Debra Devi at Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival Day 2

By: Debra Devi
Photo Credit: Will Feffer

Oh Wow – Sun Aug 29, 2010

I wake up, look at the bay window of my room at Red Willow Inn and utter the first “Oh wow!” of many to come. The view of harbor and mountains is lovely, even on this cool rainy morning.

Soon I’m bundled into an SUV with Grammy-winning acoustic guitarist Doug Smith and his lovely wife Judy. The “Oh Wows” keep coming as we make the short drive to Averill’s Flathead Lake Lodge, the four-star dude ranch hosting the Crown of the Continent Festival. Flathead is the largest lake west of the Mississippi and it is a wide, smooth, glistening sight.

Flathead Lake

Fifty guitar fanatics have paid $4,400 each to polish their chops with Grammy winners—not only Smith but also Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour and Scott Tennant–at this exclusive yet homey resort, which has hosted celebs and dignitaries, including President George W. Bush, Bing Crosby and Bugsy Siegel.

The Lodge is providing gorgeous grounds on the banks of Flathead Lake, three meals a day, horseback riding, sailing and excursions to area highlights like Glacier National Park. Participants could also pay $2,128 and stay elsewhere, a price that includes lunch and dinner on site.

When the chow bell rings, everyone gathers in the main lodge, constructed of huge logs and lake-smoothed stones. Today, “everyone” includes some of the finest guitarists in the world and the students who have come from all over to study with them–but surely didn’t expect to eat breakfast with them. Sitting family-style at the long tables quickly breaks the ice and sets a friendly “we’re all in this together” tone for the week.

The food is beyond plentiful, from huckleberry pancakes to eggs done to order, bowls of fresh fruit and a cereal bar. A gigantic stuffed grizzly, elk and moose heads, bearskins and a chandelier made of antlers indicate we’re in huntin’ country. Nonetheless requests for vegetarian meals are honored gladly by executive chef Brian Lesyinski and his staff.

Lodge Grounds

After breakfast, we teachers convene with David and meet production coordinator Becca Seliskar, who rapidly becomes our festival angel—fielding questions and demands day and night yet never losing her sweet demeanor. I get my badge, which says “Faculty.” Rock on.

This means I get to play two songs tonight in the faculty concert, where Dave Overthrow (bass) and Pete Sweeney (drums) from National Guitar Workshop will back everyone up. Do I have charts? You’d think the answer would be no, given my aforementioned musical illiteracy. But thanks to my brilliant jazz guitarist friend Ben Tyree back in NYC, why Yes, I do have charts for two of my songs. Can I read them? Not really, but luckily I don’t have to. I decide it’s time to learn to read and write a dang chart.

We all wander about, checking out the lodge and the grounds before the chow bell rings again, for an enormous lunch. After lunch each faculty member gets a brief rehearsal with Dave and Pete in the nearby Carriage House, where a low stage is set up, stocked with drums, mics, a bass amp and two Fender Twins. The sound guy, Steve, has long gray hair under a cowboy hat, a big bushy beard and wire-rim glasses. He looks like the missing Doobie Brother. He makes everyone sound amazing.

Dave and Pete are here to back up all the performers, from Pat Metheny to, well, me. They are also the house band for the daily afternoon student jam sessions, which are divided into rock, blues and jazz segments. No wonder Dave and Pete want charts.

Debra, Pete Sweeney and Dave Overthrow Performing

After dinner, everyone walks across the lawns to the Carriage House for the private Faculty Concert that introduces the students to their high-caliber teachers. Metheny and Ritenour have not arrived yet, but the NGW teachers are such incredible players that they are barely missed.

Renowned jazz teacher Jody Fisher dazzles with artificial harmonies sprinkled like star showers throughout an exquisite “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” eliciting gasps from the crowd. Doug Smith’s crystal clear finger picking on his steel-string acoustic demonstrates the stunning fret board prowess that has made him a national fingerstyle champion.

Classical guitarist Andrew Leonard gives a lightening performance of the Presto movement from Carlo Domeniconi’s “Koyunbaba.” He also explains that his classical guitar is coated on the inside with Kevlar not only to enhance its resonance but also “because, as we all know, the life of a classical guitarist is full of intrigue.”

Jody Fisher, Pete Sweeney and Dave Overthrow Performing

Smith and Leonard also perform a duet, something they’ve done on and off together for almost five years and clearly enjoy. The mix of nylon and steel strings is a very fresh sound.

Am I intimidated? Uh, yeah! But I strap on my Strat and play “Get Free” and “When It Comes Down” off Devi’s Get Free album. Dave and Pete really go to town during the free-form jam ending of “When It Comes Down,” spurring me to take my solo into pretty out-there territory just to put smiles on their faces. They are so fluid that it’s a joy to jam with them.

When I get offstage two nice things happen. Jody Fisher says “I really like your playing!” and a student asks if I’ll give her a voice lesson tomorrow. I guess it’s official, I’m a teacher.

Mark Dziuba and Matt Smith wrap up the night with some rousing, rowdy blues rock and we all file out into the inky night, marveling at the stars.

Debra is the singer/guitarist for the rock band Devi. Download Devi’s debut album, Get Free for free.

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Lodge Dining Room