Deadwood Oral History Project

The following is an interview Jim did as part of the 2022 City of Deadwood Oral History Project

Jaci Conrad Pearson (JP): Please discuss your involvement and any personal stories about how you learned what it takes to become a nationally recognized performer and songwriter.

Jim Salestrom (JS): Well, that’s a really, a long answer, but to make a short answer out of it, you have to really want to do it. As in anything in life, you have to really, really practice and then you have to really, really want to do it. And then you have to find the right people that can help you do it. You can’t do it on your own. You have to find a team. And we found a team, a booking agency out of Minneapolis called Variety Artists that used to book John Denver and Jim Croce and Helen Reddy and, you know, lots of different acts and they booked us on a college circuit and they helped us get our record deal, they helped us get a manager, and they helped us get our deal with CBS Epic Records and the record that we did in Hollywood was a big success for us. Not quite as big for them, for CBS Epic, but we had quite a following, and we had a really great reunion of five shows last year. But to become famous in anything, especially in the music business, you have to really work on your craft. And you have to look the part. You have to work on the part. You have to either write the material or find material and then find a producer, find a manager, try to find a record label, and then you have to go out and find an audience. And so all those things have to come together. And it takes a long time. It doesn’t happen overnight. And all of the people that anyone sees on TV today or hears on the radio today have been doing it a long time, even though they might appear to be an overnight success.

JP: Please discuss the importance of networking and pitching ideas in the musical industry.

JS: Well, it’s incredibly important to network and to pitch your songs and it’s not as easy anymore, because everybody’s writing songs and the money’s in the publishing, so it’s more like trying to do all of the things I just mentioned – getting out on the road, playing in lots of different places, getting your name out there, trying to be exposed to as many people in the music industry as you can. And that is the same thing as networking, all the things I just mentioned before.

JP: Let’s move on to the Origins of the Deadwood Jam. So, please discuss where you were musically and professionally in 1991.

JS: I was in Dolly Parton’s band, and I had a break and I was sitting in my home in Breckenridge, Colorado with my wife, Pam. And we got married in 1984, so we’d been married for a while. And we were watching CNN on TV, and they showed these guys on horseback shooting guns and raising heck on TV and they said, “Deadwood, South Dakota has just started limited stakes gambling there.” And this was on a Wednesday, I believe, and I had the weekend off, which was kinda’ rare. It was the shoulder season for us in Breckenridge. When I wasn’t playing with Dolly, I was working on my solo career playing twice a day at the pubs and the restaurants in Breckenridge. So, I’d play in the afternoon. Then I’d play again in the evening. So, I said, “I’m just gonna’ try this. I’m gonna’ experiment.” I called the Chamber of Commerce in Deadwood and I said, “Could you give me a list of the places that might have music happening in Deadwood and the third name they gave me was the Bullock Hotel. I called the Bullock Hotel. I spoke with Mary Schmitt. She’s from Nebraska. She remembered Timberline. She was a fan. And she said, “Why don’t you come up and check it out?” So, I got in the car and I drove up from Breckenridge, and I checked it out. The Bullock Hotel was in disarray and the whole town was in disarray, but I saw the potential in it. I got real excited about it. And the idea for the Jam didn’t come for a year or two. But I ended up making many many trips back and forth to Deadwood to play and then I introduced a lot of my friends who play music to come up and play and as I was doing that, Mary found a partner to help finance the reconstruction and refurbishing of the Bullock Hotel and the town started to remodel itself and one of the people that I brought up was John McEuen and on a Friday night, John McEuen and Mary and I sat in the back of the Bullock Hotel and spoke about having a music festival there. And I think Mary just said, “We should call it the Deadwood Jam and.” I said, you know, “With all the people I’ve brought up here already,” which included the Wild Jimbos , a spin-off group from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Michael Johnson, Gary Mule Deer, Runaway Express, Dakota Blonde, Gretchen Peters, Nicolette Larson, Michael Martin Murphy – they’re all people that I brought to the Bullock Hotel to Seth’s Cellar. John McEuen said the three of us could put the schedule together and try to go to the board and try to ask for some money to put a Jam together the following fall. And we all thought it was a really good idea.

