The Billings music scene is sparkling this season. YPR’s Karl Lengel spoke with one performer who’s bringing the joy across the region.
As with most communities during the pandemic, live musicians in the region were challenged by the shutdowns. Over the last three years, Billings musicians are seeing a return of performances and audiences. Social media posts reflect a scene abuzz with live music.
One performer who is frequently in demand this holiday season is Elana Hayden. A native New Yorker, Hayden has written, recorded, produced, and licensed numerous songs, jingles and voiceovers for TV, film, radio, and video. She has recently relocated from the Big Apple to Big Sky Country, and her appearances have brightened up live music outlets across the YPR listening area.
Hayden found music at a young age in a musical family and was encouraged by her father.
”When I was really little he would play the guitar and I would sing along and he thought I had a really good ear, so he nurtured that. He was a professor of Theatre and Film at Hunter College in New York, and he used to bring me along, prop me up on the desk and play guitar and I would sing.”
Hayden went on to explore theatre musicals, folk music, gospel and a variety of pop and rock formats. She worked with some of New York’s best musicians in the event circuit, which requires fast changes and adaptations. It honed her skill set, but she rarely sang jazz or the American songbook until she got to Montana. Hayden says it’s a whole new world for her.
It’s been fun for me to explore this jazz thing, and I kind of fell into it, and people kind of see me as a jazz singer, which I’m really not. But I love singing these standards - it’s just opened up a whole new world of music that I never got to explore when I was in New York.
Hayden also discusses the universality of music, and the joy familiar music brings to performers and audiences alike.
