The Word is Out and the Word is Brewers

Welp friends, I officially let the bat out of the bag this morning on Back to the Country--I'm releasing a brand new album in just a couple weeks and it's entirely Milwaukee Brewers-themed. The project has been all-consuming these past two weeks because I haven't been able to stop writing Brewers songs. But this week I'm finally moving on from the writing/recording side of things and focusing on mixing, mastering, artwork, legal clearances, publishing, and more... And I'm super pumped to be doing this music project with my nephew Ethan behind the mixing board!

My goal has been to complete this project from conception to completion in just one month. I may fall a couple days short of that depending on a few final details, but it'll be close! I didn't want to wait until the Brewers won the World Series, but rather to create a fun and rockin' soundtrack for the upcoming playoff run.

If you love baseball and classic country music, I think you'll love this album (CD-only for now)! So, I've set up a pre-order on Bandcamp in case friends want to get in at the ground level. And if you know me, you can always order direct from me. I'll hope to be shipping CDs in just a couple weeks! https://nategibson.bandcamp.com/album/fear-the-beer-a-musical-salute-to-the-milwaukee-brewers

Favorite CDs on Back to the Country 9/10/25

Howdy Friends, I'll be back on WORT FM tomorrow (9/10) hosting Back to the Country and this week's theme is "Favorite CDs." I often tell people I'm a record collector and indeed a huge percentage of my radio shows are about records and the record collecting journey. But when the rubber meets the road, I'm really more of a music collector and I'm constantly looking for good tunes on ANY format.

I've recently been thinking a lot about CDs. There are a lot of great albums that have only been issued on CD and tomorrow's show will (almost entirely) highlight some of my favorite CD-only releases. There are so many--Jerry Miller, Sean Mencher, the Country Bumpkins, the Blackstone Valley Sinners, the Spurs, Honky Tonk Happy Hour, and many more! And I'll also include a couple tunes from my favorite CDs I've picked up this year (the Hens, Annie Dolan and Joel Paterson, Western Box Turtles, etc.)... and I just might also bring my guitar and sing you a song or two from my very own upcoming CD project (for which I will discuss publicly for the first time tomorrow morning). I'm so excited about it that I can't hardly think or talk about anything else these days! But these CDs will be a great distraction!

You can stream the show from 9-noon (CST) tomorrow morning (9/10) via wortfm.org or listen via 89.9FM in southern Wisconsin!

Green Bay Packers Star Donald Driver Promotes 101 Hodag Jokes!! Many thanks, Donald!!

Now that the NFL season is officially underway, I suppose it's a good time to share that beloved Green Bay Packers star wide receiver Donald Driver wholeheartedly endorses 101 Hodag Jokes, and so can you! Here he is photographed holding a copy of our beloved little joke book, as well as a hodag postcard he got from The Hodag Store up in Rhinelander. (With many thanks to store owner Ben Brunell for sharing the amazing photo!)

For those unaware, my colleagues Marcus Cederström, Anna Rue, and I wrote a hodag joke book several few years ago and the insanely talented Fred Chao made our insanity come to life with his cute hodag illustrations. Initially, I made just a handful for friends until my friend Lowell Brower convinced me to send some to the Hodag Store a couple years back. Ever since then, we've refilled order after order of them and they seem to be quite popular among joke enthusiasts. And, unlike those familiar with Tim Barney and I's earlier 101 Pirate Jokes book, this hodag joke book is actually appropriate for ALL ages!

As of now, there are only three places you can get 101 Hodag Jokes: In Madison, you can find them at Zip-Dang! on lower Monroe. They have a great selection of WI cryptid and monster art prints as well as rad small-batch clothing. You can also get them directly from me if you see me at a show somewhere. Or, you can get yours like Donald Driver did, from the Hodag Store: https://www.thehodagstore.com/product/101-hodag-jokes/715?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=true

Folk and Country Spectacular featuring WORT Show Hosts 8/23 at the Bur Oak 1-4pm

Howdy Friends, Bobbie and Bill C. Malone are back in Madison to celebrate Bill's 91st Birthday this week and they are currently hosting Back to the Country in person on WORT FM. I had to leave to get back to work, but you can still catch the entire 3-hour hillbilly jamboree on WORT's archive https://archive.wortfm.org by looking for the 8/20 episode of Back to the Country (Thanks to Tina Kaske-Sanchez for the photo w/ myself, Bill, Bobbie, and engineer Aaron Scholz).