JP: Please share any memories about this first gig in the Bullock Hotel, the performers and the crowd and the overall general atmosphere of the Bullock Hotel.

JS: It was just a lot of fun. People were there to have a good time It was a rowdy bunch, but they listened, and it was small and funky and really, really down to earth. What I mean down to earth, like you walk down the hallway, it was earthen hallways and a little spooky. I think the hotel’s haunted, but it was really fun. Gordy Pratt was someone who dusted the dust off of his guitar and started playing guitar again. He used to open for us. I just had a wonderful time. I fell in love with the whole idea of watching this beautiful old hotel come back to life and I went up many times with Mary. We walked up to the Moriah Cemetery and saw the grave sites where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried, and I met Dan Costner, then got to go out and see all the blueprints and all the things they were gonna’ do with the Dunbar Hotel, which were really ambitious and really cool and unfortunately didn’t happen because the state of South Dakota shot down the idea of raising the gambling limits to compete with Nevada – you know the limited stake gambling – and, but the Costner’s had the golf course all planned out. They had a steam engine train that was gonna’ take people from the airport to the Dunbar and it was gonna’ be a world-class hotel. The Costner’s had incredible vision and it’s a real shame that things didn’t go the way that they might’ve.

JP: If you’re willing, please discuss your conversations with Mary Schmitt about playing additional gigs at the Bullock.

JS: Well, I got to play as much as I wanted and she pretty much let me book the place and one of the proudest moments was bringing John McEuen in and also one of the saddest, because he pushed me out of the little threesome, the little trio we had for the Jam and he said that he was more qualified to do it than I was. And he pretty much took over from there. And it really kinda’ put a kabash – it put a wrinkle in our friendship. And I was not as anxious to introduce him to anyone else that I met down the road. And I’ve met a LOT of people since I’ve played in Deadwood that I’m sure he would’ve loved to have met. He’s an incredibly talented musician, but as the music business is really a – sometimes can be a really cutthroat business and I guess, in a way, that kinda’ goes with the history of Deadwood. You know, the entrepreneurs that came to Deadwood, you know. Some of them wouldn’t think twice about stabbing somebody in the back to get themselves elevated and some people wouldn’t mind stabbing people in the front, and I think that happened a lot in Deadwood. And, regarding the Jam, I think it happened to me.

JP: Please discuss your involvement in pitching and setting up a music festival similar to Telluride, Colorado in Deadwood.

JS: Well, I played Telluride Bluegrass Festival many, many times, so I had seen a model or a template for that. I knew the owners of it and I wanted to try and get the owners of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival to come up and talk to Mary and the board, the Chamber of Commerce, and the board, but John McEuen pretty much took the reins and talked Mary in to letting him have control of it and I think for a number of years he probably did a really good job.

JP: Please discuss the musical line-up of the first Deadwood Jam.

JS: I don’t remember the first musical line-up of the Deadwood Jam. I remember that we brought some friends up – Merel Bregante, the drummer with Kenny Loggins, his wife’s name was Sarah, and they had a group named Sarah and the Healers or something like that. I know John McEuen brought his band up. I know we had Runaway Express, which was a band that I played with. We might’ve had the Wild Jimbos, which was Jimmy Ibbotson from the Dirt Band, and Jimmy Ratts and myself and I don’t think Michael Johnson was on the first one. Gary Mule Deer might’ve been involved on the first one, but I think he might’ve come later. And then later down the road, we had Leon – Leon Russell might’ve been the first headliner. If I remember right, Leon Russell might’ve been the first one. I remember having a little bit to do with Michael Martin Murphy bringing his West Fest to Deadwood. And I don’t have any memories at all helping John bring .38 Special or any of the more biker, kinda’ heavy rock groups. I was out of it by then.

JP: Do you recall the outcome of the first Deadwood Jam, how it went?

JS: I just remember that it was received well enough that they allowed them to do it again.

