Big Sky Troubadours

About Us

A music production company promoting songwriting events and bringing Nashville top tier songwriters to Whitefish to share their original music and the inspiration and stories behind those songs.

After fifteen years, three record deals, and a lot of music business ups-and-downs, Jo Smith did what no one serious about a career in Nashville ever does: she left. “I realized that I was trying to write about a life I wasn’t truly living on the two small streets of Music Row.” So she packed her car, all the dues paid, and drove away from the proverbial box. Years later, settled in a cabin on a mountainside in rural Montana with her husband and son, Jo realized that decision had been the best one she’d ever made.

In a writing appointment with award-winning songwriter of George Strait’s classic “Troubadour”Leslie Satcher in 2023, that decision was a topic of discussion and inspiration. And it led to the idea that what was good for one, would probably be good for others. Satcher—who’d spent her honeymoon in the same part of Montana where Jo was now living—agreed there was something special and inspiring about the place. The more Jo reconnected with old songwriting friends, the more the stories of burnout and yearning for the simpler things in the craft resonated.

In 2024, Big Sky Troubadours was born. Co-founded by Jo and native Montanan event producer Cari Klepper, the organization invites writers to Whitefish, MT to retreat from the things that steal their inspiration, and reconnect with what drove them to pursue dreams to create in the first place.