
Local Honey’s bring Kentucky roots to Missoula
William Munoz
(Missoula Current) Kentucky is rich in musical history - bluegrass, Old Time Country, blues, Celtic and western swing. In the early 2000's, two college students studying at Morehead State University met and began what has proven to be a life-long friendship and musical journey.
Linda Jean Stokley was studying jazz bass and working at the Kentucky Center for Tradition Music. Montana Hobbs was in pre-vet medicine. Her name came from a trip her parents had taken to Yellowstone and just put their feet into Montana. Her mother thought the state was beautiful while her father said his daughter was a large baby and the state of Montana was big that the name fit.
Neither of her parents or her family were musical, but they were great story tellers. They lived on the border of a wet county and a dry one. Her father owned a bar on the wet side of the highway that was the border, but they lived on the dry side.
As is the case throughout the South with these types of jurisdictions, many interesting characters would frequent the bar, many with lives that generate stories and many who spin stories that can make you shake your head.
What this upbringing did for Montana was develop the ability to write songs that define the place they are from, rural Kentucky. Linda Jean is from the central part of the state and was raised on a farm, also an area filled with character and stories.
The Kentucky Center for Traditional Music offers a Bachelor of Arts in Traditional Music, it also houses an archive of recordings of numerous Kentucky musicians. It was this collection that Linda Jean and Montana spent many hours poring through, listening to the recordings while gaining a deep appreciation of the history and ultimately coming together as the Local Honeys.
They have taken the traditional songs and incorporated other traditions into their interpretation of the life in Central Appalachia, creating a sound that has the old-time traditions infused with a “rollicking banjo” that “meets overdriven guitar hooks.”
They are not reproducing the sound of the legends gone before them but rather, they are honoring that sound by bringing their own understanding and experience into the music. Both are great song writers and produce songs that are dealing with life as it presents itself.
In their latest album, Linda Jean said, “This is the first time we've actively gotten to express who we are and where we're from.” Montana added, “We realized we have the power to add our own narrative into Kentucky music.”