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

Back to the Country Goes Back to School 9/11/24 WORT 89.9FM

Howdy Friends, tomorrow morning I'll be hosting Back to the Country on WORT FM 89.9FM from 9am-noon. It's our fall pledge and the theme is a Back to School country music salute to NCAA Athletics.

Back in 1981, Bobby Harden of the Harden Trio fame, went to the Starday Sound Studios in Nashville, TN and recorded more than 40 school-specific albums for All-Pro Records. Longtime Starday engineer Tommy Hill produced the records and NAPA Auto Parts stores handled the regional distribution. Each album included songs about the school’s winning sports programs, their specific coaches, division rivals, upcoming football schedules, and usually a song about the cheerleaders, too. As you might guess, they recycled a whole bunch of the backing tracks with slightly altered lyrics, many of which I find hilarious!

I’ve got close to a dozen of these, including odes to my alma mater Indiana University and my current employer UW-Madison, and tomorrow morning, as I attempt to raise money for WORT’s fall pledge drive, I’ll play for you some of my favorites! Streaming via wortfm.org

New Semester at UW-Madison and Mead Witter School of Music

I'm both super excited and a little bit terrified, but a new semester at UW-Madison begins today and in a few minutes I'll be teaching Intro to Music Cultures of the World.

Back in grad school I took a course from Dr. Mellonee Burnim (UW alum) called Systems of Meaning, which was basically training for how to teach Intro to Ethnomusicology. I wasn't sure if I'd ever have that opportunity, but here we are roughly a decade later and I'm super grateful to have this opportunity.

Many thanks to Dr. Burnim for all the prep, to Dr. Nadia Chana for recommending I take over her class, to the Mead Witter School of Music for letting me design my own course, to the UW-Madison Libraries for letting me take on the overload, to my three fantastic TAs who will be doing all the grading, to all the amazing guest speakers who have committed to join us, and to the nearly 300 students who are already enrolled. AV passcode, check. Mic check. Let's go!

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers at the High Noon Saloon Patio 8/30/24 5:30-7:30

It's the last week of summer before classes start up again at UW-Madison, and what a week it's been! Dear friends Bill C. Malone and Bobbie Malone have been visiting from TX to celebrate Bill's 90th birthday (and host Bill's Back to the Country radio program in person at WORT FM) and I've also been exploring the bike trails of Madison with my brother who is visiting from NE. It's been awesome!  

We're going to have one last big wingding before everybody returns home and we hope you can join us: This Friday (8/30) at the High Noon Saloon Patio, Nate Gibson & the Stardazers will play from 5:30-7:30pm (patio opens at 4:30pm). I also have Bill's word that he and Bobbie could be convinced to sing at least(!) one tune for us. It's a free show. It's a fun show. It's a Happy Hour show. It's an outdoors show. It's a hope-to-see-you-there show!

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers Tonight, Rain or Shine!

Howdy Friends, Just a reminder that Nate Gibson & the Stardazers will be playing the Memorial Union tonight, from 7-10pm. Should the rain persist through the evening, we will move the show from the outdoor Terrace Stage inside to der Rathskeller, but that official call won't be made until 4pm. Hope to see you there either way!

Event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/814286857521810?ref=newsfeed

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers at The Terrace at Memorial Union This Thursday 8/15 7-10pm

Welp, the 2024 Summer Olympics are officially over and with them, likely, are Nate Gibson and the Stardazers string of features in the heavily aired Travel Wisconsin commercials. The ad has about 1/2 million views on YouTube and seemingly that many on TV during the Olympics alone! It's been a good run!

Wish you were in the commercial with us? You may still have a chance! Nate Gibson and the Stardazers will be back at the Terrace at Memorial Union--the very sight where this commercial footage was filmed--playing a free show from 7-10pm this Thursday evening (8/15/24). Come dance, eat, and watch the setting sun with us and who knows, Travel Wisconsin just might show up and film a whole new commercial for next summer!