Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2018)
A6 News wallowa.com January 17, 2018 Takin’ it to TEXAS Joseph musician sets his site on Austin’s Ameripolitan scene By Stephen Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Joseph resident Jimmy Bivens has been a lot of different things in his life: a ranch caretaker, golf course grounds keeper, handyman ... one thing he’ll never stop doing is music. Bivens has never let any of his jobs take his eyes off of music for long. The Wallowa County musician is a staple on the regional scene, including gig- ging in Idaho, Washington and Ore- gon, even Oregon’s west-side. Bivens comes by his passion for music honestly, but he didn’t grow up with it, even though his father was future country swing music hall- of-fame member Jimmy “Wayland” Bivens. Born in Lewiston, Idaho, young Bivens didn’t stay long. His father had three children with the singer’s mother, but the elder Bivens couldn’t knuckle under to his wife’s request to step out of the music world. The father lasted about two weeks. The son thought the mother’s request tragic. “I don’t agree with what she did,” he said. “She knew who he was.” Biv- ens’ mother left the marriage. Her son was three at the time. Years later he found a letter from his mother to his grandmother, telling the older woman how popular her husband Wayland was in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. She also mentioned a sta- tion called KWVR in a little Oregon town called Enterprise where her hus- band’s records were spending a lot of time on the turntable. In fourth grade, Bivens told his mother and stepfather that he wanted to become a musician. Not wanting him to follow in his father’s footsteps, his mother convinced the singer’s two sisters to tell him he was tone deaf every time he started to sing. When he was 14, his mother shipped him to Long Beach, Calif., to his father in the middle of the night. His multi-instrumentalist father gave him a guitar and taught him three chords. Bivens attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School where he played basketball for two years before following his father upstate to Sacra- mento. He played his first concert there with an audience of three: His father, the club owner and Tammy Wynette. After nearly flunking out of high school, the singer had to put music down to concentrate on his studies. He didn’t pick up the guitar for a decade. After graduation, he took a num- ber of jobs and moved back to Idaho, where he managed ranches and trained horses. Then the music bug bit him again. During the last part of his decade- long hiatus, he ran a camp in Idaho for children with cancer. When ssched- uled entertainment fell through, Biv- ens contacted local musicians who performed. “That’s when I started playing music again,” he said. In the early 2000s, Bivens ran a prosperous resort ranch in the Saw- tooth Mountains of Idaho where he connected with country musicians. This led to playing in Las Vegas at a south-side casino called “The Board- walk” during the 2002 National Finals Rodeo. Bivens played six of nine nights and met a number of Nashville musicians and songwriters. An instrumentalist named Rex Weisman, who played for country star Clay Walker, encouraged him. Bivens gave Weisman a cassette tape of songs he’d written. “There was a reggae song in there, a ballad, a rocker,” Bivens said. “I write diverse –– whatever hits me.” At Weisman’s urging, Bivens gathered $7,000 of his own money to record an album in Nashville. He hired studio musicians, including Weisman. Bivens took the album, “Tell the Story,” to a Boise studio and laid down the master vocals and waited to see what would happen. The album received good reviews from critics, even though he intended it to show- case his songwriting talents so other performers would pick them up. An overseas promoter offered the singer a chance to play England and France as a solo act. Bivens jumped on the possibility. The tour was successful. When Biv- ens returned, Don Tunnell, who had done videos for a number of famous names and planned to put together an overseas blues revue, scrapped the tour for Bivens when he heard the album and took over as manager, a position he’s held for a decade. Tunnell invested the blues money into a tour called “Americana on Tour.” Bivens worked on the tour for more than a year as the headliner. “Don believed in me and still