Name: Kenny Putnam and Jami Lynn featuring Jake Jackson
Start: 2023-09-30T19:00:00-06:00
End: 2023-09-30T21:00:00-06:00
Location: The Matthews Opera House – Theatre

Kenny Putnam and Jami Lynn

Featuring Jake Jackson

Saturday, September 30 at 7 pm
Box Office: 6 pm | House Opens: 6:30 pm
No late admission to main floor. Late arrivals will be accommodated in the balcony as seats permit.

Advance tickets: $30 for adults and $15 for youth.
Day of Show: $35 for adults and $20 for youth.
Tickets may be purchased online, by phone at (605) 642-7973, or by visiting the Matthews Gallery at 612 N. Main Street, Spearfish.

The celebrated two-time South Dakota Fiddle Champ and internationally touring artist Kenny Putnam joins singer/songwriter Jami Lynn for an evening of new, old, and original music. The two have performed together in various groups over the years, but have rarely had a chance to feature their musical conversation in this capacity. Multi-instrumentalist Jake Jackson of Spearfish-based band Six Mile Road will round out their sound on guitar, violin, and voice.

The evening will contain a broad range of traditional folk, original Americana, and jazz music, featuring Putnam’s well-honed voice on fiddle, Jackson’s sharp guitar licks and Jami Lynn’s stylings on banjo and voice– the most compelling part of the evening being the magic of a new collaboration dressed up by the polish and taste of seasoned performers.

KENNY PUTNAM Musician and graphic artist Kenny Putnam is from Rapid City but has studied, lived and worked in many places. As a professional musician he has performed on stages, big and small–nationally and internationally. Stages include, The Grand Ol’ Opry, The Tonight Show, Hee Haw, the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and the Oktober Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, performing with the legendary Roy Clark.

Putnam is a two-time South Dakota Fiddle Champ who began touring and recording with The Red Willow Band in 1975. He was invited by the Smithsonian Institution in 1975 and 1976 to participate in The Festival of American Folklife, demonstrating violin making and playing. With Red Willow he toured coast-to-coast for over six years, making two albums. Putnam got off the road in 1989 to continue his art degree (began at the University of South Dakota) at the University of Iowa earning a B.F.A. in painting and a Master of Journalism by 1992.

After grad school, Kenny’s wife Linnea, a clinical pharmacist, took a job in Rapid City in 1993. After coming home, Putnam worked in marketing and the graphic arts for large corporate businesses. Musically, he performed and recorded with a South Dakota Acoustic Christmas for 21 years. The group raised more than 1.3 million dollars for non-profits organizations across the State. In 2001 Putnam released a solo recording entitled “Sure Beats Me”, and recently recorded his second album in Austin, Texas called “Odd Numbers”. Working with musical groups, he has been a two-time Grammy nominee and, working with South Dakota Public Broadcasting, won an Emmy.

Putnam is currently doing art, having opened a ceramic studio. His work is featured at Prairie Edge Gallery in Rapid City, SD and Rehfelds Fine Art Gallery in Sioux Falls, SD. Read more about the artist at SDPB Radio!

JAMI LYNN Hailing from the Great Plains of eastern South Dakota, Jami Lynn began performing folk and bluegrass music at the age of thirteen. It took little coaxing from her grandfather to make the transition from the audience to the stage, where old-time country, polka, and regional folk music reigned supreme. Now days, she performs original folk music accompanied on claw-hammer banjo and finger-style guitar. She performs solo, with Sioux Falls based band, The JAS Quintet, and as one half of folk duo The Nesters. When not performing for public audiences, Jami also brings folk music to elementary students and hospital systems through the South Dakota State Arts Council’s Artists in the Schools & Communities program and Touring Artist program. Read more about the artist in 605 Magazine!

JAKE JACKSON Jake Jackson currently lives in Spearfish but was raised in the Rockerville area of the Black Hills. Long-known as a vocalist and string musician in the band Six Mile Road, there aren’t many local stages that he hasn’t played in his 30+ years of performance.

Primarily known for his talents on violin and guitar, Jake also picked up other instruments over the years, including clawhammer banjo and mandolin. He knew he wanted to play music at the age of nine after the Rapid City chamber orchestra visited his grade school and his journey with the violin began. By 15, he had found a new love and freedom with music when he began studying bluegrass and Irish fiddle tunes. He picked up the guitar when the band Six Mile Road formed in 1998 and, since that time, has performed regularly around the Black Hills. In 2019, he released an album with Six Mile Road, “Takes A Long Time,” and has been featured on several recording projects over the years with a variety of local artists.

Although his own compositions can be generalized as Americana, he enjoys playing Bluegrass, Celtic tunes, and Gypsy Jazz music, though he appreciates a wide variety of genres. The Grateful Dead influenced his thoughts on spontaneous simultaneous manufacture and presentation (improvisation), which is essential to the styles of music he creates. He can’t say he ever pursued music, as much as it’s just been woven into his life and he can’t imagine being without it. Read about the artist in South Dakota Magazine!