And if you are in Madison tonight, be sure to swing by Mystery To Me bookstore where Bill and Bobbie will be discussing their brand new book on Riders In The Sky with Doug Moe at 6pm. You can pick up the book at the event, or stream the event online: https://www.mysterytomebooks.com/bobbie-and-bill-malone-conversation-doug-moe

And before they scoot out of town, be sure to celebrate Bill's 91st and WORT's 50th birthdays this Saturday at the Bur Oak from 1-4pm when many of the station's morning DJs, myself included, will be pickin' and grinnin' to raise money for the station (which, frustratingly, just lost its CPB federal funding for the 2026 fiscal year). Friday morning's Mud Acres host Chris Powers will be opening the afternoon, Tuesday's Green Morning Radio host Brian Hirsch will be playing a set with his stellar bluegrass getup the Grazers, I'll do several numbers with friends, and then Bill and Bobbie will be headlining the event (and letting me sit in on upright bass!). It's sure to be a great celebration and I believe there are still a few tickets left. Thanks to Isthmus for a great write-up of the event this week https://isthmus.com/events/bill-bobbie-malone-nate-gibson-grazers-chris-powers/ and the Bur Oak for hosting! 

Tickets are available here: https://theburoakmadison.com/shows/wort-50th-birthday-concert-series-folk-and-country-spectacular

Memorial Union Terrace Gig Tonight 8/14 at 7pm

We've got some beautiful weather here in Madison, WI and the Milwaukee Brewers have the night off from dominating MLB. What is there to do? How about a free acoustic show at the Memorial Union Terrace looking out on the Lake Mendota sunset while the brats and burgers sizzle nearby?

I'll be singin' and pickin' guitar with some of my WORT FM friends from 7-8:15 and there's a great bluegrass band that follows. If you're out on the town, come on by and we'll sing a song for YOU!

Chess Country up next on Back to the Country (WORT FM 89.9)

Last month, Rachel and I went to Chicago and took a tour of the Chess Records historic studio. We saw Leonard and Phil's offices, the studio where Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Etta James, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, and so many more recorded, Willie Dixon's bass, some original recording equipment in the control room, and much more. Many thanks again for an amazing tour, Janine! It's a blues and rock and roll oasis that every music fan should visit.

Though we thoroughly loved the tour, I didn't hear any talk of the great country music that came out on Chess. Between 1950 and 1960, Chess (and its subsidiaries Argo and Checker) released a handful of really great country records including Sam Phillips' first ever country recordings, some gems by Freddie Fender, Leon Russell and Pig Robbins, as well as seven releases on their own 4800- country series between 1954-55 (all Louisiana Hayride artists including one by Elvis Presley's then girlfriend!). Just last month I finally found the 7th and final 45 to complete the set and tomorrow I'll share the A and B sides of all seven. And of course, one cannot forget Chuck Berry and the profound impact he had in the country music sphere!

Tomorrow's Back to the Country on WORT FM show will shine a light on this country side of Chess with three hours of my very favorite Chess country 45s and 78s. Hope you can tune from 9am-noon CST via 89.9fm in southern WI or streaming at wortfm.org

Nate Gibson & the Stardazers to play the High Noon Saloon Patio This Thursday 8/7

Howdy Friends, Nate Gibson and the Stardazers will be playing a FREE all-ages outdoors show this Thursday [8/7] at the High Noon Saloon patio from 5:30-7:30. We love playing the High Noon and this one is sure to go down as a grand time had by all. It's our last Madison gig of the summer and we'd love to celebrate with y'all! [photo from our gig at the Al Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, WI last week by Joe Shaffer].

And speaking of that gig last week, I want to give a huge gratitude shout out to both the Baraboo Concerts on the Square and the Al Ringling Theatre staffs. The Stardazers and I had a blast playing to a great crowd of 250+ folks and we were even treated to a special behind-the-scenes tour of their 1915 architectural gem before being shown to our 11 separate dressing rooms for the night. Ha! I also want to specifically thank Jamie McCloskey (just his second gig as a Stardazer) and Jordan Kowalski (his first!) for crushing it onstage! Lastly, thanks to everyone who came out to honky-tonk with us and we'll hope to see ya in Baraboo again soon, or maybe even Madison (8/7 High Noon Saloon) or Spring Green (8/22 Sh*tty Barn) later this month!

Jordan Kowalski, Andrew Harrison, Jamie McCloskey, Nate Gibson

A great night for honky-tonking in a 1915 theatre

Starry skies for the Stardazers

Andrew Harrison, Nate Gibson, Jordan Kowalski, and Jamie McCloskey

Preaching the Starday recitation gospel

View from the Soundcheck of the Al Ringling Theatre, Baraboo, WI