RIP Jim Kirchstein, Founder of Cuca Records

Today was my friend Jim Kirchstein's funeral in Sauk City. He lived to be 93 and led an amazing life. For those of you who didn't know Jim, he was the founder of Cuca Records--one of Wisconsin's most important record labels of the 1960s and '70s. Sadly, his 93-year old cousin "Cuca" in New Mexico, for whom his record label is named, also just passed away this month.

As soon as I moved to WI eight years ago, I began collecting Cuca Records for Mills Music Library and quickly struck up a friendship with Jim. About a year later he donated his entire collection--records, recording contracts, publishing and leasing agreements, photos and more--to Mills Music Library (the searchable finding aid is now complete and online: https://shorturl.at/HfkzQ)

The first time Jim invited me out to his place in Mt. Horeb to do an interview about Cuca Records he showed me his basement, which was filled with 400+ marionettes hanging at eye level, and for the next couple hours I completely forgot to ask about records. Instead, we talked about puppets, art, important figures in his life, his service in the Navy, his engineering degree from UW-Madison, and paper mache. He later introduced me to his friend Ken Vogel, the master puppet maker, and that spark was the inspiration for the Nate Gibson & the Stars of Starday puppet artwork (Ken made all the puppets and backdrops for that project, as well as the hundreds of puppets in Jim's collection).

Over the years Jim and I bonded over our mutual love for Ken's puppets, local music, playing trumpet, western wear, Mills Music Library, and even going out to see live music by artists who formerly recorded for Cuca Records. Jim was a guest host on Back to the Country with me a couple years back and we did several hours of recorded interviews over the years. I'm honored that he trusted me, and also my colleagues at Mills Music Library, to tell his story and to preserve the Cuca legacy. Since then, I've given numerous Cuca Records talks at conferences and lectures for classrooms, continued collecting and trying to complete the label for Wisconsin Music Archives and Mills, and hope to complete a new book on the label in short time.

Jim Kirschstein, Raylene (Bartel), and I. This was the first time Jim and Raylene had seen each other since she recorded for Jim's Cuca Records label in the early and mid '60s.

I could go on and on about all the great music on Cuca, but if you'd like to know more about the label, PBS Wisconsin did a great 8-minute segment (which still gets TV airplay now and then) as part of their Sauk Prairie Hometown Stories documentary and Jim and I both got to be the talking heads in it. If interested, you can watch it here: https://pbswisconsin.org/watch/wisconsin-hometown-stories/sauk-prairie-sound-wisconsin-7eybfr/ RIP Jim, and many thanks for all the great memories and music!

Jim Kirchstein showing off his puppet collection and holding a photo of his parents and siblings, the photo for which the puppets above it were modeled from.

Y'all Come: Starday Records in Story and Song at UW-Madison Saturday 3/8 7:30pm

Hey there, friends: I'm excited to share that Nate Gibson & the Stardazers, along with special guests Art Stevenson and Eddie Rivers (Asleep at the Wheel, Best Westerns), will be reprising our Starday Records tribute show, "Y'all Come: Starday Records in Story and Song" next month on Saturday March 8th.

Not only will we be performing in the beautiful new Hamel Music Center on UW-Madison's campus, the show is being co-sponsored by the General Library System, the Mead Witter School of Music, and the Folklore Program in GNS+, which means that the show will be FREE and open to the public! It'll also be a chance to show off all the cool Starday stuff we have in Mills Music Library including rare Wisconsin 45s, scarce 78s, LPs available for circulation, as well as physical and online access to the The Starday Story: The House That Country Music Built.

Collins Recital Hall. 7:30pm. Saturday 3/8. Mark your calendars now! Rock and roll goes concert hall! https://www.library.wisc.edu/music/2025/02/06/concert-nate-gibson-the-stardazers/

A Feline Frolic on Back to the Country 89.9 WORT FM 1/8/25

Just a heads up that I'll be hosting Back to the Country on WORT FM tomorrow morning and that the theme this week is a Feline Frolic! 

I did a dog show last year and there were hundreds upon hundreds of country dog songs to choose from. But country cat songs? Not so much. Sure, there's a plethora of songs about bop cats, hep cats, cool cats, copy cats, and fraidy cats and there's even a bunch more about bearcats, tomcats, wildcats, pussycats, and kittens, too. But all too often these are actually songs about human beings *acting* like various cats. Well, I've got no time for that. I want cat songs! And don't even get me started on all the country musicians named after felines like Cat Stevens, Tabby West, the Country Cats, Go Cat Go, Stray Cats, the Ol’ Tiger Benny Martin, or Kitty Wells!

The good news? I think I've found three full hour of songs that are about actual cats! Meeeooow! Tune in to the feline frolic tomorrow morning from 9am-noon (CST) on 89.9 in southern Wisconsin or streaming worldwide via wortfm.org 

photos w/ adorable internet sensation Lil Bub by Erin Colligan Lee and Mike Bridavsky

Another Semester in the Books at UW-Madison

Phew! We made it to the end of the semester! 250ish UW-Madison undergrads have officially been edumacated on ways and meanings of musics around the world. I've been excited and really encouraged by so many of the incredible final projects (a two-hour audio production about Elvis impersonators in the Upper Midwest, anyone?!?) and we've got just one final exam left to see how much of the course sunk in.

