Montana State Lullaby

"Montana Lullaby"

Written & Music by Ken Overcast  & Wylie Gustafson

Adopted in 2007

"Montana Lullaby" by Ken Overcast and Wylie Gustafson was designated the official state lullaby of Montana in 2007. The lullaby was championed by a Billings, Montana country radio DJ and a director of the Yellowstone County Museum.

Ken Overcast of Chinook, who wrote the lyrics and sings the lullaby, said people have told him his song captures "the spirit of the West and the spirit of a Montana cowboy" and "typifies the spirit of Montana."

The song describes a lonesome cowboy out on the range rounding up stray cattle, with the sun "sinkin' low in the west," while he dreams of his Jenny who's home "waitin' alone" ... "We'll bed down the strays, we'e been gatherin' all day, with a Montana Lullaby."

Overcast teamed up with Wylie Gustafson of Cut Bank to write the music.

Montana State Lullaby: "Montana Lullaby"

"Montana Lullaby"

Montana Lullaby
? 2000-2006 Bear Valley Music
Lyrics - Ken Overcast
Music - Ken Overcast, Wylie Gustafson
Interspersed Yodel written by Wylie Gustafson

Verse 1
The sun's sinkin' low in the west and I know
Another day on the range has gone by
We'll bed down the strays, we've been gatherin' all day
With a Montana Lullaby

Chorus 1

In my blankets at night, with the moon shinin' bright
Dreams of my Jenny drift by
Breakin' of dawn, brings the Meadowlark's song
A Montana Lullaby

Verse 2

From the wide rollin' plains, cross the Rockies blue range
Wherever the proud eagle flies
A lone coyote croons to a full lover's moon
A Montana Lullaby

Chorus 2

Jenny's at home, waitin' alone
As the long roundup evenin's drag by
The wind in the pines, whispers she's mine
With a Montana Lullaby

Origin of Song: "Montana Lullaby"

A February 16, 2007 article by Gwen Florio in the Great Falls Tribune, "Sleepy song slips closer to spot as state lullaby," quotes the bill's sponsor, Rep. Wayne Stahl, "The song "is one of those cultural, historical things that's probably pretty well lost to most of the world...Texas could probably have a lullaby, or Kansas or Nebraska - those places along the old Chisholm Trail...Montana is the last of that bastion."

Montana Law

Montana Code Annotated, Title 1, Chapter 1, Part 5, Section 11.

TITLE 1. GENERAL LAWS AND DEFINITIONS
CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Part 5. State Symbols - Official Designations
1-1-530. State lullaby. The song "Montana Lullaby", written by Ken Overcast and Wylie Gustafson, is the official lullaby of Montana.

     History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 243, L. 2007.

 


State Songs
US State Songs
Forty-nine states of the United States (all except New Jersey) have one or more state songs, selected by the state legislature as a symbol of the state.