Ray and Shirley Jacobs
Ray and Shirley Jacobs are quite the duo. Between them, they play just about any stringed instrument you can imagine and then there are the accordions. You might not be aware how many sorts of accordions exist from piano to button, diatonic to chromatic. Accordions come in different keys and different styles and between them, the Jacobs have quite an assortment.
The latest one that Shirley got from Mark Savoy in Louisiana is a Cajun accordion. Not only are Ray and Shirley skilled at playing all these instruments, but Ray makes musical instruments as well. He began years ago while teaching fourth grade to make Rocky Mountain dulcimers as it was a fairly simple instrument for children to pick up. He also has made violins, lyres, guitars and basses - to name a few. My personal favorite is a dobro that he made out of colorful cardboard and Lincoln County license plates. Ray makes musical instruments, repairs them and also teaches other people how to make them. A good portion of people in the Tobacco Valley probably have a Rocky Mountain dulcimer that they made or know someone who has one. Listing all of these skills though doesn't really capture the extraordinary personalities of Ray and Shirley. They have performed in just about every venue in town from the nursing home to the Farmers Market. They play weddings and dances. They have kept the Eureka Folk Music Society going for nearly 24 years now. Ray pushes people to learn old-time songs so they aren't forgotten. Shirley broadens our horizons with her French cafe music and medieval rounds. You have to wonder how such treasures ended in in the Tobacco Valley. But that is another much longer story. You can catch Ray and Shirley performing this week at the Eureka Farmers Market from 4:00-5:30pm.
About the Author: Rita Collins. I am a believer in the power of community and for now I call the Tobacco Valley home. I have lived in nine states and three counties and this community here amazes me - how people reach out to neighbors and even travelers. I've never lived in a place that demonstrates people caring for each other so well. And I've never lived in a place that has such a high percentage of talented musicians and artists. I work with the the Sunburst Community Service Foundation, a nonprofit that began in Eureka twenty years ago and now serves numerous communities in western Montana. And I just started a new business, St. Rita's Amazing Traveling Bookstore and Textual Apothecary. I never could have imagined life being this exciting in my sixth decade.
