Musician T. Scot Wilburn comes from generations of musicians. Most
notably, his father and uncle were a part of the popular 1950s
Montana band, the Snake River Outlaws. He shares photos of the band
and family photos, along with descriptions:
This is a photo of the boys performing, about 1950. Left to
right are my uncle Vernon Wilburn, Orville Fochtman, Jimmy Widner,
and my dad, Harold Wilburn.
These guys won the hearts of their public by being themselves.
They were simply a bunch of rough-around-the-edges ranch kids from
Weiser, Idaho, who at times did what they had to do to survive.
That might be working cattle, helping with the lambing (nearby
Weiser, Idaho, had some of the biggest sheep outfits in the
world), or making and selling moonshine (another attribute that
helped make them popular among the common folk.) The Snake River
Outlaws were loved by all who knew them and they made damn good
music, playing in barrooms, grange halls, sheep camps, and other
"houses of entertainment."
This 1940 LaSalle hearse was the car the band eventually
bought after they had actually started making money. When they
first started out, they would pass the hat or put out a kitty for
donations. They usually bought a roll of baloney and a loaf of
bread and a tank of gas with their earnings, which were not a lot.
It was a hand-to-mouth existence for them at first. At some places
they would get free whiskey, and if the kitty didn't fill up, Jim
Widner would say, "Drink your fill tonight boys so you're good and
sick in the morning, cuz we didn't make enough for breakfast!"
The photo below is not merely
a pose. These guys would actually play entire songs like this to
get attention or put on a show for the folks, crossing over hands,
each playing two separate instruments....They all knew how to play
many different instruments. I watched my dad and these guys do
this a number of times as a small child and would always think,
"If only I could just play one!"
Here is a picture of my dad, seated (age 11) and my uncle,
standing (age 8) before playing a dance. A grange hall dance, by
the way, was not an every week thing in those days as it is
nowadays. A dance was a special occasion; it took place perhaps
twice a year and you might even buy a new shirt and or get a
haircut when this event happened. And, if you were the
entertainment, you were held to a higher standard and may even
have worn a tie.
This photo below of my grandparents' house was taken around
1920. My Grandpa, Bird Wilburn, is pictured with the wagon and
team. Bird was a fine fiddle player himself and was recruited to
play nearly all the local dances and celebrations in and around
the Weiser, Idaho area. My father (Harold) says he remembers his
dad getting up very very early, taking his old fiddle and wrapping
it in an old shirt, putting it inside a gunny sack, and then tying
it to his saddle horn. He would ride the better part of a day to
play a dance that night for one dollar. I never met my
grandfather, who was born in 1886; he died before I was born.
The reason the livestock, wagon, pigs, chickens, and kids are all
in this picture is that in those days it was common to round up
all your belongings when a picture was being made. I guess
these were all of their earthly possessions, and yes, that is
their house. There were not many windows. It was probably
hard to transport glass into that remote country without it being
broken.
The car was reputedly the first car to make it all the way in to
Grandpa Bird's ranch as it was a 7-mile horseback or wagon ride
over mud, sagebrush, and broken volcanic country to the nearest
gravel road. Dad said this picture was taken in 1938. Standing
left to right are Willy Wilburn, Vernon Wilburn, and Harold
Wilburn.
The Snake River Outlaws were featured in a 2008 National Public
Radio story, "Snake
River Outlaws: No Imitation," which includes audio.
The Western Folklife Center produced a retrospective about the
band for Montana Public Radio. It is described:
The Snake River Outlaws played live every Saturday night
from the Sunshine Bar on the corner of Woody and Alder in
Missoula, and were broadcast live on KXLL radio. The Western
Folklife Center Retrospective contains rare digitally re-mastered
recordings of live radio shows the Outlaws recorded in Missoula
around 1950, in a sound capsule of a time when cowboys,
railroaders, college students, college ladies and vagabonds all
hoisted mugs of beer to fine music and western sociability.
Listen to the entire retrospective
here.
The Western Folklife Center and T. Scot Wilburn produced
a Snake River Outlaws CD of vintage live band recordings.
The CD is available from Scot Wilburn (email),
the
Western Fokllife Center, and other sources.
The photo above of Orville Fotchman,
lead singer for the Snake River Outlaws and T. Scot Wilburn was
taken in Weiser, Idaho, 2009, while the Snake River Outlaws
project was in production. The two are at the
National Oldtime Fiddlers'
Contest (which celebrates its 60th year in 2012).
T. Scot Wilburn, who plays fiddle, steel
guitar (non pedal) and electric guitar, has worked as a
professional musician since the age of 15. He worked for local
Montana bands as a youngster and later traveled with road
bands, eventually picking up work with artists including Ferlin
Husky, the Hagar Twins, and Hank Thompson. Scot also spent over
a decade being the utility man (multi-instrumentalist) for
Wylie and the Wild West, and now
performs with Stephanie Davis.
He'll be performing at the Western Folklife
Center's
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, January 30-February 4,
2012.
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