.

"You’re going to be amazed," he said in anticipation of the concert.

Jim and Jennie Avant enjoyed Gladstone’s music so much that they bought a CD during intermission. The couple was visiting Montana from Alabama and thought Gladstone’s ballads would make the perfect souvenir.

"We hadn’t bought anything except for a couple of rocks this whole trip," Jennie said.

Like Felstet, Tom Heacock, St. Regis, had also heard Gladstone’s music before.

"It’s unique," he said. "The music helps set other things aside." Heacock also said something that Gladstone himself might have marveled at.

 "I’m interested in the poeticism of a cowboy," Heacock said before the show.

Gladstone is actually from the Blackfeet Indian Nation, but Heacock’s statement gets closer to defining the songwriter.

"I’m not an incredible musician," Gladstone said after his performance. "I keep time pretty well and I keep things interesting."

Instead, Gladstone discovered that he is actually something else.

"I came to the conclusion a couple of years ago that I am a story teller that masquerades as a musician."

Watch Gladstone perform, and his storytelling abilities are apparent. He sets every song up by describing what inspired him to write it. Take "Heart of Montana," for example.

He wrote that song to sing at the Christmas tree lighting at the U.S. Capitol in 2008. It’s about a Montana tree that was born in 1864, before Montana was even officially a state. For the tree to start as a pine cone in the Montana wilderness a century and a half before becoming the national tree in Washington, D.C., said a lot to Gladstone.

"It shows how far our country has come," he said to his audience.

"She’s seen Indians and Mountain Men and growing pains developin,’" the song says. "This Lady of the Big Sky, Our Lady of the Sun… Is part of the Heart of Montana."

Gladstone’s songs are both literary and narrative. "In the Valley of Little Big Horn" can prove that.

From, "The sun arose far to the east where we had once been born. The orders had been given to be riding before morn." Through "Mounted men on cavalry we faced a trail of thorns…" Gladstone weaves the tale of the famous battle in the tune.

The artist sings about everything from the beauty of nature to the trouble with our nation’s consumer culture.

"Repent. Repent. You fossil fuel sinners," begs the chorus of one song.

Gladstone said he chose to tell his stories through music because it has the power to reach people in a way that nothing else can.

"It is the most effective way to fly over or under the radar of the defenses. People sometimes have their own barriers and boundaries, and sometimes music or beautiful words or beautiful melodies can slide under or over this," he said after the concert.

Gladstone certainly made an impact on 5-year-old Logan Noonan.

"I like that he sings about Montana," Noonan said. When asked why, he responded simply, "I just do," which could be the perfect answer considering Gladstone said he is trying to evoke that sort of a gut response.    

"We simply have to let our own inner voice speak to us," Gladstone said.

And even though Gladstone doesn’t think he’s the most talented singer and guitar player, he knows that music is a great way to let his voice, and the stories that his voice carries, be heard.

"It’s tied to the soul," Gladstone said of music. "It’s tied the identity."