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w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
Montana,
Out
Loud
DistinctLy
Montana
Stories
brings
the
magazine's
literary
journalisM
to
audiO.
S
OMEONE THREW A PITCHER AT BOB WEIR, AND THE
GRATEFUL DEAD NEVER CAME BACK TO MISSOULA. Sea-
son 1 of Distinctly Montana Stories has room for that story—and
for Long George Francis, outlaw, rodeo champion, and poet,
who crashed his car in a Christmas Eve blizzard, splinted his
own broken leg, and crawled through the snow toward a shack
he never reached. Comedy and tragedy, sometimes within the
same episode.
The premise is disciplined: the same literary journalism that de-
fines this magazine, translated into carefully produced audio.
Each episode is adapted from work that appeared in print, con-
tributions from the writers who give Distinctly Montana its voice,
hosted by editor Joe Shelton, and recorded in his basement guest
room while his dog watches from the bed. The show launched in
early 2025, built around the same conviction that animates every
issue: that Montana is more dramatic, strange, heartbreaking,
and funny than any single image of the state can capture.
The first season ranges widely in tone and subject. "Blood on
the Wool" reconstructs the largely forgotten range wars be-
tween cattlemen and sheepherders in early twentieth-century
Montana, a conflict that turned violent in ways that still feel
startling. Another episode follows an investigative trail into
