Welcome to the Deadman's Hand newsletter! We appreciate your support of Jerry Allan's life-long dream of creating a multi-media project about the life of Wild Bill Hickok.

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Jerry's History as Wild Bill, Part 1

Jerry Allan Hietala was born in 1956 and grew up on a family farm in Northern Minnesota, surrounded by the warmth of his Finnish-American heritage. His mother, Jenny, was a beloved school teacher, while his father, Allan, who worked in a sheet-metal factory, had a gentle demeanor and rarely resorted to more than a firm tone to guide his young son. Tragically, when Jerry was just three years old, his father passed away suddenly from a heart attack or stroke at the age of 39.

After his father's death, Jerry was raised by his mother and his two older sisters, Bonnie and Margaret, who were a decade older than him. From an early age, he found solace in his imagination and classic television, sparking a lifelong passion for film and storytelling. Characters like Roy Rogers, Matt Dillon, and Captain Kirk became his heroes, rescuing him from boredom and loneliness. Alongside his love for adventure, Jerry exhibited early artistic talents, recording his own action stories and teaching himself to play the guitar. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, it was only natural for him to fall in love with the Old West and develop a fascination with the legendary Wild Bill Hickok.

At 19, Jerry turned his vocal and writing talents into a full-length gospel album, The Dream, featuring some of his most enduring and heartfelt songs which he performed for peers, churches, and prisoners over the next decade of his life, using his music to bring hope to the hurting with the message of Jesus Christ. (Below is a recent recording of that first album's titular song).

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Whether it was luck or destiny, as Jerry matured he noticed a resemblance in his looks to Wild Bill Hickok. Both men stood over six feet, had strong builds, deep set eyes, and strong jaws. With a handlebar mustache and long hair, the resemblance was uncanny and inspired Jerry to begin writing songs about the gunslinger and western figures. Before too long he learned about a Wild Bill look-a-like contest in Deadwood, South Dakota where the famed lawman was gunned down. Jerry entered the contest in 1984 and won the top prize and, along with it, a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Shortly afterwards, he quit his job as a Duluth bus driver and traded a quiet life on the family farm for the spotlight of the tourist industry, taking on the role of Deadwood Gulch's official Wild Bill Hickok. Jerry’s daily routine included re-enacting Wild Bill’s last poker game, being shot point-blank in the back of the head by Hickok's assassin, Jack McCall, and singing western ballads in the historic Saloon No. 10.

Jerry's Deadwood gig did more than provide an outlet for his enthusiasm of the Old West; it gave him the opportunity to start a real career as country singer and songwriter with the hope of being discovered by someone important among the thousands of people he met and performed for throughout the summer.

...In the next newsletter, we will tell how Jerry turned his one-man show in Deadwood into a full-scale production that toured the U.S. in a variety of genres and venues.

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Free Access to Jerry's album 'Pack of Wolves'

The link below will take you the bandcamp.com website where you can download Jerry's album to your computer for free (it will not download to iPhones unfortunately), or stream it straight from the website. (It will ask for a donation, but we are offering it for free to subscribers right now and you do not have to pay anything!)

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Coming soon...

In a future volume of this newsletter, subscribers will be given a free code for one of the books of our multimedia project, "The McCanles Massacre." If you want an advanced reader copy before anyone, please click the link below:

Upcoming Book and Music

In addition to the docudrama, Jerry is working on adapting his original screenplay into a full-length novel about Hickok's life. The novel follows a cynical reporter's attempt to uncover the hidden truth of Wild Bill's life before assassins and bad habits attempt to snuff it out!

Also in the works is an album with exclusive tracks for the movie. These songs are original music that Jerry and his son Derrick have written and recorded for the film. We will keep you posted and give you samples of the album and book along the way!

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Next newsletter

In the next newsletter, we will detail the next part of Jerry's journey from dreamer to entertainer, an important part of this docudrama's own story.

Help us get the message out! Please share the link below with friends and family members who enjoy the Old West and classic country music. Share it out on social media. The more people who pay attention to this project, the quicker it will find the right audience! Link: https://jerryallan.ck.page​