Magical Music Journey

If the title wasn’t already taken, country music artist Cary Beare would be a serious contender for the “Hardest Working Musician Around.”

From his days in Hollywood working on hit TV and movie soundtracks to time spent performing country music in Nashville and touring with star musicians, Beare is back in the area that raised him, rocking and excelling in so many more eclectic musical genres.

As of early May, Beare, a Coeur d’Alene native, was a member of six bands, five of them local. He has regular gigs at the Iron Horse, one of Coeur d’Alene’s prime drinking and dining institutions. Local audiences can also hear him and three of his bands this summer at free shows at McEuen Park and Coeur d’Alene City Park. 

He’s also beginning to build buzz for performance of his original music set to take place in summer 2026 at The Hive in Sandpoint.

For Beare, it’s exciting that listeners are not only enjoying his current music, but they’re also discovering, or possibly rediscovering, material he and other bandmates created more than 30 years ago.

“I don’t think I’ve been this busy since I was 20,” Beare said recently.

Cutting his teeth

Busy doesn’t begin to describe his first few years paying his dues in Hollywood’s musical scene.

For several years, he spent every morning as a studio session musician and then evenings writing songs or playing at bars and clubs.

Even though this level of hustle wasn’t sustainable, it did provide him with the incentive to move to Nashville to focus more on his own music. He has also made all sorts of contacts, filled in for major artists, got married and joined the tours for music stars Deana Carter and Garrison Starr. His musical efforts also eventually brought him back home.

To truly appreciate Beare’s personal and professional journey from North Idaho and back again, you have to start at the beginning.

“From the time I was 3, I always played music, and always knew being a musician was my path,” he said.

Beare was born in Coeur d’Alene, grew up in Cataldo, and graduated from Kellogg High School in 1983.

He and friends Dave Dupree and Bob Burdett formed a band called Gotham, which was hired at the newly-opened Coeur d’Alene Resort. From 1986 to 1989, six nights a week, Gotham entertained resort guests. The band also recorded some of its music and sold cassettes at shows.

In 1989, Beare put the Idaho life, tapes and all, behind him, and headed south to seek musical fame and fortune in Hollywood.

His early musical adventures included being hired as bass player for the Riverdogs. The advent of grunge in the early 1990s killed the group’s recording deal in the U.S., but it remained strong in Europe.

In 1993, he moved to Nashville where he wrote music and owned a recording studio. Around 2000, he decided to move back to Idaho, but stopped in California to visit a few musician friends. At the time, he was low on gas money so he asked if they knew of any paying gigs.

“My friend told me about a blonde girl he knew who needed a guitar player,” he said. “She’s now my wife.”

This “third wind” encouraged him to remain in California trying his hand in other musical areas.

Beare has recorded hundreds of songs, including material for the soundtracks for multiple movies and TV shows such as “Zombieland: Double Tap” and “13 Sins,” plus the theme songs for shows “Less Than Perfect” and “Gary Unmarried.” He also played himself in “Last Man Standing.”

He also toured with Garrison Starr and played guitar for Deana Carter on the road from 2005 to 2020.

Coming home

When COVID hit, it made sense to come back to Idaho, this time for good.

“We were living in Santa Monica and locked down, so we said, ‘let’s go home for a few months,’” he said. “The few months turned into a year.”

Right away he got back to making music, playing music and connecting with the area’s music community.

He and wife Allison McCready make up Paper Flowers, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band. He and musician/promoter/author Michael Koep created PS i Love u, a Beatles tribute band. He’s part of The Pollinators, which play pretty much everything and can be heard on Wednesdays and occasionally at the Kootenai County Farmers Market. He’s also part of The Rub, a high-energy trio known for just about every genre and era of music.

He remains a member of Kingsize, based in Los Angeles. And he’s the frontman for “Cary Beare Presents” at Timbers Roadhouse in Cataldo.

“When I came back after the pandemic, I was so bored. I went over there, asked what their deadest night of the week was, and if they would be open to giving me free rein to do whatever,” he said. “They accepted. I still play there – most times it’s with a band.”

Making old new again

But back to Gotham, which Beare jokes could be the great-grandfather of some of today’s area bands, since some of the style and arrangements they created years ago still are occasionally seen and heard in the area’s musical ecosystem.

He also recently has discovered something unexpected: interest from a big fan who is excited to let the world know about the trio – again.

“Dave got a call not too long ago from a guy named Tom who found one of our tapes somewhere and asked if he could remaster it,” Beare said.

There’s an entire subculture of music fans and producers who actively seek out rare music from the 1980s, seeking great, possibly forgotten sound.

Gotham’s master tapes couldn’t be found but Tom, now the producer, worked with the original tapes, digitized and remixed them, and created something clear and record-quality. It has been picked up by a label based in Australia.

“It was such a surprise – we had 10 offers for it,” he said.

The re-recording was officially released at the end of May.

“It’s really something you dream about as a kid, but when you’re in the fall of your life you don’t expect any kind of record deal,” Beare said. “I still feel just like a teenager just making music.”

He and the other members are excited about Gotham’s reboot, although he’s not sure what’s next.

“We do have a lot of songs, and could do a new record,” he said. “I’m open to everything. It will be a hoot.”