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5thGeneration Red Lodge Montanan
Tim and Mike Nordstrom are fifth generation Red Lodge Montanans who love where they live and enjoy sharing this passion with others through the music that they write and perform. In their late 30's and early 40's they both have families of five (wife and three children) and incorporate their family values into much of their music. Tim has been writing music since childhood and the two have sung together since before they can remember. They both believe firmly in enjoying friends, family and the outdoors- their new slogan "Live it Up!" says it all. In their short musical career they have recorded with Grammy winning solo pianist George Winston and Grammy winning producer Lloyd Maines. They feel very privilaged to have performed with the Billings Symphony and have been featured many times on National Public Radio and The World of Ducks Unlimited. They look forward to evolving musically and sharing their passion for music and the mountain lifestyle with their ever growing fan base!
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NPR review
By Tom May
Producer, "River City Folk" National Public Radio syndicated radio broadcast
"Montana Tunesmith" is Tim and Mike Nordstrom, whose songs come like a fresh autumn breeze across the Bitteroots. Utilizing tight, brotherly harmonies and lovely melodies, their songs about family, home and geography cause me to reflect again on the true meaning of "folk music"- music written for its own sake, from the heart.
Still, there is no lack of expertise and care taken with the songs. From the lighthearted "Small Montana Bar" to the tragedy retold in "Smith Mine", Tim and Mike summon up crystal clear images of Montana as it is and was. Their lyrical treatment of the romantic west is accurate and sometimes heartbreaking, but always listenable and entertaining.
These two Red Lodge residents are something special in the world of acoustic music. Capturing the west and its people on a canvas of song, Montana Tunesmith quietly achieves the same effect as a Karl Bodmer portrait of the same land-satisfaction, enjoyment, and serenity. Keep writing and singing, guys....we need you to remind us of what is real, and what really matters"
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Montana Magazine Review
Montana Magazine Review
Under Yellowstone Skies , Montana Tunesmith, 1999 ( www.montanatunesmith.com ).
If I had to choose one CD to represent Montana in a time capsule, this would be it. Fifth-generation Red Lodge brothers Tim and Mike Nordstrom sing about family, firefighters, hunting, fishing, mining, Native Americans, small town bars, and the wildlands that make Montana so special.
Life is For the Living , Montana Tunesmith, 2003 ( www.montanatunesmith.com ).
Rarely a day goes by when I don't find a snippet
of a Montana Tunesmith song in my head. Today I found myself singing ãCastin' For Cutthroatä and I don't even fish.
Montana Tunesmith is an acoustic duo of Red Lodge brothers Tim and Mike Nordstrom. Lloyd Maines produced their sophomore release using the same seasoned country and bluegrass musicians from his 2003 Grammy Award-winning Dixie Chicks album. The title track views the natural world as a church of sorts: On Sunday if I'm missin' my therapeutic fishin'/I'll call it my religion and I'll go/About three hours later, I'll say a little prayer/and thank him for the repair of my soul.
Life in Montana is often envisioned as the rural Old West, despite the fact that the majority of Montanans today live in urban areas. It's a place where it can be summer in the middle of November at the same time that you're frostbit and hip deep in snow. Living in a Yellowstone gateway community near a ski area is a mixed blessing, and the Tunesmiths pick up on that tension: Trophy houses stand where the elk once lay and even parts of mountains they don't look the same.
If their debut album evoked John Denver and Jerry Jeff Walker, the newer light-hearted songs (ãCaffeine Dependent,ä ã Copenhagen , Jim Beam and Meä and ãDyin' On the Line Creek Plateauä) sound like Jimmy Buffet in the Beartooth Mountains . But whether poking fun at themselves or looking deeper within, there is always the unmistakable sibling harmony.
Montana Tunesmith is essential listening for all Montanans.
Scott Prinzing , of Billings, has as many music-related projects going as books piled up next to his bed. Somehow he always finds time to listen to Montana music.
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Helena Independent Record
Montana Pride
By BARBARA TALBERT
IR Staff Writer
"Under Yellowstone Skies" is the first recording from the Red Lodge-based duo, which could easily be subtitled "The Gospel of the Book of Montana according to Mike and Tim Nordstrom." The spirit of the tunes and lyrics expresses a delightful and justified Montana pride. As a longtime aficionado of melody, harmony and words I could understand, I found this CD a real treat to hear. The tunes range from folk to light rock with an element of bluegrass woven in - including a song honoring the late John Denver.
Lyrics like those from "Comin' Home" ("There's room here for our biggest dreams/and you should see these mountains, see these streams") and from "First Snow" ("Out on the edges of town cornfields cut down/The scarecrow's job is over now") are diversely poetic. "New Age Religion" shows a vivid imagery ("My church is the grass and the trees/In a clear mountain meadow you can still hear the echo/Of God's words swirlin' round in the breeze... And the birds form a thousand voice choir/The wildflowers grow under steeples of snow/A stained glass that stretches for miles"). So does "Castin' For Cutthroat" ("Well the weather it turns on a dime/You might see a Fourth of July snow").
Chris Cunningham's harmonica is sweet and soulful on "Montana Therapy," an eloquent appreciation of the difference between life here and life in the asphalt jungle of urban America. Better check your rear view mirror for cops when the "Comin' Home" track starts, because this poignant tribute to the Nordstrom's Swedish immigrant great-grandmother has a chorus that will make you feel like puttin' the pedal to the metal.
"Boot Jack Gap" tells the story of a young man's move away from an abusive father who said he'd never amount to anything, to a new life in the west fighting fires with the National Park Service, where he proved himself through a heroic rescue of his trapped teammates. The haunting "Smith Mine" poses questions we all ask ourselves after every tragedy, "Why does this happen to the best of men/The odds are it could happen again/Another place, another time down the line..." The track is wisely followed by "Small Montana Bar," a bouncy little song celebrating the little watering holes scattered across the state.
The CD's cover notes say that Tim was inspired to write tender "Little Aurora" after the birth of his daughter. Parents everywhere will recognize the feeling evoked by the lyric, "And you'll be changing with the seasons, I'll be searchin' for a reason/To keep the hands of time from moving so you'll never grow old."
There's even a song about a dog, "Born to Retrieve." This "tale" about the family's Labrador, who is "less than a dog more like a friend," expresses what many of us feel about our animal companions.
A touching Native American flute instrumental written and performed by Ken Light, serves as an introduction to the title song. "Under Yellowstone Skies" is a thoughtful piece about the difference between the Native Americans' relationship with the buffalo and that of modern day man.
"The musicians really did an exceptional job," Tim Nordstrom said.
CDs are on sale at Hastings stores throughout Montana
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The Billings Outpost
Tunesmith shines in debut
By SCOTT PRINZING
For The Outpost
If ever there were a soundtrack to Montana, "Under Yellowstone Skies" by Montana Tunesmith would be it.
Capturing the landscape and wildlife of the last best place in every song, this CD seems to celebrate everything that makes Montana history and culture unique: buffalo, Native Americans, homesteading, family, mining, Yellowstone Park, hunting, fishing and the struggle to maintain our valued way of life in the thread of uncontrolled growth and development.
Tim Nordstrom is a very fine guitarist and singer, but his songwriting is what really stands out. He cites John Denver as a major influence, and he has similarities to James Taylor as well. But his biggest songwriting influence is probably Yellowstone Park, where he has worked as a summer ranger and marveled at its natural wonders.
A year ago he began playing as a duo with his brother Mike as Montana Tunesmith. This is definitely a case of the whole being better than the sum of its parts. As with many family groups, the Nordstrom brothers' voices blend so seamlessly as to sound like one.
"Under Yellowstone Skies," their debut album, is available at Hastings in Billings and through their website at www.montanatunesmith.com. The CD reproduces the homegrown sound of their live performances with just enough instrumental augmentation to enrich the mood of each song's lyric: a harmonica here, a fiddle or Dobro there, Native American flute. Nothing is overdone; each adds just the perfect touch.
While the professional quality of this recording is probably in part due to Tim Nordstrom's stint in as a songwriter in Nashville, it is all homegrown: recorded outside of Bozeman, with guests like adult national fiddle champion Nancy Padilla of Belgrade and Ken Light of Arlee on the Native American flute.
It is difficult to select the standouts on this collection, as any song is worthy of title track status. That honor goes to "Under Yellowstone Skies," which addresses the bison debate from the viewpoint of the buffalo's essential role in our own destiny.
