Little Big Horn

From left: Lorenza Ponce, Sheryl Crow, Matthew Brubeck, Tim Smith, Jeremy Stacey, Peter Stroud and Mike Rowe

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Billings, Montana (USA)
11 August 2001

:: THE DIARY OF THAT DAY ::
by Chris Hudson

As we were driving through the Dakotas a few days before, Sheryl asked whereabouts of the Little Bighorn Battlefield. I had a feeling it was in Montana so I decided to do a bit of research. Luckily Sheryl and myself knew someone from the area, Minette Johnson. We had hooked up with her during the filming of “Freeride with Greta Gaines” in Montana in July. I conversed with Minette via e-mail and she directed us to a guy, Robin Wagner, who had grown up in the Crow Indian reservation – and that believe it or not was exactly where the Little Bighorn Battlefield is situated.

Our day was clear until our 3pm soundcheck, so David our bus driver agreed to drive us 60 miles out of Billings to meet up with Robin. Surprisingly enough even after the late night before, everyone turned up at 10am to board the bus.

We hooked up with Robin and he introduced us to Emerson Bullcheif, a full blooded Crow Indian. A few hours were spent following Robin and Emerson around the site as they told us stories of the famous Battle, the relationship of the Crows with Custer (many of Custer’s scouts were from the Crow tribe), and Native Indian life in general. Sheryl was asked the inevitable question – was she in any way tied to the Crow tribe? Sheryl admits that there was indeed a distant relation in her family who insisted that the current Crow generation had Native Indian blood. “But we all thought she was crazy,” were her final words on that subject.

The rest of the day was routine. In only two days we had fallen into it. Soundcheck, eat, hang out, play. The only thing that was missing was the ping-pong.

The Billings crowd deserves a mention in that they were the loudest and most appreciative we had come across in the short little August run. The show was also inside which made a nice change.

After the show Sheryl met up with Gregg Dempsey (the Fan Forum moderator) who had traveled a good many miles to see the show – luckily for him it was one of the best.

And that my friends was that. No one was more disappointed than Sheryl than to have missed appearing at Bethlehem and Williamsburg, but we were all grateful that we had managed to get to the places we did.

The next day we all flew out of Billings to our prospective homes. Jeremy and Mike went back to London. Matt to Oakland. Lorenza went to Pittsburgh for a wedding, Tim and Peter to Atlanta and Sheryl back to Los Angeles to rest and then continue with her record.

Sheryl Crow – “Black Betty”, Live @ Buffalo Chip Campground (2001-08-01)

“Black Betty”
Buffalo Chip Campground
Sturgis, South Dakota (USA)
1 August 2001

– Audience Recording –