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MSU alum and country music star writes song about Montana
November 09, 2009 -- Anne Pettinger Cantrell, MSU News Service
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| Shane Clouse, who graduated from MSU in 1996 with a degree in business, wrote "Montana Matters" for a campaign promoting conservation efforts. Photo courtesy of Shane Clouse. |
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A Montana State University alumnus and country musician who credits the university with helping him get his start in the music industry has written a song about Montana to promote conservation efforts.
Shane Clouse, who graduated from MSU in 1996 with a degree in business, wrote "Montana Matters" for a campaign of the same name. He also performed as the headlining act for a concert that was held this fall to raise money for the campaign.
According to campaign materials, the Montana Matters campaign "aims to preserve Montana's rich and storied past and its vibrant history as the embodiment of the Wild West, while at the same time ensuring the state's abundant wildlife and magnificent forests, fields, lakes and streams are preserved for generations to come." Montana Matters is a collaboration between the International Wildlife Film Festival and Media Center based in Missoula and the Montana Wildlife Federation.
Clouse said he was eager to give back to the state that he loves so much.
"Agriculture, wildlife and conservation are three things I'm really passionate about," Clouse said. "I'm willing to donate significant time and effort for this project."
The youngest of eight children, Clouse started singing on the hearth of his family's farmhouse in Missoula and won his first singing contest at the age of five. Since then, he has performed on stages across Montana, throughout the U.S., and around the world. Clouse and his band Stomping Ground were named Montana's best country act in 2005.
Though Clouse was born in Missoula and both of his parents attended the University of Montana, his allegiance to MSU has been long-standing.
"I've grown up being a huge MSU fan my entire life," Clouse said.
In fact, he said there was never any question in his mind where he would go to college.
Six of the Clouse kids attended MSU, and Shane's older brother was a freshman player on MSU's 1976 national champion football team. Watching games was a normal part of Clouse's childhood -- a habit that continued when he enrolled in the university. Clouse said he never missed a home football game when he attended MSU in the '90s.
As an MSU student, Clouse also played music in a rock band, "Father Midnight."
"It was a period of time when grunge was really popular on the national scene," Clouse said, laughing. "So a couple of farm kids grew their hair long and played in a rock band."
In 2006, while singing the national anthem for a College National Finals Rodeo that was held at MSU, Clouse landed a job as a sports marketing event coordinator for a company that was then called United States Tobacco Company, and he started traveling around the country for work. While he said the job was a great learning experience, it also helped him realize that he really wanted to get back to Montana.
So, in 2000, Clouse quit the job and began splitting his time between Montana and Nashville, Tenn. Three years later, he decided to return to Montana full-time. He now lives in Lolo with his wife, Kelly (Powers, Home economics '88), also an MSU graduate who was the school's homecoming queen in 1987. He and his family own a nursery business and garden center in Missoula. He also spends a great deal of time on the road, playing music.
Clouse's degree in business has proven to be extraordinarily useful as he's navigated the business world, he said, and he attributes his musical success to opportunities that sprouted from his connections at MSU.
"Being at MSU is what made me go down this path," Clouse said. "Had I not been involved with the rodeo finals, I never would have gotten these musical opportunities."
"Montana Matters" honors the state that he dearly loves with music that crosses all political boundaries, Clouse said.
"The song has the potential to bring folks together for a common cause," Clouse said. "That's what I've always wanted to do with my music."
"We all love Montana so much," he added. "To have the combination of free spirit, wildlife, wild places, and huge tracts of open agricultural land is really unique."
To watch a video of Clouse performing "Montana Matters," visit www.montanamatters.com/Artists. For more on Clouse, visit www.shaneclouse.com.
shane@shaneclouse.com
Hi-Resolution Images or PDFs Available:
| [View or Download] | 1. | Shane Clouse, who graduated from MSU in 1996 with a degree in business, wrote "Montana Matters" for a campaign promoting conservation efforts. Photo courtesy of Shane Clouse. | | [View or Download] | 2. | Shane Clouse, who graduated from MSU in 1996 with a degree in business, wrote "Montana Matters" for a campaign promoting conservation efforts. Photo courtesy of Shane Clouse. |
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