Local country artist hosts television show
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Tim Ryan Rouillier’s musical “My Grandpa’s Fiddle/Play Me Montana” will air on Montana PBS at 7 p.m. on Dec. 4.
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News from the Morris Agency in Nashville
The long-awaited television musical, “My Grandpa’s Fiddle/Play Me Montana,” written and performed by Montana’s troubadour Tim Ryan Rouillier will be airing statewide on Montana PBS at 7 p.m. on Dec. 4.
“It is a true memoir,” Rouillier said.
The live performance was filmed last year in Missoula at the UM Dennison Theater in front of a sold-out crowd featuring Grammy-winning, Hall of Fame and award-winning artists along with several musical guests from the Flathead Indian Reservation. The giant production was the highest grossing show ever in the long history of the University Theater.
“This breathtaking musical has been a lifetime production,” according to Rouillier. The memories and events that inspired the production started when he was just four years of age performing with his grandfather Vic Cordier.
Rouillier stood as his grandfather’s side on stage throughout the State of Montana at weddings, rodeos, bars, town dances and even funerals. Their storybook relationship would come full circle when Cordier fell to his death at the age of 92 while performing his last show in front of a sold-out concert with his grandson.
The musical journey took the duo from the Flathead Indian Reservation all the way to worldwide stardom when Cordier was in Rouillier’s first EPIC Records video in 1989 called “Let’s Dance In Circles.”
After a successful 30-year career in Nashville, writing songs for some of the biggest names in country music and years of recording his own songs for CBS, RCA and Warner Brothers records, Rouillier decided it was time to write his own story. “I always thought I had a unique story to tell growing up on the reservation, playing music at every event imaginable with my grandpa and capping it all off with a worldwide hit record, and then of course, our incredible last performance together,” Rouillier said.
Rouillier explained how the entire musical project was brought from just a dream to a national PBS program. “I met with several music executives and told them of my idea. Everyone loved my storyline, but I was told that I was wasting my time because I would need upwards of two to three million just to produce a show of this magnitude. I left the meeting with more energy and set out to prove them all wrong.”
He bought a video camera and went to work filming for five years in Montana. “I then worked in my basement for nine straight months editing and building the media that would eventually be the backdrop for the entire production,” he said.
Tim worked for the next two years writing songs with his hall-of-fame co-writing friends to write the storyline and build the entire show to his specifics. He added a live symphony to his recorded tracks.
“Now, finally in my mind,” he said, “I was ready to meet with someone who would film the live concert so I could eventually have a product that I could pitch to a network. My quotes were all between $300,000 to $500,000 just to film my concert for one night only,” he said.
Rouillier said his wife, Peggy Jo, had a great idea that would reduce the cost and make the film even more special. “Peggy looked at me and said, ‘We are taking this show home to the place it belongs,’” he said.
He reached out to David King from Polson, Montana. King is an independent film producer with a great reputation for quality work. “I must say that David was a Godsend,” Rouillier said. “He has been the best film producer I have ever worked with, and I have worked with some of the music industries best.”
On June 17, Rouillier’s long-time dream came true when his musical premiered for the first time in front of a sold-out crowd at the Dennison Theater on University of Montana’s campus. The musical was considered a great success with the assistance of Mike Morelli from the university’s entertainment management program, the Missoula Symphony Orchestra and several musical guests from Nashville and the Flathead Indian Reservation.
Getting this musical on a major television network would be nearly impossible with only a few options available. “There are no words to describe the elation I felt when I heard the president of PBS congratulate me with approval for my musical to become the PBS National Pledge show,” he said. “After thirty years in Nashville, fighting for my place at the table in the music industry, I finally get to tell my story. This is as high as I get to go with my music career. But it’s not only for me, it’s for my incredible family, it’s for my home, the Mission Valley and for my Montana. It’s for the memory of my beautiful co-star Lari White who lost her battle with cancer just three months after she wowed the sold out concert crowd who were lucky enough to see her last performance. This is for my reservation to showcase the many talented musical guests to the world.”
During the show, award-winning performers along with the Missoula symphony sat beneath a beautiful multimedia backdrop. The performance weaved the true tales of a young boy and his Salish Indian grandfather.
