Recording folk artist Jeff Warner tells history through traditional music played on banjo, concertina, and “pocket instruments” such as cow bones.  

On April 24, Warner will perform a concert titled, Range the Wild Woods Over: Songs and Stories from the Lumber Camps, at the Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 Second Ave. E., Kalispell. 

His songs from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountain tops of America connect 21st century audiences with the everyday lives and artistry of 19th century Americans.   

Six months after unveiling its newest permanent exhibit — Lumberjacks, Tie Hacks and River Pigs — which focuses on the timber industry, the museum presents Warner’s program about life in the logging camps, particularly the songs and stories, and even the smells. Dangerous, lonely and remote, the logging camps of the early 1900s were difficult places to be and residents made their own entertainment. 

Warner comes from a family of avid collectors of traditional folk songs. His parents, Frank and Anne Warner, learned the murder ballad "Tom Dooley" from Appalachian musician Frank Proffitt in the 1930s, along with hundreds of other tunes, as they traveled across rural America, according to the Library of Congress and jeffwarner.com.  

Warner has performed in festivals and clubs around America and the United Kingdom and has toured for the Smithsonian Institution, according to his bio. He is a founding officer of Folk Alliance International. In 2016, Country Dance and Song Society honored Warner's "dedication to the world of traditional folk music” with its Lifetime Contribution Award. 

Tickets are $10 for nonmembers and $5 for museum members. Tickets may be purchased online at flatheadtickets.com or at the museum. Seating is limited.

For more information, call 756-8381 or visit nwmthistory.org.