Country Reeds Take Me Home on WORT - A history of Clarinet Country 3/12/25

Howdy Friends, I'll be hosting Back to the Country on WORT FM tomorrow morning from 9am-noon (CST) and this week's show is called "Country Reeds Take Me Home." We all know the importance of the clarinet in jazz, symphony, klezmer, and rock music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tr-Uqqn9tk), but I feel like the ol' licorice stick gets short shrift in country music circles.

Sure, there's some great western swing clarinet. And some stellar whiz-bang novelties and even dixieland-inspired country tunes, too. But the well goes deep and tomorrow morning we're jumping in! Tune in for three hours of my very favorite Country Clarinet tunes spanning every decade from the last 100 years. Available in southern WI at 89.9FM or streaming at wortfm.org and the WORT app.

Nate Gibson w/ Jerry Miller and Matt Murphy at the Stoughton Opera House TONIGHT 3/6/25!

Howdy Friends, the plan for tonight's gig at the Stoughton Opera House has changed at the last minute, but it is still going to be a very special occasion. I'll be opening the Ghost Light Lounge before the big Eilen Jewell show from 5:50-7:00pm and I'll be joined by some very special guests: Jerry Miller and Matt Murphy--both Boston music LEGENDS!

Jerry played in the Spurs, the Coachmen, the Sacred Shakers, Jack Smith and the Rockabilly Planet, the Fathoms, and of course, Eilen Jewell, and every single show was a CAN'T MISS show! He's also an honorary member of Los Straitjackets and his guitar playing just blows me away every. single. time. We got to play music together a few times (including a show with Rex Trailer) in Boston and when I moved away to Bloomington, IN, I was elated to find out that Jerry was moving to Bloomington as well! We played shows together for many more years and even made a few records together and I consider myself insanely lucky for every one of those opportunities.

My pal Matt was a founding member of the iconic New England rockabilly group the Raging Teens--one of my very favorite bands. When my good friend and Gashouse Gang bass player Jon Johnson passed away unexpectedly, Matt was the first upright player to fill-in and we had some great times playing the Cow Island Music CD release party with Rex Trailer. Many years later I even got to be labelmates with the Raging Teens when Swelltune Records released our 7-inch singles back to back (many thanks again, Beck Rustic, for the honor!).

Tonight, I get to reunite and play some tunes with both Matt and Jerry before their big show with Eilen and it'll be fun to see how many of those tunes from 10-20 years ago I still recall without any rehearsal! At the very least, I'm sure we'll play at least a couple Rex Trailer tunes! And be sure to stick around for their show with Eilen, as that too, is a CAN'T MISS show! Hope to see y'all there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihyDAobHZFU&t=1s 

(video of Jerry Miller (guitar), Tim Moore (drums), Nate Gibson (guitar), and Mike Lee (upright bass)

Steve Toebes (piano), Nate Gibson (with Sean Mencher's guitar), Rex Trailer, Tom Long (drums), and Matt Murphy on upright bass

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers and Eilen Jewell at the Stoughton Opera House 3/3/25

Man, Rachel and I saw one of the most AMAZING concerts last night at the High Noon Saloon! Jesse Welles tore the sold-out house all the way down w/ his mighty pickin', harmonica blowin' and killer tunes.

Jesse Welles at High Noon Saloon 3/3/25. Photo by Nate Gibson.

And what's even more exciting is that another incredible songwriter is coming to town later this week--the great Eilen Jewell and her most rockin' band will be playing this Thursday at the Stoughton Opera House. My dear friend and long-time musical collaborator Jerry Miller will be slinging his six-string with 'em at this Can't-Miss show.

Jerry Miller and I at the Stoughton Opera House. 2019.

And what's even more exciting than that? Nate Gibson and the Stardazers will be opening up the Ghost Light Lounge before Eilen and the Gang's show from 5:50-7:10. Full band on hand! Sadly, it'll be one of our last two shows with "Spider" Mike before he heads to East Lansing for a new job at MSU.

I hear Jerry may even sit in with us for a few tunes. My friend Yvette will be there with her delicious Take Two Bakery treats. And it will surely be an amazing night for everyone present. And what's more exciting than that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Hope to see you all Thursday night at the Stoughton Opera House!! We're on at 5:50...

Eilen Jewell Midwest 2025 Tour

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!