GARDEN CITY - He's been an icon in Idaho's music industry for a couple of generations. And it's a legacy that is continuing this weekend. Pinto Bennett dragged his guitar around the world playing what he calls "hard country."
But it is easy to see why so many want to celebrate him and his music.
Garden City may not be considered the center of the Idaho music universe. But when Pinto Bennett sits down in the studio at the Audio Lab it is.
"This is like church to me, too," said Bennett. Pinto, not exactly his given name, grew up the freckled son of a sheep farmer in Elmore County.
"Oh man, I was the ugliest kid you ever seen," said Bennett.
And he knew early on where he would end up.
"I mean I knew that when I was 9 years old, you know, I mean I knew what I was going to do. Elvis, man, Elvis changed my life," said Bennett.
"My first time i was paid to play was Marv's Drive-In in Mountain Home."
That was in junior high and he made $17. Soon Bennett was making more money as a musician than his family was on the farm and by the time he joined the band "Tarwater" in the 70s, he was getting paid a grand a week.
"If I didn't have so many bad habits I probably could have sent my kids to Stanford," he laughs. In the 80s he formed The Famous Motel Cowboys, but the fame part only came when a friend called from Europe.
"He calls, 'Hey, man, they're playin your record over here."
So they flew overseas, and found a steady gig for the better part of two decades.
"Wherever we went we were treated like stars and that was good enough for me," said Bennett.
But fame in a foreign land didn't exactly translate to the states and Pinto, the 68-year-old father of four with seven great-grandkids, has since settled into semi-retirement.
He has written almost 400 songs, so when he picks up the guitar to play he has a long playlist to shuffle through in his head. Bennett has survived heart attacks, is blind in his right eye, suffers from vertigo and diabetes. But he loses all sight of that in the studio or on the stage.
"Every time he picks up a guitar and opens his mouth something brilliant comes out," said Steve Fulton, Bennett's producer for the last 11 years.
Fulton has been a fan of Bennett's since childhood and owns the studio where Bennett recorded his last few albums. The Visual Arts Collective is also the place where Pinto Bennett's music will be sung by other artists this weekend in a two-day event. Two days, because one wasn't enough.
"We've got 18 artists covering his stuff and we were turning people away," said Fulton.
Which goes to show, unfamiliar doesn't mean unknown.
"I'm just glad to be part of any scene these days, you know," said Bennett.
And Idaho's music world will once again revolve around right here in Garden City.
"He's a legend here and his legacy is going to be, you know, forever," said Fulton.
Pinto says he is planning on another album and he keeps active performing at the VA hospital every week.
The "We've Got You Covered" concert is this Friday and Saturday at the Visual Arts Collective in Garden City. Proceeds from the concert and CD sales will benefit the Idaho State Veterans Home.
