The Law North of Crow Creek

By Meagan K. Ciesla

What happens when four law grads get together with some instruments and an itch to perform?  They start a band.  The Law North of Crow Creek (LNCC) is an eclectic cover band that plays songs ranging from the folk song “Shady Grove” to Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.  Its members, three of which are UW College of Law grads and the other a Creighton Law School graduate, have been playing together for years. The band released their first self-titled CD last May and there are murmurings of starting their sophomore album sooner rather than later.

Supreme Court Justice William Hill and Director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue, Ed Schmidt played together as a folk duo while they made their way through UW undergraduate and law school. Don Riske, partner of Riske, Salisbury & Kelly, P.C. also played around Laramie while in undergraduate school in the bands The Jesters and The Rhythm Band, but it wasn’t until all three were settled in Cheyenne that they began playing collectively. 

In 1999, the group was asked to play at the Wyoming Supreme Court Christmas party, but when they were asked the band’s name for an introduction, they came up short – they didn’t have one.  Off the top of his head, Justice Hill recalled the tale of Judge Roy Bean down in Texas who proclaimed himself “The Law West of the Pecos”.  Jokingly, Hill said the band’s name was The Law North of Crow Creek, the body of water which runs through south Cheyenne, and the name stuck.

In 2005, bassist Tom Kelly, Riske’s partner and graduate of Creighton Law School, joined the band to fill out Crow Creek’s sound. LNCC has performed around Sheridan, Jackson and Fort Collins and has had multiple engagements at Cheyenne’s Atlas Theatre. They refer to each other as “Creeksters” and agree that the band is all about having fun.  “We’ve been gratified that our audiences like what we do,” says Hill. Their only shop talk is about music and performing, and they play songs they think their audience will recognize and enjoy.

The Law North of Crow Creek is proud of their sound and they think it’s important to have some kind of creative outlet unrelated to work.  Kelly says of the band “I feel fortunate and blessed to be a part of this band. The other Creeksters have made my life enriched and fulfilled again.”  It seems like the band life isn’t such a bad way to let off some steam when these guys are out of the office.

For questions, bookings or CDs the band can be contacted at P.O. Box 1617, Cheyenne, WY 82003 or don@rskpc.com.