Matheny to perform in Libby

Local singer Sandy Matheny has raised more than $10,000 for spinal cord injury research with her music over the past four years and she is returning to Libby to perform songs from her new CD, which she will also be signing,  from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Dec. 5 at Mountain Meadows Gift Store.

Matheny, who has homes in both Whitefish and Libby, has deep ties to the Libby community. In the 1980s she performed in Libby with The Lincoln County Stage Revue under the name Branchwater Bess. The troupe “was like a Vaudeville act,” she said. “We had singers and can-can dancers. It was a lot of fun.”

Matheny released her first album in 2011, inspired by her brother, who became completely paralyzed as the result of a spinal cord injury from a horse-riding accident in 2001. She donates all proceeds from her album sales to Oregon Health Sciences University’s spinal cord injury research program.

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control, some 200,000 Americans live with spinal cord injuries today, with an additional 12,000 to 20,000 new injuries each year.

“We all probably know someone who has been impacted by this kind of injury,” Matheny said.  Her goal is to help science understand it better and find a way to improve the lives of those people.

With the aid of voice-activated computers, Dave continued to manage the family’s ranch after the accident. “Dad taught us, and it manifested in Dave,” Matheny said, “that there’s always a way. Dave found that way and he kept going.” Matheny said she is following that example, finding a way to help others.

The album is an all-volunteer effort, with Sandy Matheny singing and her aunt, Doris Pitzer, providing the musical accompaniment. Guitarist and crop-duster Wayne Seitz, who also owns a recording studio, donated the space and his time to record and engineer the final release.

Matheny will be sharing the stage  at Mountain Meadows with local bluegrass band Beyond Help. The local trio consists of Mike Powell on guitar, Tim Harcourt on bass and Lee Tonner on fiddle.

Mountain Meadows owner Carol Cady may also join in on her mandolin. “I’m not part of the band,” she said, “but the guys sometimes let me sit in and jam with them.”

“It’s amazing to see everyone come together and help,” she said. “To be able to do something good while doing something you absolutely love to do, well, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”

Mountain Meadows is located at 1314 Minnesota Avenue in Libby.