Bitterroot Valley Ragtime Society by Cate Oliver
After growing up on the east coast, traveling across the nation and working in Northern California Gina Tiernan settled in Montana’s beautiful Bitterroot Valley in the town of Corvallis in 2005. Gina enjoyed the tranquility of the valley but was having difficulties adjusting to her new home. She had been involved with various ragtime societies in California and decided to form a similar group in the Bitterroot.
Soon after moving to Corvallis Gina ran an advertisement in the local newspaper in search of individuals interested in ragtime and vintage American music. Several people responded to the ad, and so began the Bitterroot Valley Ragtime Society. The first official meeting of the society was held at Gina’s home in August of 2005.
Since then the group has grown exponentially and recently changed their meeting venue from to the Hamilton Public House in Victor. The society meets the first Saturday of every month at 4 p.m.
The meetings are very casual and welcome anyone “having an interest in vintage American music in the genre of ragtime, early jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and stride” to join them. Anybody wanting to play is encouraged to take the stage. A piano is provided by the Hamilton Pub and the group has seen many impromptu banjo, trumpet, guitar and drum additions at the meetings. The group also participates in performances outside their meetings from time to time, the most recent being the First Friday art walk at the Stevensville Library.
In addition to the monthly meetings and occasional performances the BVRS also works to bring concerts to the Bitterroot area. The society has recently sponsored concerts by Virginia Tichenor and Marty Eggers at the Corvallis United Methodist Church, and Richard Egan at the Daly Mansion in Hamilton.
Virginia and Marty are friends of Gina’s from the San Francisco area. Marty is very well-known in the area as an esteemed pianist, bassist and composer. He helped found the Sacramento Ragtime Society as a teenager and is also a past president of the West Coast Ragtime Society. Virginia is also a very well-known pianist and percussionist in the Bay Area. Influenced by her father, she began playing ragtime as a teenager. Virginia and Marty met at a jazz festival in San Diego and were married in 1997.
Richard Egan is a ragtime pianist and composer from Missouri. He is said to be considered one of the foremost musicians in sub-genre folk ragtime music. He began to teach himself how to play ragtime at a young age after hearing Scott Joplin’s pieces from the film “The Sting. As former president of The Friends of Scott Joplin house Richard helped establish St. Louis monthly ragtime rendezvous.
There is no charge for a Bitterroot Valley Ragtime Society membership but donations are welcome at the meetings to help fund the society newsletter, events calendar and website updates.