My Madison

Montana's Madison is a river endeared to fly fishers the world over. Originating in the magic country of Yellowstone at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers, the Madison flows west and then north to join with the Gallatin and Jefferson, forming the Missouri at Three Forks, Montana. Along its course it offers crystalline meadow waters, riffles, rapids, pools, and lakes where hard fighting rainbows and browns feed all season long on heavy hatches of aquatic insects.

It also represents that part of each of us that is wild and free and pure of spirit. That part that flows through us and wells to the surface when in union with the river or our memories of it. That part that sings to us in the quiet moments as sleep is finding its way into our minds. It is in celebration of this river that "My Madison" was conceived and produced.

Gary Borger, one of fly fishing's foremost writers and video producers, describes his powerful feelings for the river with poetry in prose. John Beth, a highly talented angling writer and composer, pours out his emotions in wonderfully provocative music. To this, the river adds its siren song. The result is a harmony of voices that evoke the singleness of this great river.

Gary: "This piece is for all who hear it. Though the words are mine, I wanted them to express what every angler feels about why we love rivers and wild places. We called it "My Madison" because we want each person to open his or her heart and mind and visit the Madison with us. We want the listeners to bring their own experiences, their own hopes, their own emotions to the words, the music, the sounds of the river. We want them to say, 'This is My Madison'."

John: "I became the river, with all its liquid freedoms, moving without hindrance through its valleys, its broad lakes, and its narrowed canyons and let the music express what I saw, what If elt, what I heard. This is one of our country's most beautiful parts, pure in wildness, in beauty, in emotional honesty. I want the listener to feel that with me, I want my music to trigger the listener's memories of hatches, of sunsets, offish, of all that this remarkable river means to me. And then to make it their own."

Order the full "My Madison" CD from Tommorow River Press, P.O. Box 1745, Wausau, Wiscionsin 54402-1745, telephone (715) 842-9879.