"Underneath Montana Skies" was based on the Mann Gultch Fire near Helena Montana in 1949. I learned about this sad tale in a United States Forest Service Basic 32 fire training class in 1979. I wrote the song however in 1995 when the Black Irish Band took it's first tour of Montana. We stopped in at the Smokejumper base museum and I picked up a booklet on the Mann Gulch Fire. Later that day we drove near Gates of the Mountain near Helena, and the song started coming to me.

It should be noted that in the song I treated all 13 firefighters, that were lost in the fire, as smokejumpers. In truth one firefighter, Harrison, was a forest guard. He was once however a smokejumper. The song first appeared on the bands "Hooligans United" CD, and was released in 1996.

In 1997 a friend gave me a copy of Norman Maclean's book "Young Men & Fire". I found it very interesting at the time and I also heard about James Keelaghan's great song "Cold Missouri Waters". Our stories are however from two different points of view. Mine is a general view of the fire as known to me as a firefighter. Keelaghan's story is based on Wag Dodge and the book, "Young Men & Fire".

Both songs are on our bands new 17 CD Album release featuring Michael
Martin Murphey titled, "Into the Fire". The Cd can be found on CD Baby or the bands web-site at www.blackirish.com