Rocky Boy teen to be highlighted on MontanaPBS

Stone Child College student Chontay Standing Rock is being featured in a segment on Backroads of Montana on MontanaPBS.

The segment is entitled “Hook, Line and Singer.”

The program aired at 6 p.m. Sunday and will be repeated at 6 p.m. today.

Standing Rock puts his own spin on traditional Native music by adding English words to songs about love and family.

He will be shown singing at his favorite spot — a waterfall in the Bear Paw Mountains on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

He said he first started going to the waterfalls with his grandmother when he was young.

Standing Rock plays the drums as he sings.

“I’ve been singing since I was 4 or 5,” he said. “I started singing for people since I was 12.”

At Rocky Boy High School, he sang at school events and led the school in singing “Happy Birthday” to people.

At Stone Child, he opens monthly student meetings with songs.

But he came to the notice of MontanaPBS officials when he was singing at a conference in Billings.

Last year, he recorded his first CD. He hopes to do another CD.

His appearance will be part of the season-opener of Backroads of Montana that highlights interesting people and places off the beaten track in the Treasure State.