Family Making Music in Bannack

There were music venues all over town. These first two pictures were our favorite group...but for reasons you would not expect. You see the man on the right is a pretty talented musician named "Ross R. STOCKER". We had never heard of or met this man before.

We were able to speak with Ross only briefly but got enough information to feel that we may very well be related. Ross was born and lived in this general area all his life. He was born in 1927 and at age 5 witnessed one of the last legitimate gun shoot outs on main street in Bannack.

Due to his genuine history there he is a special feature of Bannack Days.

The gentleman to the left of Ross is very severly disabled. He has absolutely no use of his left arm but plays the guitar nevertheless. You see the neck strap around the back of his waist which steadies it and keeps it on his lap. Then with just his right hand he plays just the strings on the "neck" of the guitar. He can really make it "sing" and also adds in percussion by tapping on the guitar itself while he plays. When he is performing his face lights up and he is definitely "in the zone".

One of many family musical groups playing around town.

This man had a shop set up inside to demonstrate how he hand makes guitars. Between demonstrations for people who stopped by, he would sit out on his stool and play a tune. We were sitting in the shade of the building next door.