Country music stalwart Joni Harms’ most memorable Lewiston performance was one that didn’t happen.
Harms, who returns to Lewiston on Friday with a 7 p.m. show at the Elks Lodge, shared recollections of playing in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley during a phone interview earlier this week.
Her appearances in Lewiston often have been memorable, she said, noting she’s performed at the Elks several times over the years, and at the Nez Perce County Fair.
One gig that sticks with her was a decade or more ago when she was scheduled to play a Saturday night at the Elks and woke up “with no voice.”
“The folks at the Elks said ‘Come in, and we’ll pray for a miracle,’ ” she recalled.
She sold more CDs that night than any other concert she’s played, she said, “and I didn’t sing a note.”
The support from fans, even though she couldn’t deliver, was overwhelming.
“That is one of my favorite memories,” she said. Harms, who counts Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard among her influences, will be joined by cowboy poet Tom Swearingen, whose work is inspired by his observations from the saddle.
Both hail from Oregon, where Harms lives on a ranch that has been in her family since 1872. Growing up on a ranch and participating in rodeo — she was a rodeo queen and a runner up for Miss Rodeo America — influenced the classic country she writes and plays.
“Lots of stories in my songs,” she said. It’ll just be her and her guitar Friday night, no band, resulting in a “very intimate” show she said she knows her fans will appreciate.
“It will be a story-behind-the-songs type of show,” she said. “It’s kind of fun for people to hear how a song gets created.”
Tickets, $10, can be purchased at the lodge, 3444 Country Club Drive, and at And Books Too, 918 Sixth St. in Clarkston.
Stone (she/her) can be reached at mstone@inland360.com.