does,” Bivens said. The singer kept touring with Boise as his home base. While playing a solo act in Boise, he met Art Bell who convinced him to come over to Wal- lowa County. As Bivens and his wife, Michelle, came down Minam Canyon, they knew they’d found their home. The couple moved to the county in 2008 and quickly learned the phrase, “If you’re going to live here, you have to have three houses or three jobs.” Bivens doesn’t own three houses. “It was part of the decision of being able to be here,” he said. “The spice and variety for me is I don’t mind doing it at all.” One of the many upsides of moving to the county was the change to Biv- ens’ touring regimen. “If I need to play somewhere, I call a couple a couple of buddies and we meet up and play the show,” he said. IN BRIEF ‘Stem Afternoon’ planned Jan. 26 Jimmy “Then it’s ‘see you next time.’ It keeps me from having to tour with people and babysitting.” Bivens places a lot of emphasis on his shows, and he has a simple recipe for performing: The audience is num- ber one. He said he gets paid to take people away from their woes, and he takes that seriously. He works on establishing a con- nection with his audience, something he says a lot of performers neglect. To keep his show from getting stale, he doesn’t use a set list. “When the guitar player takes a lead, I look out in the crowd and gauge where I want to go next. If you’re read- ing the crowd, they’ll tell you.” Bivens’ next career step is to travel to Austin, Texas, and explore Amerip- olitan music “There’s a regeneration of what we call real country music,” Bivens said. He noted performer Dale Watson started Ameripolitan, which is a com- bination of country music, western swing and rockabilly. “Those are three things I’m really strong in writing and performing,” he said. The singer said the current plan is to record an Americana album and fol- low it with a tour while delving deeper into Ameripolitan. “My job is to entertain people,” he said. “I do this for the love of sharing what I do with people and put a smile on their face.” You can learn more about Bivens and his other recorded works at jim- mybivens.com. T HE B OOKLOFT AND Wallowa United Methodist Church Finding books is our specialty 102 West 1st Street, P.O. Box 53 Wallowa, Or 97885 Skylight Gallery 541.426.3351 • 107 E. Main • Enterprise • www.bookloftoregon.com Kaye Garver - Pastor Church Directory Church of Christ 502 W. 2nd Street • Wallowa 541-398-2509 Worship at 11 a.m. Mid-week Bible Study 7 p.m. St. Katherine’s Catholic Church Fr. Francis Akano 301 E. Garfi eld Enterprise Mass Schedule Tues-Fri 8:00 am Saturdays 5:30pm Sundays 10:30am (541)426-4008 stkatherineenterprise.org St. Pius X Wallowa Sundays 8:00am All are welcome Joseph United Methodist Church CLUES ACROSS 1. Methaqualone pill (slang) 5. Religious service 9. Woodland gods (Greek myth.) 11. “Where Is My Mind?” rockers 13. Deliberately contrary states of affairs 15. Inflection of the voice 16. “Great Expectations” character 17. Becomes a butterfly 19. Spoke 21. Tennis player Sharapova 22. Midway between northeast and east 23. Afrikaans 25. No instruction set computing 26. Pacific Standard Time 27. Relaxing places 29. Confiscates 31. Gladys Knight’s fellow performers 33. Witnesses 34. Taking place in a series 36. Satisfy 38. Freshwater fish of N. America 39. Laments 41. “Girls” creator Dunham 43. Indian title of respect 44. Cocoa plum 46. Network of nerve cells 48. Link together in a chain 52. Cool 70s crew “The __ Squad” 53. Persons engaging in energetic pursuits 54. Accumulation of glacial debris 56. Fastened 57. A cotton fabric with a satiny finish 58. Whiskey and bread are two 59. Scottish tax CLUES DOWN 1. Rope used to lasso 2. Idyllic places 3. Field force unit 4. Guitar great Clapton 5. Slang for type of skirt 6. Figure skating jump 7. Innocent 8. Mathematical ratio 9. Slowly drinks 10. Line where edges meet 11. Offices of the pope 12. Dry or withered 14. “__ the Man” Musical 15. Difficult situations 18 Greek goddess of discord 20. Marked by smartness in dress and manners 24. Habitat 26. Annoy constantly 28. Full of life 30. Great energy 32. BBQ and soy are two 34. Virtuous 35. Not fatty 37. Foes 38. Merchandiser 40. Dishonest scheme 42. Repents 43. Protective crust 45. Native American people 47. Any place of bliss or delight 49. Bring up 50. Birds 51. Geological times 55. Consumed Wallowa County Chieftain 