Marshall Noice knows how to fill a concert venue. Offer music-lovers a deal they can’t refuse: talented, big-name groups from around the country; an intimate location where they can interact with the performer; and reasonable ticket prices.
And if all that fails, the Kalispell artist says there’s always the “famous Marshall Noice money back guarantee.”
“If we’re not selling a lot of tickets, I’ve been known to start calling people and telling them if they come to the show and don’t like it that I’ll personally refund their money,” Noice said. “That’s usually pretty hard for them to turn down.”
For the last five years or so, Noice and Scott Johnston, owner of the radio station Montana Radio Café, have organized a concert series at the KM Theatre in Kalispell that brings in big-name groups from around the country.
Past performers include four-time Grammy nominee and folk icon Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and the pop-folk duo Storyhill, which got its start in Bozeman. There have been blues, bluegrass and jazz acts, with plenty of rock- and folk-inspired variations interspersed.
“Basically, we just try to bring in music we’d want to hear,” Noice said.
Pat Bailey, owner of the former record store Mountain Air Music, started the concert series in the KM Theatre about a decade ago. But when Bailey moved to Tennessee the series seemed destined to go away with him.
“I made the decision I didn’t want to see it disappear – there’s little enough to do in this valley as is,” Noice said.
He called Johnston – an ideal partner given his love for music and ability to promote shows through his station – and the two decided to try and make a go of the series themselves.
Noice and Johnston started scheduling performers, one per month, fronting the money and counting on area residents showing up at the event to pay them back. The owner of the KM Building, Bill Goodman, donates the venue space.
“That’s huge,” Noice said. “If we had to pay for the room and the musicians it just wouldn’t pencil out.”
There have been a few bumps: Renowned guitarist Chris Proctor played to an audience of 13 people last year, prompting Noice and Johnston to cancel summer shows, when people are more inclined to play outside than sit in a theater.
But that’s the exception rather than the rule. The majority of the shows sell out, allowing Noice and Johnston to keep a steady stream of fine musicians coming to the Flathead.
This month, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Patty Larkin will perform the series’ final show before its summer break.
The Boston-based artist’s latest album, “Watch the Sky,” is a true solo product; Larkin made it herself, picking and sliding on acoustic and electric guitar, singing her own backup vocals and even acting as her own sound engineer.
Larkin says some of the songs were written in her traditional way: “guitar in hand, notebook and pen.” Others were written to tracks she had already put down and looped or arranged, with Larkin writing and singing “stream-of-conscious lyrics” as the music played.
The result is eclectic and wholly unique sounds, from a hip-hop tinged piece with a wailing electric blues guitar part to classical-style acoustic and the “baribow,” where Larkin used a child’s violin bow to play on an electric baritone guitar.
“The good thing was that I was able to hit delete whenever I felt like it,” Larkin said. “The down side was that there was no one around to bounce ideas off of until after the fact.”
Noice and Johnston already have several acts lined up for the fall, including The Badgers, a jazz and roots duo based in the United Kingdom; bluegrass and folk group John Reischman and the Jaybirds; and up-and-coming Canadian songwriter John Wort Hannam.
While the series’ artists range drastically in style, Noice says there’s one unifying force: “We’ve never promoted anyone who wasn’t exceptionally talented. We are promoting some of the very best musicians and most talented artists we can afford.”
Patty Larkin
Friday, May 29 at the KM Theatre, downtown Kalispell; 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $18 in advance; $20 at the door
Available at Noice Gallery, Montana Coffee Traders, Colter Coffee, Red’s Wines and Blues