I Love Wisconsin Northwoods

I've never considered myself a city slicker.

I was born in a little town in the U.P.

Grew up in Oshkosh- current population 65,000ish

Lived in Milwaukee for a few years

Found myself back here in Oshkosh

And also on the road pretty consistently every weekend.


One of my favorite parts about being a musician is getting to see so much of Wisconsin in a bit more of a personal way than if I were to just drive through on my way to another place.

I've learned some things...

There are a lot of rural politics that happen often that don't make front page headlines even in smaller cities let alone Milwaukee or Madison. They don't get talked about much from what I can tell. A lot of times these rural politics affect things like farming and how we treat the land and the water and the resources.

I've realized this last year that I've spent my whole life in Wisconsin being pretty unaware...pretty unaware of how it all works in general. I've been a lot like many other Americans who are semi-informed on news and politics on a national level but when it comes to local politics there's quite a void.

I've researched a little bit and found a really interesting article about "rural versus urban politics" in Wisconsin. It's about a UW Madison political scientist named Katherine Cramer Walsh who has traveled around Wisconsin for the last five years- going to informal social groups all throughout the state- churches, local cafes, gas stations, etc. Check out that article here if you're interested. 


So there's politics and the farming stuff and the mining stuff and the rural people stuff...

And then there's the feel of it. The feel of northern Wisconsin... Last week I found myself way up north at Pete's cabin. West on highway 8 and then a few more miles on some gravel roads. No cell phone reception, no computers or screens of any kind to look at...

There were a few of us there and we took a walk- crossed the river on the stones. It was pretty easy for Pete- I'm pretty sure he does Parkour on the side of being in Dead Horses- for me it was a little trickier... slippery rocks and everything!

Me? I could call it a nature thing
I could call it a feeling thing
Or a solitude thing
Or getting back to the basics of things

But mostly I'd call it a spiritual thing.. in the way I experience it and the way I perceive other people experiencing it.

I Love Being a Musician in the Summer Time!

The summer sun, the mentality of Midwesterners in general, the outdoor aspect of shows, the extra sweat from the thick humidity, jumping in lakes and sweating, sweating, sweating. Warm nights and loads of stars and the zing zing energy that July brings...

From hearing the loons and seeing the stars in Minocqua, to seeing some of our oldest and dearest friends in Omro (they like the new "hippie bluegrass sound,") to meeting new friends and tasting new beer at Door County Brewing Company... and to top it all off a fun set at Sawdust Days here in our hometown on Sunday.

Being a musician means a lot of things, but one thing it usually means is traveling a LOT! I'd take the hottest of summer days over the polar vortex we traveled through in Minnesota last January!

And man we get tired, and we get dirty, and we get crabby, and I wonder how I'm going to answer the same question to so many different people and try to be present with each and every one of them, and guitar strings keep breaking cause it's so humid and I haven't even had a chance to unpack before packing again and sometimes you wonder how you're going to keep you're head on straight!

But..

I love the stretches of shows and the driving between and the endurance through the exhaustion and I love  making eye contact during the songs and the pure and true joy and love I feel... the genuine kindness shown to me and to us by complete strangers willing to support another human being. And I've been feeling so proud of Dan, Tim, and Pete when we're up there.

And I'm really looking forward to what we have going on these next few months- lots of traveling but lots of local community stuff! And I'm so excited to share our album with you all!  I hope you're all doing well out there and I hope we get to hang out with you at some shows.


PS! Our interview with Stephanie Elkins aired on Simply Folk last night! If you missed it you can stream it by clicking here: Dead Horses on Simply Folk

I Love Minocqua Brewing Company

Minocqua Brewing Company! Home of the infamous Whitey's Wheat Ale as well as several hand crafted beers and a fantastic food menu, beautiful setting, and great waitstaff.

It's July 3rd and I've found myself in Minocqua again. Last night I played a Rucksack Revolution show- opening for Charlie Parr at Minocqua Brewing Company.

The drive up here was beautiful. I felt my worries and tension leaving my body. Left rainy Oshkosh and the farther north I got the more the sun peaked through. By the time I got up here it was blue skies and clear waters.

There are a lot of neat venues and spots to play in northern Wisconsin but Minocqua Brewing Company is one of my favorites- definitely a gem. Musicians are treated very well here and that means a lot. It's a great setting for an intimate show and the green room is basically a dock on the lake. Last night I saw more stars than I've seen in quite a while!

And the show was just so much fun! The people in the room, the energy in the room- it really makes or breaks the show, and I felt honored to be able to play last night.

Watching Mr. Charlie Parr was soul-satisfying. And he even invited Adam and I up on the stage to play with him! One of the better musical moments of my life. There's something so very spiritual about what Charlie does on stage every time I've seen him perform. I feel that I could learn so much from him.

The kicker is that I get to play there again tonight with the full band! I can't wait for Dan, Pete, and Tim to get up here. I can't wait to get all plugged in and let the set begin. Making music with my brothers and feeling blessed.