My many thanks to Dr. Nadia Chana and the Mead Witter School of Music for letting me takeover and redesign this course, to Mills Music Library for letting me take on the additional course load, and to our wonderful graduate TAs who have been grading machines and leading engaging discussion sections all semester!

I also want to send an extra special thanks to all of our wonderful guest speakers this semester: My master's thesis advisor and legendary ethnomusicologist/archivist/musician (and UW alum!!) Dr. Portia Maultsby; hip-hop scholar, folklorist, baseball card collector, and all-around great human being, Dr. Langston Collin Wilkins (I'm so glad we both ended up at UW!); primary source for all things music and space-related, one of higher ed's finest comedians, and a mighty fine chef, too, Dr. Gabrielle Cornish (I'm excited for your WPR music interview to air this Sunday!); as well as my library friends and colleagues, UW's Distinguished Oral Historian, Troy Reeves, and Mills Music Library's Public Services Librarian, Tom Caw. I so appreciate all that y'all do and all that y'all brought to our class--thank you, Thank you, Thank You!

I owe a final thanks to my wife Rachel for sneaking into our last class and snapping this photo of me in course recap mode!

This was my first semester teaching a 200+ student lecture course and as a result, I declined requests from more than two dozen audit hopefuls. I just wanted to see how it would go first. But... if you were one of those denied, I have some good news. I'll be teaching the exact same course again this spring and this time around I will be accepting auditors. Come one, come all to the party that is Intro to World Music--just so long as we have enough seats!

A Hairy Country Music Spectacular on Back to the Country 12/11 9am-noon (cst)

Howdy Friends, I'll be hosting Back to the Country on WORT FM tomorrow morning from 9-12 (cst) and the theme this week is Hairy Country Music. I've picked out about 100 of my favorite classic country songs about barbershops, blondes, brunettes, redheads, curly heads, bald heads, ducktails, flattops, and assorted haircuts and with any luck, I'll get to share about half of them on the show. I hope you can tune in tomorrow (12/11) via 89.9FM in southern Wisconsin, streaming via wortfm.org or the WORT app!

Photo by Zach Zaricor minutes after he cut my hair at Blue Chip Barber Club.

Goldie Sherwood and son Mark to Guest on Back to the Country Tomorrow Morning 11/13

Howdy Friends, tomorrow I'll be back on WORT hosting Back to the Country and this time around I'll have some exciting guests joining me. Namely, Goldie Sherwood and her son Mark!

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Goldie's husband Dick Sherwood hosted a Madison-based variety show on WISC-TV called The Dick Sherwood Show which was broadcast throughout Wisconsin. Goldie was the resident bass player, sometimes guitarist, and featured vocalist as the show featured a rotating cast of "Country, Western, Oldtime, and Modern Music!"

Lots of stars appeared on the show including Bobby G Rice and his sister Lorraine, Cuca recording artists Greg Swenson, Sharon Arnold and Jimmy Carson, and even Starday star Cowboy Copas! Dick and Goldie were also the first to hire Bruce Bollerud before he left to start up the Goose Island Ramblers.

In addition to stories and personal memories of the show (Mark was even on the show when he was just an embryo!) and tracks from their Cuca LP featuring the entire Dick Sherwood Show cast, Goldie has also shared with me a treasure trove of more than 100 live recordings from the show that have never been released! I can't wait to share them with you as I visit Goldie and Mark tomorrow morning from 9am-noon (cst) on 89.9FM in southern Wisconsin or streaming via wortfm.org!

Also, many thanks to Charlie Chaz Lemm for posting these cool Goldie Sherwood pics just a few days ago in anticipation of this very show!

Our Starday Spectacular at the Stoughton Opera House (10/10) is Also Streaming!

Howdy Friends, It has come to my attention that our great big Starday Records Tribute show next Thursday at the Stoughton Opera House will also be available for streaming. So instead of just pestering all my local Wisconsin friends to come out next week, I will now be pestering ALL my friends! :) You, yes YOU, can be a part of the magic!

I'm beyond excited about this show. The Stardazers and I, along with special guests Art Stevenson and Eddie Rivers (of Asleep at the Wheel fame), have been working overtime to prepare our new Starday extravaganza for this Thursday (10/10) at 7:30cst at my very favorite venue in the country. We've got 20+ brand new songs in the bag, lots of stories and never-before-seen photos, and if all goes well there may even be a recording project to come from this show. If you can't make it to Stoughton, I still highly recommend tuning in to the live stream. To stream the show, just click on the tickets link and look the streaming option. Tickets are $20 and streaming links are just $10. I can't tell you how much I would love to have you there with us, in person or virtually!

http://stoughtonoperahouse.showare.com/NateGibson_25