Music of Idaho
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Idaho has produced a number of musicians and bands, including Paul Revere & the Raiders (who had a #1 Billboard Hot 100 hit with "Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" in 1971) and Doug Martsch of Built to Spill. Rosalie Sorrels is a renowned folk singer born in Boise. Minimalist composer La Monte Young was born in Bern. Jazz double bassist Gary Peacock was born in Burley. Nikki Sixx (bassist of glam metal band Mötley Crüe) grew up in Jerome. Moscow, Idaho is the home town of modern folk/country/indie songwriter Josh Ritter.
The town of Weiser has held fiddling contests since the 1890s, when the instrument arrived in Idaho on the Oregon Trail. Since the early 1950s, Weiser has been home to the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest, held in June and hosting more than 20,000 people a year. The late Kevin Sharp who had a hit song with "Nobody Knows but Me" lived in Weiser before moving to Los Angeles. There is also a National Oldtime Fiddlers' Hall of Fame.
Music venues and institutions
There is an Idaho Symphony Orchestra, Idaho Falls Symphony Orchestra, Coeur d'Alene Symphony Orchestra (founded in 1981), Idaho State Civic Symphony, Magic Valley Symphony and a Washington Idaho Symphony. The Idaho State Civic Symphony is the oldest in the state, having been founded in the early 1900s.
Notably, every year the University of Idaho holds the annual Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival, in which schools from all over the world, as well as famous musicians, come to celebrate Jazz as an art form. A similar event is held at Boise State University, called the Gene Harris Jazz Festival.
Major music venues include the L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center at Idaho State University in Pocatello. Idaho State University's Department of Music is among the most important institutions of musical education in the state.
Small and large venues exist throughout downtown Boise, though the former consists of mostly bars and coffee shops (i.e. the Neurolux), and the larger remain concert halls and arenas (i.e. Taco Bell Arena and CenturyLink Arena). Perhaps the most popular concert house is the Knitting Factory (formerly the Big Easy), as well as The Venue, which caters to the hardcore/local music scene, as well as mostly younger audiences. Although many famous artists and musicians play in Boise, it can be the case that larger acts will pass up Boise in favor of venues in Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.
Idaho Falls is home to a small number of venues that house the small local music scene (though many local shows are played in basements and at private residences).
Rexburg, Idaho also has a budding local music scene, with many of the bands being formed by students at BYU-Idaho. The most notable (and one of the only) venue(s) in Rexburg is Club Stratta.
References
- Byron, Janet (1996). Country Music Lover's Guide to the U.S.A. (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-14300-1.
- "Idaho State Civic Symphony history". Idaho State Civic Symphony. Archived from the original on December 20, 2005. Retrieved December 3, 2005.
- "History of the Coeur d'Alene Symphony Orchestra". Coeur d'Alene Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved December 3, 2005.