JP: So, if you’re willing, please discuss how the Deadwood Jam transitioned from a Bluegrass venue to a Sturgis Rally type of venue.

JS: Well, now, you just said it. I think it transitioned from Bluegrass to Sturgis because Sturgis was a huge draw for that type of music and those kind of clientele and I think Deadwood saw that as more of a money maker than people that listen to Bluegrass, so they started catering more to that style of music.

JP: In your opinion, was a music festival in Deadwood a success or not?

JS: I think it was a great idea and I think it still is. I’m really proud of the fact that I got to be there at the beginning. It might sound like I have sour grapes about my involvement or being kind of pushed out of the circle, but I really don’t. I was touring with Dolly Parton, and I worked on my own career. I had my 15 minutes there. I’ve always loved Deadwood. I’ve always loved the people and I left on really good terms with everyone. I just was a little bit hurt by the fact that it was one of my ideas with Mary and one of the people that I introduced to the family kicked me out. (Laughs)

JP: Okay, we’re going to move on to Deadwood, the Community 1991-2000. So please discuss any fond memories about Deadwood from 1990-2000 and please – for example, the bed races, Deadwood Daisy, etc.

JS: Well, I remember the bed races because I volunteered to be one of the racers. And I remember that I thought I was in pretty good shape, and I probably was in pretty good shape back then, but I forgot that the streets of Deadwood are slanted. And I never huffed and puffed so much in my life as pushing someone on a bed up that street, wearing, you know, a bed shirt. That was quite an experience. I remember the Deadwood Days and I remember that there were a lot of family businesses that were there. You know, like, there was a mercantile, there was a grocery store, there was a lot of normal businesses that kinda’ got pushed out by the limited stakes gambling and they might’ve made a lot of money by selling their property, but I don’t think that they went all that happily, because, you know, there was a lot of history there. And a lot of families, they weren’t forced out, but Deadwood was kind of on its last legs, in a way. I remember that and I might be wrong, but I think I remember Deadwood needing a shot in the arm and the limited stakes gambling seemed to be the ticket.

Mary found this little homeless stray chihuahua- I took the little dog home to Breckenridge - on the way home, I let the little dog out to do her thing and she ran away. This happened on a Sunday night in Lusk, Wyoming. So I’m driving through the alleys looking for this little stray dog and I don’t even know her name. The Police showed up and I said I had just acquired the dog in Deadwood and obviously she was abused and scared….and they just looked at me (a long haired musician with a five hour drive) and they were thinking “Oh yeah….I think we know who abused the dog” (Not me I assure you) I left a business card with the police and drove 2 hours away from Lusk. I stopped and called the police (to ask about an ad on the radio station to get the dog back somehow- I was willing to drive back to Lusk) and they said “we found your dog and she is at these people house next door to the gas station you stopped at”. I called the people and said, “I’ll give you $100 to meet me 1/2 way because it will be a 7 hour drive now and I’m opening for Jerry Jeff Walker in Vail the next day.” They said “NO!” Our favorite TV show is on and we won’t meet you….” So… I had to drive all the way back to Lusk and get the dog. When I got home at 4:00 in the morning, the little dog ran upstairs and climbed into bed with our 4 year old daughter Casey. The little dog never left Casey’s side for 17 years. That was the greatest gift Deadwood S.D. gave me (us). That little beautiful loyal messed up / abused dog found more love in Casey’s life then any of us would ever know. We LOVED Her!. Casey named her Deadwood Daisy

JP: Please discuss the vibe that was going on at this time in Deadwood.

JS: Well, I think it was probably similar to 100 years ago when people were coming to Deadwood looking for a fortune in the Hills, you know. I think that people thought they could come to Deadwood and claim their stake and try to get into a business or create a business that would service people that were coming and invest in real estate and invest in building, housing, invest in, you know, gaming, if you could afford to buy a place that had a gaming license, or a restaurant, and, obviously, you know, Costner’s thought it was a cool deal. I think it probably had the same vibe as it had 100 years ago. It was a very entrepreneurial and I think it was very, you know, I think, the American way of the west, and it had a really exciting feel to it.

