The house lights dim and the stage lights go up, bathing the smoke and haze ascending the platform at the Majestic Valley Arena in crimson. 

Paul Cauthen struts out, the collar on his black leather jacket haphazardly flipped up, face obscured by thick-framed sunglasses, a glinting metal chain hanging around his neck, and lights into “Texas Gravel Road,” the pulsating penultimate track on his recently released album “Book of Paul.” 

Given the title of Cauthen’s latest work, the 40-year-old musician was a fitting choice to baptize the U.S. 93 arena last Saturday night as the Flathead Valley’s newest music venue.  

“We are so proud to be the first show in this [building],” Cauthen tells the audience a little later on in his set.  

Best known as a rodeo venue since its doors opened in 2002, the Majestic Valley Arena changed hands over the winter, and its new owners indicated a new approach with the announcement of Cauthen’s April 18 performance.   

While the arena is expected to stay true to its roots — it will still host the Brash Rodeo series, for example — the venue will incorporate more live music into its repertoire. Outriders Present, the firm behind the annual Under the Big Sky music festival near Whitefish, will facilitate the performances, a slate that so far includes Corb Lund, Houndmouth, and Shane Smith and the Saints. 

Enter Cauthen, who has made several trips to the Flathead Valley in recent years, including appearances at Under the Big Sky. Montana is a favorite destination of his, he told the Inter Lake ahead of his performance in Kalispell, and Outriders Present one of the best teams to work with.  

Cauthen headlined a bill on Saturday that included Whitefish-based Radio Ranch and New Orleans’ Crowe Boys. The opening acts proved complementary, pairing Radio Ranch lead guitarist Rhett Henry Baxter’s sultry, bourbon-soaked vocals with the lighter, more effervescent sound of Ocie and Wes Crowe. 

But no one filled up the arena quite like Cauthen. 

“WE READY to party tonight?” Cauthen bellows from the stage, erected on one of the far ends of the cavernous rectangular structure. The crowd roars back at him approvingly. 

Although an acclaimed singer-songwriter steeped in the traditions — and affectations — of country music, Cauthen is very much a throwback of a rock star.   

Putting the guitar aside for a moment during his band’s thumping rendition of “Black on Black" from his 2024 album of the same name, Cauthen leans out over the stage, cavorting above the audience during an extended solo. A song later — “Caught Me at a Good Time” from 2022’s “Country Coming Down” — and the barrel-chested Cauthen is primping and preening. There is a touch of Elvis in Cauthen’s gyrations.  

But blessed with a baritone voice of seemingly unplumbable depths, Cauthen has frequently drawn favorable comparisons to Johnny Cash — a likening he clearly relishes. Halfway through Saturday’s set, Cauthen takes up "Folsom Prison Blues,” but can’t resist adding a touch of his over-the-top, not just hard-living but hard-partying, style. 

“Let’s put a little cocaine on it,” he cries midway through the classic, and the tempo ratchets up dizzyingly. 

Although Cauthen slows the pace down for several songs, sending his band away to reflect a moment on his soon-to-be born son and the importance of mental health, he seems to know the interlude is the exception that proves the rule.  

“Let’s bring the band back out here; let’s [expletive ] rock,” he cries before launching into “Road Dog,” a soaring, yet rueful track from “Book of Paul” that is appropriately interspliced with yips and howls. A few songs later and Cauthen is back to his meditations on the rock’n’roll lifestyle, gyrating through the funky “Everybody Get in Line,” the lilting “Dark Horse” and capping off with “Texas Swagger” and “Country as [Expletive].” 

There is an uncomplicated joy in Cauthen’s onstage antics, a sense — even after five albums and years on the road — that he has just finally, here and now, been able to cut loose.  

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 406-758-4430 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Paul Cauthen performs at Majestic Valley Arena in Kalispell on Saturday, April 18. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Paul Cauthen performs at Majestic Valley Arena in Kalispell on Saturday, April 18. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Paul Cauthen performs at Majestic Valley Arena in Kalispell on Saturday, April 18. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider