DAYTON-Folk musician and two-time Tongue River Artist Residency Jenner Fox will return to Sheridan County this month to perform songs from her latest album, “Good Luck Road,” which inspired the singer-songwriter’s residency in Dayton.
For anyone familiar with Sheridan County, Fox’s “Good Luck Road” lyrics are super familiar – even disturbing – familiar. The album, released July 1, tells the stories of the Tongue River, of American -made trucks at local gas stations, of the freedom to ride a bike on the roads of Sheridan County.
“I went to a small town / to stay two weeks in a small house / down to the mouth of the river called Tongue / where it flows from the mountain,” Fox wrote for the album’s first track, ” Jack Russell. ”
How did Fox get the essences of Sheridan County on “Good Luck Road”? He explored the place and its people.
Fox was not originally from Sheridan County. He grew up in Northern California, the son of river guides, and picked up a guitar after jamming with his parents ’friends on rafting. After becoming a rafting guide himself, Fox recorded his first album to be sold to rafting clients at the end of the trips. Fox said he hasn’t looked back, working to build a career as a native singer-songwriter ever since.
Fox applied for a residency in 2019 in the Tongue River Valley during a time travel in his life, while looking for a stable place to write. When he first applied for the Tongue River Artist Residency, he built the residency’s founders, Doug Gouge and Jeanette Schubert, the idea of a Dayton-inspired album, incorporating stories and landscapes from Sheridan County into his music. In folk music, Fox said, there’s a long history of incorporating other people’s stories into the song, and Dayton’s collection of characters has given Fox fodder in songwriting.
“It’s liberating when you realize you don’t have to be interesting. You might just be interested, ”Fox said.
As a result, Fox has dived into Sheridan County communities from the first day of his residence, Gouge and Schubert said. While most artists-in-residence in the Tongue River Valley are inspired by their experience in some way-whether by the people they interact with, the animals they encounter or the landscapes they see-not all artists in the residence they encounter is jumping into the Dayton community, Schubert explained. Some prefer to keep their full focus on their artistic works.
“It’s his first time here [in 2019] he kinda had a creative burst… ”said Gouge. “Everyone is different in how they use space and time.”
By dividing his time between exploring Sheridan County and writing songs, Fox gained enough content, themes and ideas to create many of the songs on his new album. In fact, a fishing trip with Gouge took the two on Good Luck Road, the Sheridan County street that later inspired the album’s title track.
“That’s kind of the way: wake up and write, and when I’m not able to, go for a walk and meet some people,” Fox said of his time at the Tongue River Artist Residency.
Now, with his album complete and full of Sheridan County stories, Fox is planning his return to Sheridan, for a homecoming concert at the WYO Performing Arts and Education Center later this month. Fox said he is excited to return to Sheridan County and perform an album release concert for the people and places that inspired “Good Luck Road,” particularly after hearing about WYO’s popularity in the community throughout his residency.
“Being able to do this in this incredible theater is a dream-come-true scenario,” Fox said.
Fox’s album release concert will take place at WYO’s Mars Theater July 20 at 7:30 pm
Margaret O’Hara is a reporter at The Sheridan Press.