3rd & Lake St. • Joseph Pastor Cherie Dearth Phone: 541-432-3102 Sunday Worship Service 10:00 am JosephUMC.org Worship at 9:00am Bible Study Mondays at 1:00pm at Senior Center, Wallowa, OR St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church 100 NE 3rd St, Enterprise NE 3rd & Main St 541-426-3439 Worship Service Sunday 9:30am Summit Church Gospel Centered Community Service time: 10:30 am Cloverleaf Hall in Enterprise 541-426-2150 www.summitchurchoregon.org Faith Lutheran Church Bible Study 2 nd & 4 th Thursdays - 11 am LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) Pastor Terry Tollefson Church Offi ce: 541-263-0505 Family Prayer: 9:30 am Sunday School: 10:00 am Worship Service: 11:00 am “Loving God & One Another” David Bruce, Sr. - Minister 723 College Street Lostine Lostine Presbyterian Church Enterprise Community Congregational Church Discussion Group 9:30 AM Worship Service 11:00 AM The Big Brown Church 606 West Hwy 82 Wallowa, Oregon 541-886-8445 Sunday School • 9:30 Worship Service • 10:45 Pastor Tim Barton wallowaassemblyofgod.com The Oregon Arts Com- mission has cut Fishtrap two checks recently. A general sup- port grant from the Learning Grants division of $11,306 will help expand youth labs that include K-8 Fishtrap Storylab; 2018 Summer Fishtrap, which will include a Youth Work- shop led by educators Cam- eron Scott and Mosley Wotta; and youth participation in The Big Read. “Our goal is to reach every kid in the county,” said Shan- non McNerney, executive director of Fishtrap. Time for a Computer Tuneup? Spyware Removal • 541-426-0108 103 SW 1st St., Enterprise Welcoming a New Year with New Arrivals! Kan Can Jeans $44 Distressed Ankle Motto & Black Skinny Stop by today! Open Daily 10 am – 5 pm Uptown Clothing & Accessories in Downtown Joseph 12 S. Main St. • 541-432-9653 Worship 2 nd & 4 th Sundays - 2 pm Worship at 9 a.m. Sunday School at 10:30 a.m. Evening Worship at 6 p.m. (nursery at A.M. services) Wallowa Assembly of God Fishtrap lands two grant awards 409 W. Main Enterprise, Oregon 85035 Joseph Hwy • (541) 426-3449 Stephen Kliewer, Minister Networking and conversa- tion about parents accompa- nied with a free lunch is offered through the Building Healthy Families Parent Café Wednes- days, beginning Jan. 18. Building Healthy Fami- lies and community partners are on hand to host the discus- sions regarding child care and other topics that help parents connect. The sessions are at 207 NW Park St., Enterprise. Free. Cozy Tops New Sweaters Christ Covenant Church 541.398.0597 Hwy 82, Lostine Parent Café opens for 2018 Leave Message at 541-432-9029 Enterprise Christian Church Childrens program during service Blog: dancingforth.blogspot.com Family fun and science are on the agenda for a Stem Afternoon event Friday, Jan. 26, at Building Healthy Fam- ilies, 207 NW Park St., Enter- prise. The event includes prizes, a snack and variety of fun hands-on science stations exploring robotics, physics, biology and the Olympic sport of curling. EOU Stem Hub and Wallowa Resources are co-sponsors. with an open door Pastor Archie Hook Sunday Worship 11am Bible Study 9:30am Ark Angels Children’s Program Ages 4-6th grade, 11am Nursery for children 3 & under 301 NE First St. • Enterprise, OR Find us on Facebook! 541.426.3044 Seventh-Day Adventist Church & School 305 Wagner (near the Cemetery) P.O. Box N. Enterprise, OR 97828 541-426-3751 Church 541-426-8339 School Births A son, Dustin Dwayne James Quittschreiber, was born December 10, 2017 in Enterprise to Dustin Quittschreiber and Samantha Johnston of Wallowa. Grandparents are Melissa Zollman and Greg Johnston, and Kathy Bohms and Barry Quittschreiber. A daughter, Evelynn May Stubblefield, was born December 16, 2017 in Enterprise to Andrew Stubblefield and Kathryn Rogers of Enterprise. Grandparents are Susan and Richard Rogers, and Kelly and Gary Stubblefield. A daughter, Haven Grace Layton, was born December 18, 2017 in Enterprise to Jake and Kelsey Layton of Wallowa. Grandparents are Elizabeth Phelan and Terry Kamlade, and Rene and Ron Layton. A daughter, Bayja Day Petrocine, was born December 30, 2017 in Enterprise to Kyle and Mary-Esther Petrocine of Joseph. Grandparents are Mary LaPointe and Dan LaPointe (deceased), and Rita wand Bill Petrocine. Worship Services Sabbath School 9:30 - 10:45 a.m. Worship Hour 11:00 a.m. - Noon Pastor Jonathan DeWeber 301 W. Main, Enterprise • 541.426.3177