BLACK HAWK/GILPIN — For over 30 years, life partners Jamey and Heather Bilyeu have traveled the country performing as Ravin’ Wolf. While many other performers have come in and out over the decades, the folk-rock unit has always existed with the duo as its core.
“We’ve been through 50 drummers in this band in 32 years,” says Jamey, “mainly because we travel quite a bit and we also work as a duo. It’s just more expedient and efficient as a duo.”
The couple met and first performed together in Roslyn, Washington, the shooting location of the hit television show Northern Exposure. From there, they cemented their two-guitar, two-voice sound during a two-year tour through the state of Alaska before navigating to (and performing throughout) the Pacific Northwest.
Heather, also known as FaeRaven, started with the acoustic piano as her instrumental focus before learning and embracing rhythm guitar. Jamey has opened and shared the bill with dozens of big-name acts, including Heart, Joe Walsh, Steppenwolf, Blue Öyster Cult, Alice in Chains, and The Outlaws.
“We play our own brand of acoustic mountain sagebrush blues,” says Jamey of the duo’s music. “A lot of times, we’ll play a lot of Grateful Dead. We do the Allman Brothers and a lot of these 70s bands that I ended up opening for.”
The duo’s name, Ravin’ Wolf, was inspired by these blues roots, particularly serving as a tribute to musician Chester Arthur Burnett, known best as Howlin’ Wolf. The two embraced the name even more after hearing a scripture quote from Genesis 49:27: “Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”
The duo aims to energize the crowds during their performances, whether performing as the core duo or bringing in rotating musicians. Recently, they’ve brought in percussionists Louie Jordan and Stephen “The Dexter” Bott as special guests.
While they feel their sound is strongest as a duo, they love when other musicians are able to meld perfectly into that sound. For Jamey, being able to morph with different venues and sets is a crucial aspect of the unit’s form.
“It’s liquid stone, it’s like magma,” says Jamey on the form. “Each night is a different flow and a different form.”
Whatever form it takes, Heather hopes Ravin’ Wolf offers audience members a “psychedelic musical experience that makes them feel better, uplifts them, and takes them out of their everyday grind.”
Ravin’ Wolf will be performing at the Very Nice Brewing Company location at 180 Jankowski Drive in Black Hawk on Saturday, July 11 starting at 5 p.m.
