The Montana Logging and Ballet Company is an American comedy and political satire group, having performed around the U.S. from 1975 until their retirement in 2013. The group's four members, Tim Holmes, Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Rusty Harper and Bob FitzGerald, got their start at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. Holmes and Garnaas-Holmes are brothers. They recorded several albums and broadcast many short radio sketches. Their first album, ''Take the Barriers Down'', 1987, features liner notes by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Funds from the sale of these albums helped Tutu's transformative work for peaceful political change in South Africa prior to the first free elections in 1994, the focus of the title song. Like their first album, the second album ''We Don't Get It'' (1992) was arranged and produced by jazz guitarist

Mundell Lowe James Mundell Lowe (April 21, 1922 – December 2, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who worked often in radio, television, and film, and as a session musician. He produced film and TV scores in the 1970s, such as the ''Billy Jack'' soundtrac ...

; it also featured guitarist

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wrec ...

. Their releases ''Solutions to Our Nations Problems, Take 1'', (1999) and ''Take 2'' (2001) featured selections from their regular appearances on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

's ''Sunday Weekend Edition'', where they were billed as "resident political satirists" during the Clinton years. On the show they provided a series of short political satire sketches on the political issues of the day. After 37 years performing together the quartet called it quits with a final concert tour of their home state of Montana, preserved in a documentary film, ''Love is the Journey: The Montana Logging and Ballet Co.'', which aired on Montana PBS in 2012.{{Cite web, title = Love is the Journey: The Montana Logging and Ballet Company, url = http://watch.montanapbs.org/video/2292011339, website = PBS Video, accessdate = 2015-10-21, language = , date=October 13, 2012

References

External links

''Love is the Journey: The Montana Logging and Ballet Company''
Final televised performance of the Montana Logging and Ballet Company after 37 years of touring. Produced by '' Montana PBS'' American comedy musical groups Musical groups established in 1975 Rocky Mountain College alumni 1975 establishments in Montana 2013 disestablishments in Montana