Rising country music performer returns to Montana

Country performer Sam Riddle is making his way back home to Montana to perform Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the Northwest Montana Fair at the Flathead County Fairgrounds in Kalispell.

The show starts at 7 p.m. with opening guests Luke Dowler and Stoll Vaughan.

Riddle, a Missoula native and University of Montana alumnus, now lives and works in Las Vegas. He said the path from Montana to Nevada was a strange one.

Riddle was a teenage basketball standout at Hellgate High in Missoula and earned a NCAA Division I scholarship to play for the University of Montana men’s basketball team. After three years playing for UM, he went on to play basketball professionally in Puerto Rico and was on his way to Europe next.

But along the way, a friend convinced him one night to play the piano at a bar they were visiting. It changed his entire life’s trajectory.

“When I realized people were willing to pay to see me play piano and sing ... That was it,” Riddle said in a recent phone interview. “I made the switch just out of the blue.”

Riddle was born in Missoula but lived most of his young life in New York City. His uncle was a producer and composer there and his mother worked for playwright Neil Simon.

His father is Steve Riddle, one of the founding members of the Mission Mountain Wood Band. Music was something he grew up immersed in.

“One weekend I’d be sitting in a theater watching a Broadway musical with my mom,” Riddle said. “And the next weekend I’d be at a bluegrass festival in Maryland with my dad.”

Riddle added that he’s been playing piano as long as he can remember. It was his first love, and his first memory.

Riddle said his parents worked hard to get the family back to Montana. He said they were finally able to return to Missoula when he was 12 or 13 years old.

That’s when he saw his father perform with the Mission Mountain Wood Band live for the first time.

“The first time I saw [Mission Mountain Wood Band] perform live ... That was a huge experience and turning point,” Riddle said. “I realized how powerful a live act like that can be.”

It was a lesson Riddle took seriously when he decided to become a professional musician. His piano skills and stage bravado quickly paid off, and he said he’s been performing live five to seven nights a week in Las Vegas for nearly a decade.

“I’d much rather be in a place where I can be myself on the big stages,” Riddle said of deciding to move to Las Vegas. “[Las Vegas] provided a stage for me to entertain, to perform.”

Riddle said that the decision to focus on country music rather than some other genre was also a natural one.

“I knew I needed to be myself if I was going to make it,” Riddle said. “When I started writing my own material, it was just so country.

“It allowed me to be everything that I am.”

Riddle said he is currently fine-tuning his debut album for release, but fans can find his first single, “How It Really Goes,” now on iTunes. For more information on Riddle, visit www.samriddle.com.

Singer/songwriter Dowler (www.lukedowler.com), originally from Kalispell, and Kentucky-born singer/songwriter Vaughan (www.stollvaughan.com) will open for Riddle on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the Kalispell show.

Riddle said he is excited to be performing in his home state.

“We spent every summer growing up in the Flathead Valley,” Riddle said. “There’s something magical about summer in that area.

“These songs are about them, about the people [in the Flathead]. It’s so special ... to get to perform these songs for the people who inspired these songs.”

Tickets for Tuesday night’s concert are $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 6 through 12 years old. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The concert is rain or shine, and children 5 years old and younger are free. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 406-758-5810 or visit www.nwmtfair.com.

Riddle will be holding a meet-and-greet event on Aug. 17 from 3 to 4 p.m. at Kalispell Toyota Scion, located at 2845 U.S. 93 S. in Kalispell. There will also be an “inaugural fan club party” at Crush Lounge, 124 Central Ave. in Whitefish, after the Aug. 18 concert.

“I’m excited to be part of people’s summer up there,” Riddle said. “I’m really looking forward to it.

“I hope I give them a night they’ll never forget.”

Entertainment Editor Stefanie Thompson can be reached at 758-4439 or ThisWeek@dailyinterlake.com.