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THE MONTHLY
SERVING SOUTHWEST MONTANA SINCE 2009 z REYADVERTISING.COM z SEPTEMBER 2017
IN THIS ISSUE
JASON WICKENS:
LIVING FROM
‘THE DIVIDE’ LOOK WHAT'S NEW IN THE MONTHLY! BOZEMAN EVENTS Concerts, Theatre and More
Page 6
BY SKIP ANDERSON
J
ason Wickens is the descendent of Albanian immigrants who came as far west as the railroad tracks extended more than 100 years ago — Winifred, Montana. Wickens grew up there, ranching, hunting and exploring his older brother’s record collection and an acoustic guitar that he would soon teach himself to play. The first songs he would write — much like those he writes today — were about his experiences growing up in a sparsely populated town in a sparsely populated state. He would work as a mechanic at an oil refinery, squirreling away the funds needed to buy audio equipment that would eventually become the backbone of The Divide recording studio on Peach Street. He and business partner Doc Wiley, a Grammy-winning audio engineer and producer, would eventually launch “Live from the Divide,” a syndicated radio program distributed to public radio stations and heard in six states. LFTD features singer/songwriters largely from the Americana, blues and rock genres. Wiley and Wickens have recorded and distributed more than 300 hour-long episodes featuring standout artists such as Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Bonnie Bishop and Adia Victoria. As a performer, Wickens opened for country artist and songwriting luminary Chris Knight this summer. He and Jackie, his wife, live in Bozeman and have two preschool-aged children. How long have you lived in Bozeman? I moved here in 2009. I’m from Winifred, Montana. It’s in the dead center of the state, with a lot of public
access land, so there’s a pretty large group of hunters from Bozeman who go there. That part of Montana is slowly being discovered. Once you get out of Bozeman, there’s an entire state of small towns that are economically deprived, so them being discovered can be a good thing. You’re a recording artist, but you started out on the production end of music. How did you get your start? I worked more than three years as a mechanic at an oil refinery so I could save enough money to buy all this audio equipment — much of which became the foundation of our studio on Peach Street, The Divide. I had been thinking about moving to Austin when I met [future wife] Jackie. And right around that same time, [music producer and singer/songwriter] Dave Goodwin introduced me to an audio engineer named Doc Wiley. Doc became my roommate, and eventually we started “Live from the Divide” in an old cold-storage unit on Peach Street. Cold storage is great space for a studio since it’s so well insulated. I never understood why studios felt like a spaceship — that can feel intimidating to me. So we built ours out with reclaimed wood so it would feel homey and inviting.
BIG SKY NEWS & EVENTS Arts Council of Big Sky, Warren Miller Performing Arts Center and More
Page 10
What was your first date with Jackie? I was at the Eagle’s Club and somebody kept playing all this great Texas music on the jukebox. Jerry Jeff Walker, I remember, was playing over and over. I thought I had to meet the dude who was playing all that great music, and it wasn’t a dude at all — it was Jackie. But for our first date, we went to the Garage and ate burgers and went back to (continued on page 7)
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