Billings – The Grammy Awards honored the best musicians Sunday night in Los Angeles.
Some big names have also performed in Billings.
Country music singer Neal McCoy played at the Pub Station on Wednesday.
“Live music in Billings is really fantastic right now,“ said Sean Lynch, Pub Station co-owner.
Lynch, who books the musicians, and his wife Ann Kosempa own the Pub Station.
They have a good sense of music in Billings.
McCoy has three platinum albums and has been awarded Entertainer of the year, and he is the type of artist that wants to perform in Billings.
“You can show you’re selling tickets, they’ll come here,” Lynch said.
There’s something special about the Pub Station ballroom.
“It’s really intimate,” Lynch said. “You can see some really big artists in a really small intimate space and I think that goes a long way.”
“Every artist I’ve seen play here or perform here, really interacts with the crowd,” Kosempa said. “And they really do perform based off the energy of the crowd. It’s definitely trying to interact and that energy flows both ways. “
And the big names also play at other venues and other events in Billings.
“Magic City Blues is kind of a staple in town here,” Lynch said. “It helps Billings out which in turn helps us out.”
He said it’s good that MetraPark, the Alberta Bair Theater and others also draw big names.
“There’s plenty of people that want to see entertainment in this town, and the more the merrier,” Lynch said.
Kosempa does the marketing for the Pub Station and the concert promoting company she and her husband own, 11:11 Presents.
“Billings has been showing up to all these different diverse events,” she said.
And she says Billings is unique in Montana and in the U.S.
“They feel very, very comfortable in this community and meeting people,” Kosempa said about the artists. “They feel welcome and I think that’s really special.”
“They just like that there’s a spot in Montana,” Lynch said. “We were flyover country forever. And now the fact that we have places people can play, puts us on the map.”
The list of musicians who have performed at the Pub Station include:
- Turnpike Troubadours
- Kip Moore
- Cody Johnson
- Kane Brown
- Skillet
- Flogging Molly
- Highly Suspect
- Chris Stapleton
- Atmosphere
- Third Eye Blind
- Stone Temple Pilots
- Cody Jinks
- Hollywood Undead
- Eli Young Band
- Michael Franti
- Uncle Kracker