Each track is Montana specific, but they all manage a degree of universality that shouldn't limit them to a local audience. Sending this to wayward friends or family members outside of God's Country will have them longing for home before album opener "Montana Therapy" is over.
Sporting enthusiasts will enjoy "Castin' For Cutthroat" and "Born to Retrieve." History and culture buffs will love "Comin' Home," about the Nordstroms' homesteading great-grandmother; "Smith Mine," joining the long tradition of mining disaster songs (their grandfather helped recover the victims); or "Small Montana Bar," about the unofficial community center in every small Montana town.
The songs that have the greatest potential outside of their Montana base are "New Age Religion," about the awesome presence of the divine in creation; "Brother John," a very Denver-esque tribute to one of the Rocky Mountains' most famous troubadours, John Denver; "Little Aurora," written for Tim's baby daughter; and for anyone who has ever associated a place with a life-changing event, there's the powerfully evocative "Boot Jack Gap."
All 13 songs are worth repeated listening by the whole family, would make great gifts, and will be available at every Montana Tunesmith performance. Look for the Nordstroms to perform regionally throughout the summer, but don't be surprised to find them on National Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion" before too long. They are certainly bound for a broader audience.
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Billings Gazette
Billings Gazette, June 2005
Montana Tunesmith: Local songwriters experience success
Mike and Tim Nordstrom have had unusual success for part time singer songwriters. Their two C.D’s have sold well throughout the region, nationally and even internationally. Their first C.D titled “Under Yellowstone Skies” was made near Bozeman, Montana. Local Montana artists were used to make up the acoustic feel on the album. Chris Cunningham who helped organize and produce the album was key in finding he appropriate musicians; one of which was Craig Hall, who played multiple instruments, arranged and co-produced as well.
“He was integral in creating a ‘Montana sound,’” says Mike, which is very evident upon the first spin of this album. Having sold thousands of copies in Yellowstone Park and then via the internet, Tim explains that the writing is merely a reflection of his surroundings. “Mike and I are fifth generation Montanans, and we are proud to wake up every day in the same town that we grew up in”.
In order to live here, Mike works as an x-ray technician at Beartooth Hospital and Tim commutes to Billings where he works as the Montana Bioterrorism Coordinator for St. Vincent Healthcare. Given the fact that they have full time careers, they had to have a few lucky breaks in order to enable them to continue making music and staying solvent as a business.
Mike and Time were able to performs live in the studio on National Public Radio’s program “River City Folk” with host Tom May. This was a spring-board for their ability to play larger venues and get the ear of Grammy winning producer Lloyd Maines, the father of Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks.
Lloyd helped to create the Tunesmith’s second album, “Life is For the Living”. This album has both the acoustic feel of the first album, and expands into a larger blue grassy feel for some songs, and even large “anthem like” songs with themes such as patriotism and wilderness preservation.
Tim feels that it was definitely the Grammy winning musicians that pulled off the large sound for the songs, “For the Wild” and “Pursuit of Happiness” in particular. “Apart from these songs, Robert Earl Keen’s lead guitar and mandolin player Rich Brotherton, really adds that technical lead work that makes a blue grass story song fun,” adds Tim.
Last year they played at the largest free outdoor music festival in the nation (according to Rolling Stone Magazine), which is the Oyster Ridge Music Festival in Kemmerer, Wyoming. This summer they are excited to open for the Mission Mountain Woodband July 15th, at the fairgrounds in Helena, which will kickoff all of the Lewis and Clark bicentennial events.
“Who can forget the Wood Band” They still attract thousands of fans decades later, so we are excited to share our blend of Montana music with an old (new to us) group of Montana music aficionados” says Mike. In order to do this, Montana Tunesmith will be performing as a band for the first time.
Using all local Red Lodge talent (Stano Bustos on percussion, Charlie Brandine on guitars, Jim Kujala on bass and Frank Pirtz on drums) will allow the sound heard on the Tunesmith’s C.Ds to be conveyed to a live audience. “I have always wanted to play with a group. These guys have been doing it a long time so Mike and I have a lot to learn from them, it will be very exciting.” Tim explains.
Their C.D’s are available at the following stores in Red Lodge: Wild Within, The Garden House, Kibler and Kirch, Sylvan Peak, Red Lodge Books, Coleman Gallery and in Hastings and Borders Books throughout the state. To learn more visit: www.montanatunesmith.com
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