A band of (mostly) brothers: Crawford Brothers Band keeps music in the family

Nick Crawford had attention deficit disorder as a kid, so when he first picked up the fiddle at 4 years old, he had a hard time following the notes.

That might have been the end of Crawford’s fiddle career if not for a woman named Phyllis, who taught Crawford to play by ear in a way that made sense to him.

“She taught the way I think people should teach,” Crawford said. “She introduced me to kind of the fiddle world.”

Crawford, 34, is lead singer and manager for the Crawford Brothers Band, a group that has its roots in a musical Heart Butte family.

“Everybody in my family, you’re pretty much given a guitar when you’re born,” Crawford said.

By the time he was 8, Crawford was practicing the fiddle at least two hours a night and playing up to four gigs per week with his brother at any local event his dad could find that didn’t take place in a bar.

“I was never a prodigy or anything like that, it was just that I practiced so much,” Crawford said. “By the time I was 12 or 13, a lot of people knew the Crawford Boys.”

After high school, Crawford’s life took many paths. He went to college for firefighting, worked as an EMT and spent time on the oil rigs in North Dakota, but every time it came down to a choice, Crawford always chose his music.

“I moved back home to Heart Butte, and I called up some old buddies that I knew that knew how to play,” he said. “That’s when we actually started as a late-night band.”

Crawford took on as many gigs as he could, sometimes for low or no pay, trying to build recognition. During that time, the band went through a lot of members.

“I don’t think they realized how hard I wanted to hit it,” said Crawford.

At one point, both his drummer and his bass player quit, and the band already had several gigs booked. Crawford was worried, but he refused to cancel the shows. Instead, he contacted his cousins, Joe and Vernon Crawford.

“They weren’t really ready to play in front of people,” Crawford said, “but we didn’t really have a choice.”

These additions, born of necessity, solidified the Crawford Brothers Band into what it is today: Nick Crawford on lead fiddle, guitar and lead vocals; Vernon Crawford on bass; Joe Crawford on rhythm guitar; and Justin Crawford on drums.

The success of the band has only grown, and it now plays all over Montana and the Dakotas, including gigs at the Montana State Fair and the Indian Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, both of which it has been invited back to. It’s also had offers from Tucson and even the Calgary Stampede.

The lack of a finished album is the only thing holding the members back. They’ve built a recording studio and are in the process of laying down tracks, but the equipment they use in the studio has to go with them on the road, which takes up a lot of their recording time and limits their gigs.

“It took me forever to learn all this stuff. I thought you just pushed the record button,” Crawford said. “We have to have our album. Otherwise we’re just going to be a bar band.”

Once the album is done, along with a music video for at least one song, Crawford hopes the doors will begin to open. The group is looking into small business grant, and one band member is working on getting an RV.

No matter what happens, though, the Crawford Brothers Band will keep playing together as a family.

“We grew up as brothers,” he said. “We can cuss each other out and beat each other up and we’re still brothers. People believe in us and we have a lot of fans. It would be stupid to just quit now.”

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Traci Rosenbaum at 791-1490. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_TRosenba.