BROOKINGS — Moms and dads in the Brookings School District know Jonathan Bakken as the energetically enthusiastic orchestra teacher at Camelot Intermediate School, but Bakken is equally passionate about promoting local musicians. And that’s the topic of a book he’s written — “Tiger Meat: South Dakota Music.”

“For over two years I interviewed South Dakota artists — musical artists — about their albums that they were releasing. And I put out a quarterly magazine — a little zine called Tiger Meat that was printed right here in Brookings,” Bakken said. “I’d schlep it out to different music stores around the state and sell it there. And after the eighth issue, when it seemed clear that I was having trouble keeping up steam and keeping going, I decided I should collect it all together so there’s a memory of it. So I put all eight issues together —it’s about 300 some pages with 50 different articles.”

Producing a homemade magazine helped him stay connected to the music world during the pandemic.

“So a zine is just a self-published, small pamphlet — usually it’s just printer paper. You print it out, you go somewhere, get a bunch of copies printed, you staple it, and boom! You have your own magazine,” Bakken said. “I reached out to a number of shops around the state like Full Circle Book Co-op in Sioux Falls, and Red Rooster in Aberdeen and Black Hills Vinyl in Rapid City — so it was sold throughout the state.”

Interviewing other musicians proved to him how active South Dakota’s music scene is. 

“I put an album out back in 2020 — and I said to myself, I wonder what else came out in South Dakota this year,” Bakken said. “That was 2020, so most of the folks were like, ‘Oh it’s been a really weird year. Nobody has really put out an album.’ I was sitting there like — Hey, I put out an album … and I discovered that yeah, in 2020, there were a lot of other great folks — some of the best in South Dakota that you’ve ever heard.”

He said the state has both great musicians and supportive audiences.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of people wanting to know about music. You go to any venue in a bigger area — Rapid City or Sioux Falls — people are like packed to listen to local music,” Bakken said. “I definitely don’t think it’s a lack of people wanting to uplift local artists. When they find a local musician they love, people support them. It’s just hard to get the word out.”

He hopes to promote more than just current artists. Lakota musician Buddy Red Bow died in 1993 and remains one of Bakken’s favorites.

“Buddy Red Bow’s ‘Journey to the Spirit World’ should be a national masterpiece,” Bakken said. “Anything I can do to help raise him up — he’s on the cover (of ‘Tiger Meat’) … He was one of the first artists inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame — it was Jimi Hendrix and him. And most South Dakotans don’t even know his name. Listen to it sometime!”

Bakken said South Dakota’s musical heritage deserves to be more widely celebrated — a fact hammered in for him in August when the Democratic National Convention took place. During a ceremonial roll call, each state was introduced to music selected by its delegation. South Dakota was introduced to “What I Like About You” — a song released by Detroit band The Romantics in 1979.

“Minnesota had Prince, Texas had Beyoncé, Jersey had Springsteen,” Bakken said. “And then South Dakota just came out to some people from Detroit? It was like ‘Well, we can’t think of anything else, so here’s a cool upbeat song.’ But we have people! They should’ve called me — I could’ve given them 27 options.”

The interviews Bakken did also inspired new musical avenues for him to pursue.

“I’m interviewing someone who I consider one of the greatest living South Dakota musicians — Jami Lynn. She gives me a shout-out of some artists, so then I interview Rachel Ries — who then gives me a shout-out about some artists, and then I learn about Eliza Blue,” Bakken said.

“Once I learned about Eliza Blue, I interviewed her about her album. And she said, ‘I’ve been trying to write a musical — is that something that interests you?’ And I was like yeah! My whole high school was just listening to musicals and dreaming of that. So we’ve been collaborating, trying to write a musical together.”

Bakken and Blue are both presenters at this year’s South Dakota Festival of Books. He’ll speak about “Tiger Meat,” and she’ll discuss her book “Little Pasture on the Prairie.” Then the two of them will perform songs from their collaboration during a free concert Saturday at 3:15 p.m. at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. More information on their other presentations is posted online at sdhumanities.org/festival-of-books. 

Bakken hopes people who read his book are inspired to love South Dakota’s unique musical voice.

“I hope people just think about being active listeners, being supportive of local musicians. It’s cliché to say, but all big names started as local musicians,” Bakken said. “Nobody just all of sudden is instantly the biggest artist. If we want representation, we here need to be the ones starting that and spreading the word. Share people’s links when they’ve started an album. Support your friends. And also, I hope this is a message to everybody who is a creator — it’s worth it. Even if you’re not finding exposure, even if you feel like you’re not getting listened to, it’s still worth it. Never stop creating!”

Email Jay Roe at jroe@brookingsregister.com.