​Backdoor bully blues

Nearly 16 years ago, 2014 Fargo Winter Blues Fest headliner Shannon Curfman appeared on the cover of the High Plains Reader for the first time.

“It pretty much made my life hell, to be honest,” said Curfman to HPR mid interview, when asked about the experience.

Of course, that’s not what was intended nor what she expected.

“It was like the coolest thing ever, I thought, to be on the cover of the High Plains Reader because that’s what I would read every week,” Curfman said, who was 12 years old and living in south Fargo at the time.

Unfortunately, after her peers saw that April 16, 1998 HPR issue with a photo of her and her guitar, they teased and bullied her out of school.

“High Plains Reader is big part of why I started homeschooling … I was always an A+ student, honor roll, I had great accolades but it got to the point where I just hated school and I started to see my grades drop and it started sucking the spirit out of me,” Curfman said.

The now very accomplished 28-year-old singer/guitarist now looks back at it and sees that experience as a blessing. Because of homeschooling, she was able to study music deeper and write songs more.

Less than two years after she started homeschooling, Curfman was signed to major record label, Arista, and she released her first album, “Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions.” She was just 14 years old.

Nowadays she tours the world as a guitarist for Kid Rock and gets to hang among stars like Bon Jovi and ZZ Top. She also leads her own band and plays her own original music in front of roaring crowds and at music festivals across the country.

“So I guess … thanks for being bullied,” she laughed. “It worked out.”

Curfman’s peers were not the only Fargoans that didn’t appreciate her untimely music stardom.

“There was a couple, actually, that were really – kind of had some power in the music industry in North Dakota. And they were really supportive at first – as long as I would sign with them. I didn’t sign with them and then they got really nasty,” Curfman said.

“Every time I would go play at a bar, they would call the cops on me.”

One Bismarck bar even willingly shut down for a whole summer by allowing Curfman to perform at its establishment.

“(The bar owner) stood up for me … he chose to let me go on because he felt that he was doing nothing wrong and I was doing nothing wrong,” Curfman said.

Why were some locals out to get such shinning stars like Curfman, including fellow Fargo-bred professional musician Jonny Lang? Apparently there were more than a few people in the community that didn’t appreciate how Curfman and Lang seized the spotlight. Many thought their popularity and talent was overhyped and undeserved.

Curfman said some folks felt, because the two musicians were so young, they “haven’t paid their dues.”

Or perhaps some folks could not accept that a kid or teenager could possibly be more skilled and deserving of praise than a seasoned adult.

Steve Stine, Curfman’s first guitar teacher who’s taught thousands of other students, attested to her exceptional talent. He said just by listening to her sing and play guitar at the same time, he knew she was musically gifted.

“Her voice was incredible,” Stine said.

He also said naysayers “come with the territory” of being popular and talented.

In many ways (not all ways), Curfman and Lang did have unprecedented musical skills that some folks in Fargo did not have. Naturally, the two wouldn’t be where they are today if that were not the case.

Young girls didn’t “shred” the electric guitar the way Curfman did. Guitar solos were (and still are) normally saved for a man’s strong, big and rhythmic fingers.

“Absolutely in the entertainment industry, whenever you do something that benefits you somehow in your life, there are always people that are waiting around the corner to dog you because they are jealous of what you’ve done,” Stine said.

Of course, Curfman did have tons of local support despite her local foes.

“I used to go into Ricks on Wednesday nights for a jam session,” Curfman said. “They’d sneak me into the back door and go in and play and they’d sneak me out. Everyone would be waiting for me to come and play.”

She also cited First Avenue Cabaret, where The Avalon now is, as being a very supportive venue for her. At the time, she said, the venue was one of the best in town for music because of the caliber of the acts it brought in from out of town.

With Curfman’s 30th birthday coming up in less than two years, and her daughter nearing the age when Curfman first started doing music (at 7), the musician is now more than ever realizing all that’s happened in the last couple youthful decades of her life. Especially now that she’s on a break from touring.

“I think it would be easier to understand and process if (big success) was something we really aimed for, but being constantly successful even with the little bit that I’ve had, that was never our end goal,” Curfman said.

“My goal was just to play music and keep going with my passion. … I’m obviously very grateful but hopefully it’s not the end. However, I am completely fine with that being the peak (laughs). Having the first album be like the best one I’ve ever done, I’m fine with that (laughs).”

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: Shannon Curfman/Fargo Winter Blues Festival

WHERE: Doublewood Inn

WHEN: Sat, Feb. 8

4 p.m. - Blue Wailers

5:30 p.m. - Maurice John Vaughn

7 p.m. - Shawn Holt and the Teardrops

9 p.m. - Shannon Curfman

HOW MUCH: $25

INFO: Fargobluesfest.com