June 22, 2005
Jam

Country what?  It was the holiday season, late fall 1991.  A phone call from Marshal Harris inquired if we could get together to discuss something important.  I suggested he drop by our house after dinner.   

Marshal was new to the valley from Eau Claire, Wisconsin.   A few months before he acquired a couple of radio stations, one of which, KQIL was a competitor to our KEKB-FM.  Consorting with the enemy in public didn’t seem apropos, so I suggested he drop by the house. 

Once in the door Marshal unveiled plans for a country music festival to be held here in “Happy Valley.”  Modeled after a festival back in Wisconsin, an event called Country Jam; Marshall said he’d already lined up a site near I-70 at 23 Road.  “So who’s your headliner for this Country Jam?” I inquired.  “Well” he said in a low voice, “keep it quiet but it looks like we’ve booked Alabama.  “Alabama” I shouted, “right here in Grand Junction. C’mon.” In the pre Garth, Reba and Tim days of ‘91 there was no bigger country act than the cousins from Ft. Payne. 

Marshal was looking for investors.  I wasn’t interested for two reasons.  First, I remembered while Woodstock was a history making event the promoters wound up declaring bankruptcy. The second reason for declining was more of a factor than the first.  The Maynard’s financial cupboard was as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s.  So while begging off putting cash into the venture I extolled the virtues of KEKB’s support.  The station became an official sponsor of Country Jam. It still is today. I always wondered why Marshal didn’t use his own AM 1340 as the “official” Country Jam station but never asked for fear he would change his mind.

And so Alabama, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Sawyer Brown and Glen Campbell came to play on a dusty patch of dirt off I-70 in June of 1992. In 1993, the location was the same but a giant Jumbotron TV screen had been added to give fans an even closer view of Dolly Parton. ’93 was also the year a Denver friend called and said Wade Phillips, the Bronco’s new head coach, and his wife, wanted to visit Country Jam.  Could we find them a place to stay away from the public eye?  That’s how Coach and wife wound up at my out of town aunt and uncles home off G Road.  The Phillips’ were two of the most charming folks you ever could meet and the Coach even took the stage Saturday night to introduce Alan Jackson. 

Still, Country Jam was on shaky financial ground until the Bischel brothers, Jim and Pat, they’re in the wood products business back in Wisconsin, came front and center to the festival.  Besides dollars and cents stability the Bischel’s also put Paul Novitzke in charge of Country Jam and immediately the event ran with military precision.  When Country Jam moved to their own site, the Mack ranch, in ’95 the festival became a third week of June event in our Valley that folks from a five state area looked forward to all year long. 

In 1997 Alabama was touring with the Doobie Brothers.  A package deal you booked one, you booked the other.  Country Jam officials wanted a return Alabama performance but would rock work at a country festival?  They worried needlessly as ticket sales skyrocketed and a big name rock act became an annual Country Jam event.  Not that it didn’t cause me a problem.  The question “Name you’re all time favorite at Country Jam?” brings about the answer “Exit 42” since the Palisade guys are long time friends.  It’s also a convenient out for a country fan not wanting to admit his primo Jam moment came with “Huey Lewis and the News.”  But it’s true.  Huey and crew just killed on a June night in ’99.