‘A true Idaho icon’: Pinto Bennett, a star of Boise’s country music scene, dies at 73

Pinto Bennett, an influential Idaho singer-songwriter who shared stages with country stars and enjoyed success overseas in the 1980s, died Tuesday night at his Boise home. He was 73.

Bennett had battled two decades worth of health problems, including heart attacks, strokes and hospitalization with COVID-19 last fall. But his death was still unexpected, said his daughter, Danielle Bennett-Chavers.

Known for his honky-tonk, “hard country” sound, Bennett never became a household name. But he deeply affected Gem State musicians with his songwriting, humor and unique perspectives. His best-known band, Pinto Bennett and the Famous Motel Cowboys, held an annual reunion in the Boise area as recently as 2019.

“Pinto was larger than life and just finally outgrew it,” said Steve Fulton, who owns Audio Lab recording studios in Garden City, where Bennett had recorded since 2004. “Thankfully, he’s left us with so many ways to remember him. A true Idaho icon.”

Bennett also was regarded as a true Idaho character. “Anyone who ever met Pinto Bennett has a least one good Pinto story,” Idaho-turned-Texas band Reckless Kelly posted Wednesday on Facebook. “... Pinto had a certain something you couldn’t quite put your finger on and maybe you didn’t want to ... didn’t want to unravel the mystery, not that that would have been possible.”

Reckless Kelly released a Bennett tribute album in 2010, “Somewhere in Time,” composed entirely of his songs. It reached No. 22 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. “He was just an incredibly prolific songwriter,” Reckless Kelly fiddler Cody Braun explained by phone, “and was playing country rock ‘n’ roll — country-rock — before it was a thing.”

Born in Ames, Iowa, in 1948, Bennett grew up on a ranch in Elmore County, Idaho, where he dreamed of becoming the next Elvis Presley. “As a young fella I was a huge fan of Hank, Elvis, Chuck Berry, and the Everly Brothers,” he told the Idaho Statesman in 2004. “I learned their songs off the radio.”

He served a term in the Navy before pursuing a music career in the 1960s. “If you went to the country joints ... they’d buy you drinks if you wore your uniform,” he said.

Bennett worked in bands that eventually included the standout “hard country” act Tarwater. “Tarwater was the fair-haired boys for a long time — a real deal,” Bennett said. “... In the end we were too stubborn to keep from screwin’ it up.”

He found his most success fronting the Famous Motel Cowboys. The group shared stages with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and other big country names, and found an audience briefly in Europe. The 1988 album “Pure Quill” was an artistic high point; the band toured England for three years and performed twice at Wembley Arena in London. “We all loved it. It was great,” Famous Motel Cowboys guitarist Rob Matson said.

Sensing it was “do-or-die time,” the band set up a showcase in Nashville — then “came back to Boise and broke up,” Matson remembered with a laugh. “You know the story.”

Bennett then moved to Nashville for a second time, where his friends included Chet Atkins, Don Everly, Lyle Lovett and other celebrities. Yet he remained an outsider with the Music City establishment. His familiar Gem State soon beckoned again.

“He didn’t want me to grow up in that life,” Bennett-Chavers said. “He could have gone big, but he chose not to. And he didn’t want to be controlled.”

After resettling in Idaho in the early 1990s, Bennett became a fixture of the Boise music scene. Famous Motel Cowboys reunion concerts became an annual staple.

Bennett released his final album, “The Last Saturday Night,” in 2019.

But his music and legend will continue to resonate.

“He was a great writer and he just had this musical magnetism that drew people to want to play with him,” said Matson, who started playing guitar with Bennett in 1980. “Because the songs were great. The energy.

“The first time I got on stage with him, my foot was sore by the end of the night from bouncing up and down and playing. I’d never played country music with that kind of energy. And musical integrity and realness.”

Growing up in Stanley and Challis, Cody Braun and his brothers were surrounded by the sounds of the Famous Motel Cowboys. Their father, musician Muzzie Braun, was a friend and musical collaborator of Bennett’s.

“When we started our band Reckless Kelly, we idolized those guys,” Cody Braun said. “The sound that they had in the ‘70s is something we were trying to somewhat re-create as we started our band in 1996. ... They invented Americana.”

Bennett is survived by his life partner, Barbara Bennett, daughters Bennett-Chavers, Heather Knudsen and Michelle Phillips, and “adopted son” Michael Gough.

Statesman staff contributed to this article.

This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 4:32 PM.