JP: Please discuss the formation of the Wild Jimbos in the late 1990s.

JS: Well, Jimmy Ibbotson was one of the main principals in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Jimmy Ratts and I, we used to sing with him. And he loved singing songs that didn’t make it to the Dirt Band albums from the Dirt Band stage. The three of us really got tight and we really had great times and great harmonies and we got signed to MCA Nashville Records in Nashville. And we got to do an album. Sam Bush, the famous Bluegrass mandolin player, produced the album and we got to do a video for it. Our hit single, our big hit single, was “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” and it was written by John Prine and Fred Kohler. Back in the days – 1993 – to walk out the door to do a music video, it cost about $100,000 and MCA Nashville was so impressed with out single, they gave us $8,700 to do our video. And we wanted to film our video in Hawaii, but we ended up doing it a Percy Priest Reservoir and it turned out really cute. It’s on You Tube and we were known for that. We were famous all over the world. We got picked for some awards. Our video was picked for a big award in Germany. We were popular at 2 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday nights when the Jägermeister kicked in. And we were popular at the Deadwood Jam with “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” and with John Prine leaving us not too long ago, I have a lot of fond memories of playing that song in Seth’s Cellar and onstage at the Deadwood Jam. And John McEuen played with us. As a quartet, we played a lot of shows together and I’m pretty sure he probably played with us when we played at the Deadwood Jam.

JP: Do you have any memories, other than that, of playing at the Jam?

JS: No, not really, you know, I’ve been playing so many years, and it’s been a number of years since I’ve been in Deadwood, I would really like to come back. I don’t really have any, you know, super, I remember meeting one of the kids from the famous Polish family that was busy building Crazy Horse, you know, the sculpture. I remember meeting the daughter. And she was just a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun with her. And I remember meeting – I think his name was White Eagle or something like that – he was an opera singer. And she brought him to Seth’s Cellar. I remember meeting the people at #10 Saloon. They gave me a really beautiful jean jacket, which I still treasure today. I remember being there on Halloween a couple times, which was kinda’ scary. There were a lot of stories about the Bullock Hotel being haunted and I’m pretty sure that there’s something going on there, still. Those are too long of stories to go into right now, but, I think it would be really fun to bring some of the people that were in Deadwood when the Jam started and may have moved on, that are still alive, and throw a big party, throw a big dinner, like, a gala dinner, maybe at the Grand Hotel or maybe at the hotel up from the Bullock or maybe the Bullock. And I think it should celebrate Mary Schmitt. And I think it should celebrate – I was trying to think of – Louie! Louie. And I’m trying to think of some of the names of some of the other people I knew back then. Dan Miller (free beer tomorrow) owned a place in Lead and was in advertising. But maybe you should celebrate those people that have had the entrepreneurial spirit and the pioneer spirit that Deadwood had 100 years ago when it was just a muddy town. And portrayed in really sort of a slick, sort of vulgar way, on the HBO series, I thought. And probably was cruder than that. But, when I was there in the early 90s, I think it still had that vibe of you could come to this town, stake your claim, you could make something of your life, you could start – you could do something, so, you could really, really grow. I think it would be really fun to celebrate your audio archive and also to celebrate the people that were there to begin with. Maybe Michael Martin Murphy would come. Excuse me – I’ve been singing a lot, so I’m a little bit hoarse. I beg your pardon. But I would love to come back to Deadwood. I’d love to come back and play. I’m splitting my time between a home I have in Naples, Florida and a home here in Arvada, Colorado, which is right next door to Golden, Colorado, where they make the beer. We’re a suburb of Denver. And then we have a home in Big Sky, Montana and Big Sky’s just out of Bozeman about 40 minutes. And all three of those places all have something in common, I think, with – well, not Naples – well, yeah, Naples, too. They were towns where people really, really staked a claim, made it a -- and built something that’s lasted for a long time. Breckenridge was a mining town, very similar to Deadwood. And it was on its last legs before skiing came. Deadwood was a mighty town. And it was kind of on its last legs before limited stakes gambling came in. And I think the Sturgis Bike Rally helped and I also think the Deadwood Jam helped, you know, a little bit. And I think people like Mary Schmitt and Louie and Dan Costner should be celebrated for holding on to this and Jaci, I think you should be, too. For wanting to record and keep an archive of what Deadwood was like 30 years ago, so people down the road could hear the blarney that I’m preaching right now.

