Premier acoustic guitarist, banjo player, singer-songwriter, and engaging showman Jalan Crossland brings his unforgettable voice and storytelling to The Myrna Loy stage in Helena Thursday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
“Onstage, dressed in what might be called ‘cowboy carny’ (denim, buckle boots and a bowler hat) he is a bundle of loose-limbed energy, a lovable bad boy who alternates love songs with knockdown banjo tunes about towns known for nothing more than ‘hard luck, bad blood, bullshit, and beer’.” (Michael Segell, New York Times)
Acclaimed by audiences, critics and musical peers alike, Crossland has received dozens of regional contest awards, including the Wyoming State Flat-pick Championship title in 1999 and National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship Runner-Up honors in 1997. In 2013 he was honored with a Governor’s Arts Award for his contribution to the arts in Wyoming. His 2017 album, “Singalongs for the Apocalypse,” was named Wyoming Public Radio’s People’s Choice Album of the Year.
Crossland has opened for and shared concert stages with luminaries ranging from Steve Earl and Earl Scruggs to The Grand Teton Symphony and Ballet Wyoming (playing, not dancing). His songs about “drinkin’, fightin’, hobos, roughnecks, trailer park fires, oil-patch strippers, and little neighborhood dogs that bite get their truth-is-stranger-than-fiction wobble by virtue of the fact that Crossland was raised and resides in a rural Wyoming mountain town, population 200, give or take.”
Michael Segell of the New York Times says, “He casts a sardonic but affectionate eye on the roughhewn lives of Western people. Crossland’s ‘Big Horn Mountain Blues’ is so popular in Wyoming that it is practically the official state song.”
Crossland has performed at music festivals far and wide, including BMI Songwriters Festival Key West & New Orleans, Big West Arts Fest, Deadwood Jam, French Quarter Festival, Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, John Hartford Festival, Oyster Ridge Music Festival, WHATFest, and many more.
“To pin any one label on Crossland’s body of work would be a crime. It’s not country. It’s not rock. It sure as hell ain’t your daddy’s bluegrass! His characters and stories come alive to form an often dark, yet highly humorous interpretation of the American Experience.” (Marcus Huff, Laramie Zine)
Along with the Thursday, May 2 show at The Myrna Loy in Helena, Crossland will also perform Friday, May 10 at 9 p.m. at The Colonel Cigar Bar in Cody, WY, and Saturday, May 11 at 8 p.m. at Thirsty Street Brewing in Billings.
Visit Jalan Crossland for details.