JP: We are to the Overview and Evaluation. So, what has provided you the greatest satisfaction in your professional life?

JS: Well, the fact that I kept my family together and got to take them all over the world with me. We’ve literally played, I mean, so many different countries as a musician and I always figured out a way to take my family. I played and recorded with John Denver and so many tours with Dolly Parton, including the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Academy Awards Show, Two HBO Specials, lots of world travel with Castles and Concerts and Ski The American Dream-all over the world and many trips with my family. I started a festival in the Shetland Islands with a friend Frank Strang, who owns a decommissioned Royal Air Force Base, (Saxavord) way up in the northern part of Scotland (The Shetland Islands) and my family goes with me every other year. I took Livingston Taylor, James Taylor’s brother, up there and some other groups from San Francisco. That was really rewarding. I’ve played for four U.S. Presidents. I’ve played at the Supreme Court four or five times. Sandra Day O’Connor is a really good friend. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is a good friend. My son and I just played there recently – two years ago. I am playing the Alaska State Fair this coming year with my son James and my brothers Chuck and Tommy. That’ll be my fourth or fifth time. We are then cruising down to Vancouver B.C. and singing on the Norwegian Jewel Cruise Ship. I’ve sung the National Anthem for the Colorado Rockies for 21 years. I sang the National Anthems for the Colorado Avalanche their first year when they won the Stanley Cup. I’ve been one of the emcees at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs for the past 20 years. Guest stars have included Melissa Manchester, Maureen McGovern, Sheena Easton, Linda Purl, Suzy Bogguss, and my favorite, Debby Boone. James and I just performed with Jimmy Buffet and Conan O’Brien and the phone still rings and I keep very busy. I manage myself—book travel- negotiate contracts-hire musicians-produce large shows- write songs- record albums- and basically love the fact that I am self sufficient and get a lot of repeat business. And I still have the passion for performing, traveling and meeting new people. I think the greatest opportunity or the greatest moment in my life as a performer is still coming. I still hope it’s gonna’ happen. And I was on a CBS Special called Holly Dolly Christmas with Dolly Parton a year ago and I was one of the angels that sang in a video behind her. And, so, I still get to work with her every now and again. I’m still doing John Denver shows with the John Denver people that are still alive from his band and I also researched Buffalo Bill Cody’s life and I have a show that I’ve been doing for school-aged children around the country and it’s a multi-media show and I got a lot of help from the people up at Lookout Mountain at Buffalo Bill’s Grave and Museum. They let me have a lot of footage and a lot of really, really rare video of Wild Bill’s Wild West Exhibition. So that’s been a real treat. There’s always something going on in my life and I think, being a musician and a writer and a performer, I’m really grateful that I’ve been able to stay so busy and still raise my family and now a grandson and get to enjoy the quiet times in-between the total chaos of traveling. It’s really chaotic out there right now traveling with the rising price in gas and airfares and all the things that have to do with the pandemic that we’ve all witnessed and gone through. But I’m really grateful and thankful to God, thankful to my friends, and the people that keep buying my CDs and downloading my records, recordings, and I’m really grateful to you for letting me talk to you today and it’s just been a really wonderful ride. I’ve just been really blessed to be able to support my family and to have some nice places to live. And to be debt-free and still be able to play music and have a life. So, I really appreciate your time, Jaci. And my overview would be: This has been a very joyous experience and I have nothing but joyful memories of Deadwood and the Deadwood Jam.

JP: Thank you so much for participating in the Deadwood Oral History Project and this interview will really add a lot to our archives. I’m so grateful and thank you for your time.

Jim SalestromAugust 22, 2022